DECEMBER 1993
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 / $5.00
OF NORTH CAROLINA
Guardian angels
Kids get
a voice
in court
Each year in North Carolina thou
sands of children are abused
and neglected. Thanks to a pro
gram that matches community
volunteers with these victims,
children now have a special
guardian who looks out for their
best interest.
By Katherine Noble
5 even-year-old Timmy
remembers his daddy’s
drunken rages. He remem
bers violent fights. And he remem
ber that his mother often wasn’t
there for him and his three-year-old
sister, Christi.
Now, Timmy and Christi live in a
foster home.
Ten years ago, children like these
might have been lost in the shuffle
between foster homes, falling
through the cracks in an overbur
dened juvenile court system.
Today, Timmy and Christi have
someone to look out for them, some
one to make sure their best interests
are heard, and considered, in court:
a volunteer guardian ad litem.
A guardian ad litem, which
means “guardian for this litigation,”
is appointed, along with a lawyer, to
every case where a child is removed
from his or her home by a county
Department of Social Services.
In Durham, the department has
come under fire recently for leaving
abused and neglected children in
their homes too long. 'Two children
have died and several others have
been permanently injured.
The guardian ad litem office
doesn’t find out about cases until
after social services files a petition
with the court.
“If the problem is a pre-petition
problem, which was the case in
Durham, then there’s nothing we can
do,” says Dene B. Nelson, adminis
trator of the program for the state.
It’s a recent day in Wake County
District Court. A hearing is being
held to decide whether 'Timmy and
Christi’s father can visit them with
out supervision — and whether the
children are ready for unsupervised
visits with him.
Sue Carlton, the children’s
guardian ad litem, is cautious. And
she is determined to make sure that
'Timmy’s and Christi’s hves get bet
ter.
But how could she know, better
Look for GUARDIAN, page 18
4NSIDE;
Careers 22
Connections 3
Corporate Giving 12
Grants and Gifts 17
In December 16
Job Opportunities 21
Opinion 10
People 17
R.S.VR 16
Professional Services... 19
Technology 3
Rebuilding from the grassroots up
Coalition revives inner-city Greensboro
An unusual partnership of
nonprofits, foundations,
government, businesses
and community residents
in Greensboro has
launched a neighborhood
rebuilding project in
Eastside Park, an histori
cally black, low-income
area south of downtown.
Organizers say the project
has worked because resi
dents have a say — and a
stake — in its outcome.
By Barbara Solow
I A f hen Linda
I /I / Jones began
I / I / knocking on
V V doors in the
Eastside Park section of
Greensboro two years ago,
she discovered a neighbor- "
hood in which people were hv- H
ing like prisoners in their own
homes.
Jones, who is director of
Famiiy Services for
Greensboro Episcopal
Housing Ministry, was con
ducting a survey to test support for a
new housing initiative proposed for
the crime-ridden neighborhood south
of downtown.
Besides fear, she found a deeply-
heid cynicism about the aims of
urban renewal projects.
“One older lady said to me, ‘just
do me one favor, help me get some-
Anna Pearl Moses has lived in the Eastside Park section
of Greensboro for more than 30 years.
Photo by John Fletcher Jr.
where - into a home or somewhere -
because I know they’re going to come
in and move me out.’”
Jones and other nonprofit ieaders
were determined not to let that hap
pen. Working closely with city gov
ernment, they created a neighbor
hood housing project that has been
hailed as a model for community-
based renewal.
The Eastside Park project is a
partnership among nonprofits, city
government, businesses, foundations
and neighborhood residents. Its
goals are to provide homes and a sta
ble community for more than 350
low-income families over the next
three years throng construction of
60 new homes and 130 renovated
properties.
Responsibilities are divid
ed up among the partners:
• A group of five rotary
clubs serves as the fundrais
ing arm for the $1.5 million
goal under the umbrella of
Neighborhoods United of
Greensboro Inc. The group
has pledged to raise $5,000
for each new housing unit
and $7,000 for each renovat
ed unit.
• A coalition of nonprofits
provides housing and social
services to low-income fami
lies that Include low-interest
mortgages, loans and other
financial support needed to
buy homes in Eastside Park.
• The city contributed
$200,000 for land acqnisition
and pays a project manager
to coordinate the work of
nonprofit contractors and
socM service agencies.
• The Foundation tor
Greater Greensboro provided
$5,000 for the planning phase
of the project and helped the
rotary clubs set up an official
fundraising channel.
• Residents are involved
through membership in a new nei^-
borhood association and a steering
committee that controls the direction
of the revitalization project.
Since the Eastside Park project
broke ground in February, 22 new
homes have been built, says project
manager Bob Powell. Another nine
Look for EASTSIDE, page 21
Burdens of wealth
The final philanthropy
of Doris Duke
After inheriting a fortune as a
teenager, Doris Duke spent her
life looking for love in what she
frequently concluded were all
the wrong places. In her will,
she left a fortune worth more
than $1 billion under the control
of her former butler. Scholars
say Duke’s life and philan
thropy offer valuable lessons in
how not to handle the steward
ship of wealth.
By Todd Cohen
In death, as in her life, she was
ruled by riches.
Doris Duke, who died Oct. 28 at
the age of 80, spun the threads of her
privileged but isolated and sad life
into her will. That 40-page document
transfers control of one of America’s
great fortunes to the man Duke hired
six years ago as her butler.
Duke’s final instructions for the
stewardship of her fortune culminate
- and perhaps unwittin^y mimic - a
life that many believe was unraveled
by the burden of that fortune.
Her legacy also stands in stark
contrast to the philanthropic stew
ardship of her father, James B. Duke,
the tobacco and utility magnate.
“She in effect cast the money to
the winds,” says Waldemar Nielsen,
Doris Duke, who died in October at the age of 80,
signed her will last April.
director of the New York-based
Program for the Advancement of
Philanthropy, an arm of the Aspen
Institute in Washington.
Doris Duke’s final act of philan
thropy, once the legal tangle of the
will is peeled away, reveals much
about her life, says Nielsen, who has
written extensively about philan
thropy, foundations and American
wealth.
“She was a sad, maybe tragic,
tormented human being throu^ her
life,” he says. “The way she set up
her foundation reflects all these
things.”
Look for DUKE, page 20
. NONPROFITS i
tlnMlifiMii 1
Making reform
a reality
Health-care experts call
on hospitals to serve
the health needs of entire
communities, not just
of patients who walk
through their doors.
Page 4
1 FOUNDATIONS
1 VOLUNTEEB J
Education funds
High school students
expanding role
work as volunteers
Local education funds,
To graduate from Chapel
in addition to raising
Hill-Carrboro High, stu-
money, want to get
dents must perform 50
their communities
hours of community ser-
involved in school reform.
vice; North Carolina joins
a national trend.
• Page 6
• Page 8
I FUNDRAISING j
Children's museum
sets ambitious goal
Fundraisers for the pro
posed Children's Museum
About the World are rac
ing against the clock to
raise $8 million privately
or risk losing $12 million
in public funds.
• Page 14