Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / July 28, 1994, edition 1 / Page 3
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? . ? ' . ? , / ?. N. G. Black Leadership Caucus Remains / Vigilant After 1 8 Years . 'J " . By VERONICA CLEMONS Chronicle Staff Writer IN 1976, at the Holiday Inn in Chapel Hill, about 60 African Americans met with Gov. James B. Hunt's -campaign manager to find out how they could increase black governmental participation. From this meeting was bom the N.C. Black Leadership Caucus, which .had set a goal of. increasing minority participation in the govern ment process. Then, there were only six black legislatures. Now, 18 years later, there are 25 and one is Speaker of the House Dan Blue. And those who attended the original meeting, like Rep. Mickey Micheaux, D- Durham, now hold public offices. "It was sort of like moving to another level in political participa tion," said Benjamin Ruffin, a one time member of Hunt's staff and now a vice president at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. ' , Ruffin, who is also a member of the UNC Board of Governors, added that now instead subcommit tees getting information and then sharing it with the masses, blacks now have more people "sitting at the table" and playing significant roles in government "Dan Blue is the maestro," said Ruffin," and the orchestra can't play any music unless the maestro waves his wand." On this 18th year of the caucus' existence, several hundred people came together at Winston-Salem Slate University two weeks ago. They met in a building formerly known as the all-black Anderson High School, and their purpose was to discuss and debate on how the black community might best meet the challenges of the 2 1 st century. $' Now that the conference is over and ideas have been viewed and dis cussed on several important topics, caucus leaders must look at the information gained and decide what to do with it. Ruffm said blacks must remem ber that even though gains have been made in the political arena, blacks must not forget to participate. "Our challenge is how to keep up with the changes," he said. "We also need someone to listen to the orchestra perform and know the notes being played and those being missed. If you don't know what tune is playing, you're not going to be in the policy." One recurring message throughout the conference was that blacks must come together as a peo ple to deal with the jchallenges the next century will present, and they must do it without any divisivgness due to social and economic differ emres/ Lawyer Todd Burke said as long as there is this kind of sppara- , tion there will always be problems. That was the main message in the opening message delivered by the 1 Rev. John Mendez. "if we're going to make it we've got to walk together and talk together." he said. Standing together as one com munity will help blacks take back many of their communities that are plagued by drugs, guns and vio lence. "It is our probfem." the Rev. Stephen Fails said. "We must stancl up as intelligent ^and law-abiding citizens and say we're not going to take it anymore." ' : While focusing on community, conference participants also said blacks must rid themselves of indi vidualistic attitudes and think about 'we" instead of "me." > "Some of us have got lo shake some things off." said Lee paye Mack, director of the ?ast Winston Community Development Corp. "We shouldn't jusfsit back and draw checks. We should get busy and decide I'm going to touch someone * life;" i =*^ African Americans should also look to take back their communities economically. During a workshop on economic development partici pa^ts discussed being in control of the funds that come into the com munity. Those funds are supposed to help those in the community, but too many times community mem bers don't control the funds and end up not benefitting. Part of the conference was ded icated to honcing those who have given of their time and service -to the community through grass-roots actions or the political system. ^Velma Hopkins, who bravely shut down an RJ. Reynolds plant to protest deplorable working condi tions and extremely low wages* urge& numerous blacks to vote when it was still dangerous to do so, and who took many youths in and help them achieve a higher educa tion. was honored with the Forsyth County Pioneer Award. Annie-Brown Kennedy was honored for her service in the legis lature along with other retiring and deceased legislators at an evening gala. ~ V , 6 An even bigger focus of the conference was the plight of the African- American youth. The youth had their own session to discuss ;-sues that were important to them and adults talked about how to best guide the future leaders in a positive direction for the next century. The solution came in the form of more adult responsibility and less jails. Fails referred to the new jail in downtown Win ston-Salem as another "hotel, Salvation Army Boys Club, community cen ter and YMCA to hold our chil dren," What^-ver the challenges, whatever the solutions, blacks have to look no further than the black community to find them, most agreed. Taking responsibility for one another, and actively participating in activities that can increase the quality of life for African Americans such as voting will be necessary" to meet upcoming chal lenges, they said. - The Rev. Jesse Jackson said blacks must realize only they can improve their situation. "We're not responsible for being bom on the plantation," he said, "bijt we pre responsible for not dying oh it." v . ' : ' ' J . Forsyth County Donates Funds for New Dudley Products Plant : By VERONICA CLEMONS Chronicle Staff Writer I ' ? . V . -V Forsyth County commissioners agreed Monday night to spend up to $120,000 to assist in the construc tion of an access road for a new Dudley Products manufacturing plant in Kernersville. A capital investment of $2.5 million for Dudley, the 75,000 square-foot plant should create at least 1CX) new jobs. j Jim Lockery, director of eco nomic development at Winston Salem Business, said the company will be relocating from its Current site off Interstate 40 in Guilford County. Old Greensboro Road, the loca tion of the new plant, will also be * the site of a proposed Forsyth Tech nicaf Community College satellite campus, for which budley has agreed to donate up to eight acres of land for the campus if the state approves, its construction. Dudley will also, dedicate the access road, which will also be used for the pro posed campus. . ^ Ed^vard Joined. deputy county manager said this is the first Dud ley project that has received county assistance. Funds will flow from the county to Dudley through Winston Salem Business, whose mission is to recruit companies outside of Forsyth County and encourage them to locate here. Lockery said three criteria is used to determine if a business is worthy of recruitment: the eco nomic impact the business will have on the community by determining the capital investment, how much equipment will be used and the size of the building. Winston-Salem I Business also look^at the number of employees and the quality of the jobs. v ; 1 The county has similar criteria in determining if it will provide monetary assistance. Jones said it is based upon "the new net capital investment that ends up in our tax books land the number of net new jobs." Kernersville will make a match of county funds with $80,000. In addition to the Kernersville site, Forsyth Tech officials are also proposing a site at Carver Road/Lansing Drive in Winston Salem. I Program For At-Risk Children Likely Helpful in Long Run munity responsibility," she said. Students attend Best Choice Center after school during the acad emic year and for eight hours a day during the summer. Many of the children who attend the center at age 5 are already behind their peers bemuse they do not know basic information to progress socially and educationally, Wheeler said. She said a 4-year-old program will help these youths develop some of these basic educational and they reach age 5. Students who attend the center are recommended b\ school offi cials, police officers and other social agencies who believe they are at risk of academic failure by way of their environment, poverty or social rea sons. % ? 4 f Wheeler said many Students who are enrolled in the center do not know basic information such as the alptiahet and their addresses. Some must be taught to use their real names because they are still using "fhat a'lrcaflv" exist in the Forsyth County educa lional system are government^ funded Chapter One programs for "at-risk" 4-year-olds. The programs exist ai Fasion. I atham and Forest Park elementary schools. Larry Fields, principal at * Latham, said the program at his school has offered benefits to the students and their parents. "We can reach out to the kids ^_and their parents _and remove some defjeits and make sure they succeed at other grade levels." he said. Anotnei piogram. Head Start, is federally funded but is not regulated by the school system and serves 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds. Students in Head Start are helped with social and edu cational skills needed in kinder garten. It currently serves 409 children and is planning to expand by adding another class of 4-year-olds. This will increase the student population to 429. Head Start Director Mar _garet Adams said this age group is the program's largest clientele. Since the program has been in a public school facility, Adams said it has been difficult to accurately track the progress of Head Start students once they enter public school. But she has heard some good reports. qur children have been doing very outstanding in public school," she said. "They are well adjusted, used to the wide-open space and under stand the structure." Adams added that Head Start -gives the children something they continue to develop once they enter school. ~ ? "They get social involvemenT and an educational background to from page 1 build upon," she said. "It really helps them socially with things like being away from home." have long waiting lists of eligible students for their programs. Best Choice currently has an enrollment of 125, and Wheeler said she had to tum away 150 prospective students. A 4-year-old program in the school system, if located in the right places, Wheeler said, would help shorten her waiting list Studying of At-Risk Program To begin by School Board Members existing sites. Jessup said staff wanted to start out with a smaller number of students with intentions of expanding the program. "It's more important to be sure the program is effective than serve a large number of students," he said. Jessup said staff had been inter ested in serving more disadvantaged children, but the resources wereTiot available. But with $650,000 set aside by the county commissioners and a proposed $350,000 from the school budget more eligible can be served. In addition to the money set aside for the actual program, the county has given the school board $ 1 00,000 to plan the program's implementa tion. Jessup said he doubts all of that money will be needed for planning. - Board member Dale Folwell cautioned other board members to remember the responsibility to the existing students while considering this new program. He added that 26 out of the 31 elementary schools are already operating ^bver capacity, and that trying to start the program by Janu ary was rushing.- , "I see nothing magical about starting Jan. 1," he said. "If it's that important we should take time to develop it." Board member Walter Marshall was pleased that staff wanted to move ahead with the program. He said the school system can have a positive impact on disadvantaged children by reaching them at an early age.. . . "1 like the idea," he said.?"lt's something we should have done a long time ago." ? The program also has support from the Forsyth County Associa tion of Classroom Teachers. Car olyn McKinney, president of the organization, said the program will help those children who enter kindergarten at a much lower level than their peers and most of the time never catch up with them. Board member Jayne Goins, however, said preparing children for kindergarten should be the responsi bility of the parent, not the taxpayer. "I consider this tax-funded child care," she said., "This goes above and beyond the expectations of the school." Goins and some other board members have also expressed oppo sition to the program because the idea came from the county commis sioner, initiated by Commissioner John Holleman. . They felt it is inappropriate for frontpage 1 the commissioners to dictate how educational funds are spent. But although commissioners approved to set aside the funds for the pro gram, the decision to implement is left to the school board. The board did say, however, that the funds can only be used to implement a 4-year old program. If the board chooses not to have such a program, the funds must be re-entered into the county's general fund. LIFT Academy and Citizens Coalition Join Forces . . * . *? ? ' ' ? " fold. "We have high regard for (LIFT), but I don't think it was nec essary for the Citizens Coalition to ctase to exist as an organization," ? Griggs said. "We were one of the only organizations who had a hands on approach with young people who were the perpetrators of much of the violence in this city." Parmon said collabofarive efforts, which provide better service to families, are probably going to be the future of non-profit organiza tions. "When you combine the efforts you offer more complete services to families," she said. Parmon added that organiza tions are no longer serving a youth who has just one problem, but usu ally a youth and his family wherein a variety of services is needed. Organizations that come together c^n offer more, wholistic services/ she said. Funds to bring the coali tion to LIFT Academy were made available during the short legislative session on crime through additional Community Based Alternative funds. Forsyth County received $163,571, with $104,135 going to United Way for Integrated Youth Services. Under this line item, LIFT received $64,805; $21,070 went to the Urban League; and $18,260 went to Forsyth Court Volunteers. Griggs said the Citizens Coali tion had applied for its own CBA funds and feels his board of direc tors ? who Griggs felt secretly negotiated with LIFT ? really did n't want- to keep the organization. "The leadership of the board of directors is very ignorant to the impact of the program on this com munity," Griggs said. "Their negoti ations with LIFT didn't involve us. We just came in one dav and the phones were switched to LIFT. ... It from page 1 was done in an unprofessional, con descending manner." The rest of the funds were allot ted to Youth Opportunity Homes: $26,103 for Emergency Shelter and $33,333 for New Group Home. In addition to paying the added salaries at LIFT, Parmon said the funds will also be used to upgrade the computer system. Sigma Gamma Rho National Boule Begins Friday in City - 1 and a donation to The Family Ser ; " vices Incorporated Child Develop - 1 ment of Winston-Salem will also be ; presented. A major highlight of the - 1 event will be the launching of a cos ; ! metics line by the sorority, Odom ; I said. The product. Pour Vous , is ? I owned and manufactured by Intra -I Africa Corp., a black-owned and ; operated company. "This is a historic union between a major black company and a sorority," Odom said. There will also be Wellness Fair and a community-vide bone marrow recruitment drive Sundav from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also on Sun day, there will an Ecumenical ser vice with several local ministers fol lowed by development workshops. Later that night, there will be perfor mance by Flonnie Anderson of Win ston-Salem. She will perform "The Quarters." a one-woman drama based on the novel "The Autobiog raphy of Miss Jane Pittman." At 9 p.m. Sunday, there will a '60s and '70s theme dance where prizes will be awarded to the best oldie dressers. On Monday, there will be more workshops and the evening will be capped off with a Greek Step Show that will feature performances from local Greek-letter organizations and Sigma Gamma Rho step teams from around the country. On Wednesday, the Undergrad uate Annie Neville Talent Luncheon will announce the national winners chosen from five regional talent winners beginning at noon. The Blue and Gold Awards Banquet at 7 p.m. will bring the Boule to a close. The keynote speaker, sorority member and moti vational speaker Helen Owens, will talk on this year's Boule theme of "Sailing the Seas of Change in the^ 90's: Launching New Ideas, Chal lenging Traditions'. The Quality of Life Award will be presented to the Rev. Lonnie Dawson, a Goldsboro native who is pastor of New Mt. Calvary Baptist from page 1 Church in Los Angeles. . Dawson was chosen for the award because of his dedication to the education of children and his support of the community during the civil unrest in Los Angeles follow ing the verdict in the Rodney King case. All events will take place in the Benton Convention Center. For ticket information, call 748-081 1.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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