North Carolina Newspapers

2A NEWS/The Charlotte Post January 11, 1996 Children suffering Continued from page 1A “We must challenge those who claim that front-end investments in Head Start and child care and immuniza tions and prenatal care and summer jobs don’t work, and demand they prove that high er back-end prison costs, out- of-home care, unemployment and ignorance do,” Edelman said. “We are now the world’s leading jailer. Yet fear perme ates our psyches, and guns and violence proliferate in our homes and on our streets. The child neglect tax of prisons, police, unemployment, and school failure costs tens of bil lions of dollars a year. “A nation that would rather send someone else’s child to prison for $15,496 a year or to an orphanage for over $36,000 a year than invest in $300 worth of immunization and $1,000 worth of prenatal care to give that same child a healthy start, $4,343 to give that child a year of quality Head Start experience, or $1,800 to give that child a summer job to learn a work ethic, lacks both family values and common and economic sense.” Children don’t lack for advo cates at the local level either and numerous programs here are working with our most needy children. Despite progress in such areas as infant mortality and teen pregnancy, subjects of intense government action in recent years, much remains to be done in reducing the over all well being of children. Threatened federal budget cutbacks and reorganization of delivery systems put the future of many initiatives in doubt. The Council for Children, in its fifth annual report on “Children and Violence” gath- ered statistics showing that the number of children con firmed as abused and neglect ed is rising. In North Carolina, the reports rose from 25,078 in 1992-93 to 32,110 in 1993-94, that’s more than 25 percent. In Mecklenburg County, the increase was from 5,539 in 1993 to 8,145 in 1994. Those are confirmed cases. “The consequence of the increasing levels of violence that our children experience in their homes has to be a fac tor in the increasing violence we see among adolescents,” according to the report’s intro duction. “Our community experienced an explosion in the number of petitions taken out against youths age 16 and under who had committed assault. The numbers went from 486 petitions in 1993 to 1005 in 1994.” The council also preaches prevention; “Charlotte- Mecklenburg must work to prevent children’s problems before they begin. This com munity must devote sufficient resources to provide families with opportunities for positive nurturing and child develop ment.” The Children’s Services Network gave Charlotte- Mecklenburg a grade of C in its rating of children’s well being. The organization reported improvement is such areas as reduction in teen- aged pregnancy, learning readiness, failure to graduate and the number of children in poverty. The group’s report, “A Report on the Future: The well-being of Children in Charlotte-Mecklenburg,” wor ried about increasing abuse and neglect, substance abuse and youth crime. UNC Charlotte professor Bobbie Rowland recently com- Workplace magnets unfair Continued from page 1A too. Dunlap also questioned con struction of new schools on the county^ outer perimeter. Such schools are difficult to inte grate, detractors say. Two sites presented by the staff for new schools are in southeast Charlotte. One is owned by' the county near the York County line and another is owned by a local developer who plans to build a residen tial community nearby. “I personally could not agree to buy land in an area I felt would not be in line with my thinking about integrated schools,” Dunlap said. “One piece of property is not worth the foundation of race rela tions we have built...if we build schools on property knowing no blacks kids are out there and that we will have to bus black kids out there.” Dunlap and school board vice chair Arthur Griffin say the pupil assignment plan left the incoming board by former Supt. John Murphy need major work. Murphy’s plan would almost end racial inte gration. “For first time we would be establishing static attendance zones for all white children and forcing black children to have to be bused across town,” Griffin said last month. “It is a one-race pupil assignment plan..” The school board’s vote Tuesday means at least the issue of integration and fair ness will continue to be part of its discussions as it considers Murphy’s plan. Brookside center had violations, state says Continued from page 1A state regulators, who say they found several major viola tions, including: • Uncovered barrels of dirty linen and dirty diapers in both shower rooms • No functioning telephone for residents’ use • No physician’s order or documentation of treatment and medication administra tion records for home health clients • No documentation of tuberculosis testing for resi dents before or since admis sion • Insulin or other medica tion not administered on time • Broken equipment that resulted in no glucose moni toring • Medications administered in inappropriate doses. Mecklenburg’s Department of Social Services, which had made 80 inspection visits over the last three years, twice filed formal recommendations to the state to place Brookside under provisional license sta tus, which would prevent the home from admitting new res idents, pending improvement of conditions, or have its license revoked. Relatives of Brookside resi dents should call DSS at 336- 4812 for help in placing them in other homes. Adult care home operators in North Carolina should call 336-3171 if they can place Brookside residents. “Make full and constructive use of freedom” MELODYE MICERE STEWART In the spirit of Ma’at "We must make full and con structive use of the freedom we already possess." The words of Martin Luther King, Jr. are instructive as we con tinue to address the chal lenges of blackness in America. "Full and construc tive use" means taking advan tage of every opportunity for individual and group advance ment, from voting to the attainment of higher educa tion. It also means active par ticipation in political and eco nomic issues which concern the well-being of the black community. It is not enough to write a yearly charitable check to some deserving black organization; we must be actively engaged in seeking and implementing improve ments which benefit the entire race. It is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. An honest assessment of the national cli mate confirms this sad tru ism. In 1895, 200 blacks left Savannah, Ga. for the African nation of Liberia. Today, there continues to be a slow, but steady migration to the conti nent, with African Americans living not only in Liberia, but all over the continent from Ghana to South Africa. Frederick Douglass completed his earthly work in 1895, leav ing a legacy we still must learn and emulate. One hun dred years later, we need to relearn his dying words, "Agitate, agitate, agitate" and not give up our efforts for equality. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of "separate hut equal" in the Plessy V. Ferguson case, ush ering in an era of Jim Crow which still lingers today in American endeavors from employment to education, from sports to politics, from health to entrepreneurship. In 1896, 78 blacks were reported lynched, down from 113 the year before. Today, hate crimes are on the rise, culmi nating in a worldwide investi gation of hate group member ship in the United States' armed services. The more things change, the more they stay the same... Making "full and construc tive use of the freedoms we already possess" requires that we thoughtfully assess where we have been, learn and inter nalize the lessons of our histo ry and then formulate plans and act individually and col lectively for group empower ment. In other words, in 1996, we must continue to "Agitate, agitate, agitate..." African Americans appointed to merger committee By John Minter THE CHARLOTTE POST Two African American women were added to the 25- member Charlotte- Mecklenburg County consoli dation committee Monday night. Louise Shackleford, presi dent of the Wilmore Neighborhood Association, and Mary Maxwell, secretary of the Black Political Caucus, were appointed by Charlotte City Council. Mayor Pat McCrory was to appoint a third person later. He said last week he will appoint someone from the westside, but not necessarily an African American. The commission, which will write a charter for a joint city/county government, had openings following the resig nations of three white men. McCrory secured the resigna tions afer resisting efforts to increase the size of the com mission to make it more rep resentative. There are now five African Americans on the commission. Others are Malcolm Graham, Willie Stratford and Jim Ross, appointed by former Mayor Richard Vinroot. The original commission, appointed by the city council and the Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners, included no westside residents and few African Americans and women. Twenty-two of the 25 com mittee members were white, and an equal number were men. Most lived in southeast Charlotte. pleted an evaluation of three programs dealing with young children and reported encour aging results. The three programs are the UPLIFT program of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, an in-home parenting education program focusing on children aged three and- under; the Seigle Avenue Preschool Cooperative, which requires parental participa tion; and Success by 6/Johnston YMCA, a pioneer family support and communi ty outreach program to link at-risk preschoolers and their families with services. “One of the most productive components of the whole ini tiative was the parenting components,” Rowland said. “It holds much promise for long-term effect. What we dis covered was that the parents made the biggest gains in the locust of control measure ment...in taking control of their own fives and their kids' fives. When parents becomes empowered, then they make decisions that make them very independent and very produc tive.” Rowland said all three pro grams were successful. “They began with the basic needs of families, then linked them vsdth services and resources.” “Another biggie was the way the organizations collaborated with each other,” she said. “We are finding out that col laboration between grantees, agencies and government gets better services. “My research tells me it is the culture of the neighbor hood that determines the quality of life,” Rowland added. “These are very influ ential components and subsys tems.” Getting Married? ►We've Got everything you need! • Complete Catering Supplies • Invitations • Announcements • Napkins • Bridal books. PAPERTOWN 4420 Monroe Rd.> 342-5815 (Across Bom Oakfiurst School) o KlNGSmRK APARTMENTS Clean, safe, quiet community conveniently located on bus line. Affordable 2 bedroom garden and townhomes. i^efrigerator, range, AC and water included in rent. 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