THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605160397
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: BY THE PEOPLE
An occasional series on citizens taking steps to build better
communities.
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 170 lines
As Julian Aiken watched teenagers play basketball earlier this week, he thought about lessons recently learned in the Virginia Beach Neighborhood Institute.
``Partnership,'' he said. ``The idea of partnership just kept coming up.''
So here was a lesson turned into action: a youth basketball program for kids from Aiken's neighborhood, Plaza Apartments, playing teams from Pecan Gardens West, the home of classmate Jacqueline Grier.
``That was our main goal,'' Grier agreed, ``to unite the communities and to work with one another, help one another, share resources.''
Aiken and Grier were among 18 grassroots activists and three city officials who came together this spring in the first-ever term of the Virginia Beach Neighborhood Institute, sponsored by the Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation.
The graduation ceremony was held in April, but the idea of partnership-building was so important that the class decided to reconvene tonight to compare notes.
Before the course, many of the neighborhood leaders already had developed creative programs within their own communities. But like Aiken, they rarely had an opportunity to meet with other activists, or like Grier, they felt too busy to look beyond their own communities.
Now, they're starting to think of each other as resources for solving mutual problems, such as crime, drugs, trespassing, youth vandalism and neighborhood blight.
``I'm beginning to see this in a different light,'' Grier said.
Besides youth basketball, Aiken, Grier and several other leaders are talking about combining efforts to start a conflict-resolution course for teenagers and maybe even a computer-literacy class.
``It all started in the classroom,'' Aiken said.
The classroom, at an ODU-Norfolk State facility on Little Neck Road, was where the neighborhood leaders spent two nights a week honing their community-organizing skills and learning more about the operations of Virginia Beach city government. The term cost the city less than $3,000, while students paid $10 each.
Virginia Beach is the first city in South Hampton Roads to have a neighborhood leadership course that extends over several weeks instead of as a one-day training session. But in the wider region, the Hampton Neighborhood College is in its second year, and there are a few similar programs in other parts of the nation.
The Virginia Beach institute will be repeated next fall and spring for other grass-roots leaders, and possibly twice a year thereafter, said Carol R. Williams, who coordinated the program.
Why is a city agency helping neighborhood activists become stronger advocates for their causes? Isn't that the last thing a local government needs when already faced with budget-balancing problems?
Depends on your approach, Williams said.
If you look at government as the ultimate source for solving community problems, then having too many neighborhood activists armed with demands can swamp City Hall.
But if you consider government and neighborhoods as partners, you can never have enough community activists.
``We entered into this as wanting to be partners,'' Williams said. ``Even the curriculum was developed with the help of citizens.''
Forming partnerships was a leading theme in the course, which was taught by Rudolph Wilson and Harold Hubbard, both of the Norfolk State University faculty.
For many of the activists, forming partnerships was not a new idea. But they learned to think of more possibilities and more effective arrangements.
``It's like, `Why reinvent the wheel again when other people have been down this road before?' '' Aiken said. ``By forming partnerships, we gain allies and also get new good ideas that can work.''
The activists also couldn't wait for the end of the course before turning their brainstorms into action. A few weeks ago, four neighborhoods - Plaza Apartments, Pecan Gardens West, Bridle Creek and Scarborough Square - joined with the YMCA to host an all-night youth program. It featured speakers, sports and other recreation, and about 150 kids attended.
The youth night grew from discussions at the neighborhood institute, said Julian Aiken's wife, Cheryl. The success bred excitement for trying more joint programs, she added.
Other students also are creating or expanding partnerships.
Judy C. Smith of the New Light neighborhood said she's been working with the New Light Baptist Church and the Police Department to plan a ``family fest'' for June 22.
Besides partnership-building, the institute covered several other topics that can help citizen organizations. They included information on the structure of city government, Virginia Beach population trends, neighborhood planning issues, conflict resolution techniques and how to hold effective meetings.
The institute is based partly on an emerging philosophy that local government needs to become ``a facilitator for getting things to happen rather than just be a doer,'' said Andrew Friedman, the city's director of housing and neighborhood preservation.
A tighter city budget is one reason, but there are other important factors.
``It's really not necessarily about money, but it's about jointly identifying what we want to see happen and who has the ability to make it happen,'' Friedman said.
For example, he said, ``We could never make a neighborhood pretty'' only by increasing the enforcement level of property codes.
``Citizens really are needed to put peer pressure on neighbors to make things look nice, or to form neighborhood watches, or to take care of elderly residents. There's no substitute for things like that. . . . Citizens can generate more resources than we can.''
The institute, Friedman and Williams hope, also can help neighborhood activists see issues in a citywide context.
``It was great for the class to understand that other neighborhoods in Virginia Beach have the same problems,'' Williams said.
Jacqueline Grier said: ``It was a good feeling finding that somebody else had the same problems. It was a feeling of being less alone.''
For many participants, the high point was a March 23 tour of neighborhoods represented in the class. The students gave oral reports on the history and demographics of their communities, important issues and attempts to solve problems.
``I heard that some other neighborhoods were more involved with their schools. That became a resource I hadn't given that much thought to,'' said Steve Hawthorne of Pembroke Shores.
So even though his neighborhood already works with with the Pembroke Meadows Elementary School, Hawthorne is seeking greater use of the gym and other facilities. He also hopes to collaborate more with the PTA.
In turn, several other students learned from Hawthorne, especially when he passed around his neighborhood's newsletter.
Ruby Lambert of the Plaza Apartments and Gwendolyn Dickens of Williams Village-Princeton Lakes said they might borrow ideas such as a newsletter listing of neighborhood baby sitters and the use of potluck dishes to share responsibility and build attendance at meetings.
Some activists said the course inspired new attitudes.
``I definitely learned to be more patient with other people,'' said Ruby Lambert's husband, Keith Lambert. ``Sometimes I can get abrasive, very straightforward, which can turn people off. The class helped me.''
Grier said she's gained confidence to consider returning to college after dropping out more than seven years ago.
Aiken said he now pays more attention to news about the Virginia Beach government, such as the city budget and the proposed comprehensive plan.
``A lot of people don't know how to interpret what's put out there,'' he said. ``This program does educate people who otherwise feel they don't have any part in planning the city's growth.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page B2 of The Virginian-Pilot for this
date.]
ILLUSTRATION: The Virginia Beach Neighborhood Institute will hold its next
session this fall. It meets in the Old Dominion University-Norfolk
State University Higher Education Center, 397 Little Neck Road,
Virginia Beach.
For information, call the Virginia Beach Department of Housing and
Neighborhood Preservation, 426-5760.
[Color Photos]
MOTOYA NAKAMURA
The Virginian-Pilot
FROM THE CLASSROOM . . . Keith Lambert hugs classmate Teresa
Stanley after their graduation in April from the Virginia Beach
Neighborhood Institute. Eighteen grass-roots activists were in the
institute's first class.
VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
. . . TO THE COMMUNITY: New graduates Julian Aiken, left, of Plaza
Apartments and Jacqueline Grier of Pecan Gardens West formed a
basketball program for children from their two neighborhoods. Such
cooperation was a key lesson learned at the Virginia Beach
Neighborhood Institute.
KEYWORDS: COMMUNITY CONVERSATION PUBLIC JOURNALISM by CNB