VA. BLACK LEADERS TOUT PARENTING AND POLITICS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 9, 1993                   TAG: 9301090282
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
VA. BLACK LEADERS TOUT PARENTING AND POLITICS
Black leaders from all over the state visited Virginia Tech on Friday to put the finishing touches on a 10-year plan that addresses problems in the black community.
Among the problems, said Oscar Williams, head of Tech's Institute for Leadership and Volunteer Development, are teen pregnancies, drugs and youth in prison.
Among the goals are to get parents more interested in their children, and to get blacks more interested in politics.
One of the solutions, he said, is education.
The group, composed of representatives of 34 black organizations, is part of a pilot group that has gone through two years of leadership training.
Between learning such things as fund raising and parliamentary procedure, members of Action Implementation Model agreed on more than 20 problems facing the black community, and created the plan to deal with those problems.
"For a long time, people, both black and white, have been saying we ought to get together and plan how to solve some problems. But there has been no model for this kind of cooperation, no history," Williams said.
His program may be the first time in America that all of the black groups statewide got together to address the needs of the black community, he said.
The AIM program, which started in Virginia, has trained about 10,000 black leaders in five states.
The Rev. Cessar Scott, executive minister for the Baptist General Convention of Virginia, said his group will address the problem of teen pregnancy over the next decade.
This weekend will be the end of training for these leaders, and the beginning of action.
State Secretary of Education James Dyke addressed the group on Friday, encouraging them to try to make a difference in the community, or with at least one person.
He spoke passionately on the need for gun control and education to a group that ranged from lawyers to morticians.
"You need to set agendas," he said. "It's time to be serious and work hard to make a change."
The fight for the black community is not over, Dyke said. "We must continue to move forward or we will see the clock turn back."
And he stressed that parental involvement was a key to the future of black youth.
Tech President James McComas spoke briefly at the meeting, saying it was the time of year to look forward. "Everyone is in a hopeful mood," he said. "But in terms of equal opportunity, these are still not the easiest times."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB