Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 7, 1995 TAG: 9506070018
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STACY JONES STAFF WRITER|
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
CHANTEL POWELL and Maria Dunn roamed the antiseptic floors of Exhibit Hall in the Roanoke Civic Center. Stops at the water fountain, lips-to-ear gossip and nervous giggles sustained the two high-schoolers as they waited for Roanoke City Council's public hearing on the budget to begin.
Their baggy, saggy jeans and high-tops stood out in the crowd of solemn suits and practical pumps. As the meeting commenced, their message would draw attention as well.
The two were there for show and tell: To show support for their mentor, Kaye Hale, director of the West End Center; and to tell Mayor David Bowers and his municipal flock why the city needs to put more resources into its youth.
This was the last opportunity the girls, along with 11 other West End supporters, would have to sway the council before it made final its spending decisions.
``Do a favor for me,'' said Powell, looking fearlessly into the eyes of her city's leaders. ``Help the youth, and one day we will return the favor.''
Powell is not the first, nor will she be the last, to plead with the city government for financial support. However, some of the city's youth leaders say it's not just a matter of money.
``I think the city has done all it can,'' said Millard Bolden, program director at the YMCA Family Center on Orange Avenue. He talked while driving to pick up student volunteers in the family center's 1977 Ford van, which lacks upholstery and is abundantly rusted. ``They get hurt from federal cuts, such as block grants, which start from federal money.''
In a perfect world, it would be great for the city to put more money toward youth services. But in this blemished society, he said, energies should be focused not on blame, but on how to help youth with the resources at hand. And he believes that if everyone did their part - the individuals, churches and businesses of Roanoke - those resources would be immense.
For example, Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Roanoke Valley could accommodate some of the 40 kids on its waiting list if it had more volunteers, said Shelly Foster, a caseworker for the organization.
``People, in general, have a disease called `excuse-itis,''' Bolden continued. ``But the time is coming where we can no longer sit back in our comfort zones.
``Either you prepare your future leaders on a day-to-day basis," he warned, "or the streets prepare them.''
Among other things, Bolden coordinates the Y's after-school Drop-in Program for approximately 100 kids, kindergarten through fifth-grade, who live in Roanoke's public housing.
The 3-year-old program, which serves the Lincoln Terrace, Blue Stone, Lansdowne and Gainsboro areas, transports the children from their various schools to the Jefferson Gym. There they are fed, treated to recreation and field trips, and provided tutors and study time to complete homework assignments.
The $40,000 annual budget for the five-day-a-week program is funded entirely by United Way.
City assistance to the West End Center, by contrast, amounted to 10 percent of its $198,000 budget for 1995 (up from 3 percent of its $168,000 budget for 1994). The city's Citizens Service Committee, which recommends funding amounts for social service organizations, has proposed $26,800 for continuous youth programs in 1996. Of that, $20,000 would go to the West End Center and $6,800 would be divided between Big Brothers-Big Sisters and the Inner City Athletic Association.
The West End Center was opened 15 years ago through the efforts of West End Presbyterian Church, West End Methodist Church and the Mount View Neighborhood Alliance. Its first gatherings were held in an old house behind the founding Presbyterian church. In the center's infancy about 85 percent of its budget came from churches. Today, Hale estimates that church contributions account for 25 percent of West End's annual budget. The remaining 75 percent hole will be filled by individual donations, grants, businesses and the public money.
Currently, West End is expanding. Renovations on its quarters at 13th Street and Patterson Avenue - acquired with a $50,000 Community Development Block Grant from the city - will provide space for tutoring, a staff office and activities for teens. Two nearby parking lots are also scheduled to be redone for the center's use.
Still, Hale is far from satisfied.
``This year is a start,'' said Hale, whose center serves around 115 youth each weekday. ``But that's all it is.
``We must insist our city government help us - not do it for us - but help us,'' she said.
While the center is not in danger of closing, Hale said, ``We are spread thin to meet the needs of the kids we have.'' Public funding would provide the stabilization the center wants, she said.
``City money is not going where citizens say they want it to go, to what they think is important,'' Hale added.
Judy Flanagan, who runs youth programs at The Salvation Army Community Center Southeast, said the lack of money from the city government isn't the problem. There are a lot of programs aimed at youth, she said, but people aren't taking advantage of them.
``I think the city has everything a child would need,'' Flanagan said. ``Many people just don't know what's here.
``It's hard to keep saying lets bring something else up when we can work with what we have.''
According to Marion Vaughn-Howard, who heads the city's Office on Youth, Flanagan is right on target. The problems lie in miscommunication and a misguided focus, said Vaughn-Howard, whose office helps find funding for area youth programs and events.
``With city dollars drying up, we're going to have to be more creative,'' she said. ``And creativity comes in people, not necessarily in getting more staff or bigger buildings.''
``We've created a monster that money is everything,'' Vaughn-Howard said. ``There is a difference between need and want. There are a lot of things we want for our children, but we have to be realistic and look at our needs.''
Although Kaye Hale is adamant that the city do its part, she concedes that more support from the community - monetary, in-kind or man-hours - would prevent her from having to put kids on a waiting list. With a staff of seven and a finite budget, Hale must limit the number of children to make sure there is enough money to cover supplies, food and other expenses for each participating child.
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Keith Farmer, who runs Straight Street, an organization that holds weekend events for youth aged 12-19, gets zero funding from the city because his organization is Christian-based. Yet he has managed to carve out resources, monetary and otherwise.
According to Farmer, who stresses that the kids who attend Straight Street don't have to be church-goers, ``the city can put out some programs but the responsibility still falls back on the church and individuals.'' He recommended using the city in another way.
``Even though the city can't support us, they have a wealth of knowledge,'' Farmer said. For example, the city can help find other funding options or provide information on available buildings.
``We can still work together because they can offer something other than money,'' he said.
In the eyes of some youth workers, the one invaluable offering the black community could make is its time.
``I consider it one of my biggest failures that I have not been able to recruit minority volunteers to serve as role models,'' said Hale.
``I have made attempts and got some response,'' she said. ``But I certainly didn't get the number that is indicative of the population we serve - which is 95 percent black.''
Of West End's 200-plus tutors and volunteers, approximately 10 percent are black. Other programs have similar stories.
Why? There are a number of theories.
``My guess has been that the minority population in Roanoke has to work just a little bit harder to get ahead," offered Hale. "That may be a factor, the time factor.
"And those who have made it don't want to look back,'' she said.
``A lot of people are rising to address the problems,'' said Bolden. ``But a lot of them aren't black.''
More of the black community is ``spending time developing lifestyles and missing the responsibility of raising our youth,'' he added. ``My personal solution is to re-educate the community and let them know everyone has to play a part.''
Insisting that she wasn't making excuses, Vaughn-Howard said ``a lack of knowing how to help and frustration that it won't make a difference'' has kept many in the black community from getting involved.
She quickly pointed out that ``these programs are community-based, not color-based'' and that it isn't the black community alone that is not pulling its weight.
``If we're going to be the shining star we say we are, it's important for our future that all communities - black, white, Asian - work together,'' she said.
Some believe area churches could do a better of job of using their resources - such as buildings, people and community influence - to help youth.
Although most churches have youth programs, they usually operate infrequently and are religion-oriented (like youth retreats) or focused toward church members.
``There is room for improvement,'' said Harry Curtis, a volunteer team leader for the YMCA's Partnership for Youth campaign, which seeks funding for various YMCA programs.
However, churches may be doing more than we think, he said.
``It may seem that they [churches] are not showing a lot of public support, but they're busy doing their own thing in their own church.''
Perhaps that is not enough.
``One church cannot solve the problems of the city,'' said the Rev. William Whitaker II of High Street Baptist Church, which offers tutoring, athletics and mentors. ``We need to bring all the churches together and impact the city that way.''
``Our generation may not see an end to [youth problems], but we need to get something started,'' he said.
So far, there has not been much headway. At least, not enough to satisfy Bolden.
``I think the church meets the needs of their own congregation,'' he said. ``But as far as meeting the needs of their communities, I don't think they're doing it.''
``Instead of going to the community, they expect the community to come to them,'' Bolden continued. ``They have forgotten that the church is in the business of serving.''
To emphasize that point, Bolden noted that most of the YMCA's activities used to be offered through churches. Now they are run primarily through the schools.
He has yet to give up and is actively courting area congregations.
``I will explain what I'm trying to do and give them the opportunity to assist,'' he said.
Rev. Whitaker doesn't think the churches should be maligned, but nor does he believe everything that could be done is being done. He asks everyone, not just churches or the black community, ``to look at the conditions of our children.''
``When you look at that you can't help but be disturbed,'' he said.
His solution is to honestly confront the issues.
``Unless all our houses come together, everyone's house is going to be in trouble,'' he predicted.
by CNB