Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 24, 1995 TAG: 9508240064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The grants brought to more than $4.2 million the amount the agency has awarded under a program that seeks to engage thousands of citizens in structured discussions - in church basements, libraries, union halls and retirement homes - about what it means to be an American.
The idea is the brainchild of agency Chairman Sheldon Hackney, a former president of the University of Pennsylvania. He said he hoped the country could pay heed to what unites it at a time when what divides it gets most of the attention.
``The subject is elusive, but it is very important,'' Hackney said in announcing his plan in 1993. ``If the conversation works well, we will stake out some common ground, and by doing that we will make it possible to celebrate more fully the variations among us that play against each other and reinforce each other to produce a dynamic national identity.''
Grants have been made to groups in 160 communities in 41 states. The largest new grant, $383,000, went to the American Library Association to support 100 conversations in 20 states on people's views of work in an examination of American values.
Reflecting the wide range of awards were two $40,000 grants: one to Tufts University for a series of weekly meetings of people from Somerville, Mass., of various ethnic backgrounds to discuss the immigrant experience, and the other to the Alaska Humanities Forum for seven town hall forums ``about Anchorage as a unique Pacific Rim community in order to explore how American institutions are faring in the country's last frontier.''
by CNB