ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606170026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
WHETHER THE ISSUE IS VOTING, education, parenting or self-esteem, Rebuilding the Black Community aims to do just that.
Alexir Hairston borrowed light from a street-front window Saturday as he sketched out ideas for a mural that would adorn the entrance to Rebuilding the Black Community's new learning center on Roanoke's Melrose Avenue.
Closely watching Hairston, who is a graphic artist for CMT Sporting Goods, was young Raphael Phillips, who admitted to an interest in art himself. He smiled shyly and knowingly when it was suggested that Raphael was surely a good name for an artist.
Adults working with kids, like Hairston's work with Raphael, is to a large extent what Rebuilding the Black Community, a new civic group, is all about.
"We want to develop our own communities," Hairston said, "and that means focusing on the children; they are our future."
Born out of the excitement and commitment to community generated by October's Million Man March on Washington, D.C., RBC is dedicated to the notion of self-help for Roanoke's black community.
"There's no secret we have big, big problems in the black community," said RBC member James Brown, who works at Roanoke Regional Airport. "This organization is about doing something about them. We're not going to sit back, and we're not going to cry to the government [for help].''
On Saturday, the group held a grand opening at the learning center at 2310 Melrose Ave. N.W., next door to the Roanoke Tribune. The newspaper's publisher, Claudia Whitworth, has provided the building to the group rent-free.
A steady stream of well-wishers, including several Roanoke police officers and people from out of town, stopped by the center. Visitors had a chance to fill out voter registration forms or view exhibits set up by Roanoke's City Library, Redevelopment and Housing Authority and Department of Parks and Recreation, among others.
At one table, RBC was asking visitors with special talents and skills to sign up with the group's tutorial program. RBC plans to use the program not only to help school children with their homework but also to provide anyone a chance to learn new skills.
The center will be host to parenting classes, GED classes and many male-to-male and female-to-female group activities centered on various social issues, RBC President Tony Reed said.
"Through education, we ought to be able to get some results," he said.
City agencies see RBC as another avenue for getting information about their services out to the black community.
The library will work with RBC on a story-telling program and believes the group can reach more children, said Demetria Tucker, the library's youth service coordinator and an RBC member. Tucker was signing people up for library cards and handing out literature on the library.
"They have the kids, and we need them to come into the public library," she said.
Another good thing about the RBC is that it provides a source of role models for young black males, said Robert Kelly of Christiansburg.
"You've got some men taking action," Kelly said. In school, because most of the teachers are women, "all a young man sees, if he doesn't have a father, is women."
Aminda Al-Hindi, a social worker with the Roanoke school system, recalled a community center similar to RBC's in the Philadelphia neighborhood where she grew up. ``[The center] is a wonderful idea," said Al-Hindi, who is not an RBC member.
In Philadelphia, she recalled, there were always adults around to give kids some positive direction if they were having problems. These days, when mothers and fathers often both work, the center can be of value not just to kids from single-parent families but to kids from all families, she said.
"It's a wonderful diversionary tool to keep kids from being out there [on the streets],'' she said.
It's hard for kids to stand alone, resist negative peer pressure and do the right thing, because they want to fit in, Hairston said. "That's what we're here for, because they can fit in with us," he said.
Brown pointed out that those working with RBC aren't seeking individual recognition and that the organization is not associated with any political party or any one religion. "We are not going to be in the hip pockets of anyone."
"I feel deeply," he said, "that it's going to work."
To become involved with RBC's efforts, call Lisa Preston, an officer of the group, at 344-8163, or the Roanoke Tribune at 343-0326.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff Raphael Phillips (left) andby CNBAlexir Hairston talk Saturday about painting a mural for the new
learning center. Color.