THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 21, 1994 TAG: 9406210373
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940621 LENGTH: NORFOLK
And, there's something more difficult to cross than the railroad tracks that divide inner-city Park Place from the vibrant shopping districts of upscale Ghent.
{REST} It's what Dorothy Fulghum calls a ``glass wall.''
These days, Fulghum talks a lot about the invisible barrier between the impoverished and affluent sections of the city. It's the theme of the city's application for a $100 million federal ``empowerment zone'' grant for revitalizing low-income neighborhoods.
Fulghum, who wrote the grant application for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, says the glass wall works like this:
From one side of the wall, poor people see commuters going to good-paying jobs in downtown or other revitalized parts of Norfolk. From the other side, the people with good jobs can see distressed inner-city neighborhoods, where poverty has entrenched itself for several generations.
``Because this is a compact city, the physical closeness of things makes it more frustrating and makes people feel more hopeless because they can see the jobs and opportunities but they can't take advantage of them,'' Fulghum said.
For a solution, the city has proposed a continuum of programs to boost the educational and skill levels of inner-city residents, thereby improving chances of getting jobs that can lift them out of poverty.
The target: 10,000 upwardly mobile jobs for inner-city residents within 10 years. Some 7,500 will be in existing businesses, the remainder in new work, such as at the proposed MacArthur Center downtown shopping mall.
``The whole idea is to match up the city's strengths with all these weaknesses,'' said David H. Rice, executive director of the redevelopment and housing authority.
The Norfolk City Council was expected to vote today to submit the city's application. Late this year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will decide.
It's becoming somewhat of a sweepstakes - HUD will designate only nine localities as empowerment zones, six urban and three rural. Norfolk and Hampton are the only Hampton Roads cities applying for the money.
Norfolk also is asking to be considered for a smaller ``enterprise community'' grant of nearly $3 million if HUD does not approve the empowerment zone.
Portsmouth, Suffolk and Northampton County in combination with Accomack County on the Eastern Shore also are seeking the smaller enterprise community grants. HUD will designate 95 areas.
Norfolk's program would begin in inner-city places such as Park Place and the Diggs Town public housing neighborhood, but it would be phased into all of Norfolk's inner-city communities.
Even if Norfolk doesn't get the empowerment grant, the application process is shaking up Norfolk's traditional ways of approaching inner-city problems.
The city already is creating public-private partnerships, similar to those that revived downtown, and apply those talents to hard-core social problems, such as multi-generational poverty, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, poor academic performance and severe unemployment.
The first partnership was a steering committee to oversee preparation of the empowerment zone application. Mayor Mason C. Andrews appointed a 20-member panel that mixed inner-city activists with business leaders, educators, city officials and politicians.
Andrea Clark, president of the Diggs Town Tenant Management Corp., is one of the four inner-city representatives. The committee experience changed her perceptions about Norfolk's business community, she said.
``Initially, I was very nervous being in that setting, but as things progressed I felt more like I was part of the team,'' Clark said. ``This also has been a process of reconciliation and forgiveness, a re-examining of our pre-conceived notions. . . values have to change on both ends.''
She also believes that Norfolk's establishment has begun to understand inner-city issues.
For example, when Fulghum developed the ``glass wall'' concept, Clark said her morale soared.
``I was really excited that someone actually realized that and felt what we felt,'' she said. ``When someone in power envisions this, it really touched my heart. I felt like our prayers were answered.''
Business leaders, too, emerged from the committee with a new perspective about inner-city life.
``I saw that people want an opportunity to achieve, that they want more than a dead-end job, they want an opportunity for personal growth,'' said Barry Bishop, executive vice president of the Greater Norfolk Corp.
The non-profit Greater Norfolk is a private-sector organization made up of city's movers and shakers. The group worked behind the scenes to help create major projects such as the Waterside marketplace and Nauticus maritime attraction.
Now, Greater Norfolk has enlisted to fight poverty. Its role, Bishop said, is to ask businesses to help provide jobs to inner-city residents.
Jobs, yes. But quotas and set-asides, no.
Norfolk's empowerment zone program would establish a computerized job bank in which businesses will list employment opportunities and the work habits they expect from potential employees.
Participating businesses also must commit to interviewing inner-city candidates.
So far, 35 businesses and institutions, such as hospitals and colleges, have pledged to join, Bishop said.
But moving from job bank to real jobs would involve another key feature - an ``urban apprenticeship'' program to be coordinated by the Norfolk campus of Tidewater Community College.
The idea, developed by Larry Whitworth, TCC president, is to help inner-city adults move upward on a four-year track of employment and education.
For example, a participant may start as a minimum-wage worker in a fast-food restaurant but would undergo other training that progressively leads to higher-paying jobs with more responsibility.
During this time, the participant's progress would be tracked by computer. Whitworth says this ``electronic transcript'' would include job appraisals, letters of recommendation, details of volunteer community service work and educational records, including from high-school equivalency courses, trade schools and colleges.
Eventually, the participant would have a lengthy portfolio that documents his or her achievements.
``The portfolio would capture a wide body of experiences that not only show that he worked in a shop at Waterside, but also a file of recommendations and evaluations, including information about his ability to get to work everyday, work cooperatively, accept constructive criticism, adapt to changes and work effectively with customers,'' Whitworth said.
TCC would operate the electronic transcript from its Norfolk campus, being developed on downtown Granby Street. Computer terminals for the job bank and electronic transcripts would be located in community centers in each inner-city neighborhood.
Also, participants would be able to take training courses and college classes from many local schools and trade programs, Whitworth said. The empowerment grant would cover tuition.
``At the end of the process, hopefully the individual would have had several jobs, each a little more complex, with more responsibility, all leading to a job that pays a living wage. . . for supporting a home and a family,'' Whitworth said. ``The whole point is to bring people into the mainstream.''
And if Norfolk does not win the $100 million empowerment jackpot?
``I think it's extremely important that Norfolk addresses the problem whether money comes or not,'' Whitworth said. ``The sentiment of nearly everyone we've talked with is `Let's do it anyway. It won't be easy, but let's figure it out.' ''
Committee members are working on ideas to expand the public-private partnership. For example, Andrea Clark foresees a role for the religious community.
There's already been some private action.
This month, the local Dalis Foundation contributed $100,000 to establish the computerized job bank. It could go into use this fall.
Inner-city residents, too, are eager to start.
Clark said: ``We've been on the outside, looking in, for a long, long time.''
{KEYWORDS} POOR DISDVANTAGED GRANT JOBLESS NORFOLK REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY
by CNB