THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505210050
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
The day after she moved herself and her three children out of public housing, Gladys Cross-Mills was back Saturday hanging out with a group of public housing residents.
It wasn't because she already missed her old neighbors. Instead, she was one of the planners who organized a Leadership Training Conference designed to boost other public housing residents trying to improve their lives.
Cross-Mills, 42, said she always thought that you had to be born to lead. She didn't realize folks like herself could ever take on the role of teacher, leader and success story.
What finally pushed her into the role was boredom and a rare opportunity.
Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the city's Community Services Board had won a grant that allowed officials a chance to put on a public housing summit. The gathering was designed to find ways to decrease crime and drug abuse in public housing. Tenants were invited to participate.
``They identified what was missing - why there were these problems,'' said Linda Lewis, the program's coordinator. ``There was no quality of life.''
Lewis said the group wanted more youth programs, employment opportunities, more men involved in public housing, more programs for senior citizens and a better relationship between the housing authority and residents.
To get those things, they knew they needed training. From there, the Leadership Training Conference was born.
Lewis and others went door to door looking for participants. One of the public housing managers recommended Cross-Mills.
``I didn't expect the changes that have happened in my life,'' Cross-Mills said. ``I was bored with nothing to do. I hadn't been hunting for a job, I figured that's the way things were supposed to be.''
Cross-Mills said she had ``kind of low self-esteem. It taught me to have better self-esteem,'' she said. ``I got a job with the Pines Treatment Center as an LPN (nurse).''
Cross-Mills said she's grateful that she's ahead of welfare reform. Several residents who attended Saturday's conference at Hunt-Mapp Middle School, voiced fears of the state's proposed reforms.
Since that first series of classes, Portsmouth has held two other leadership training courses that have produced a total of 50 graduates. Saturday was the first all-day conference, put together largely by the graduates. There are four others, who like Cross-Mills are former residents, Lewis said.
A dozen public housing residents, like Jewell Roberts and Valarie Johnson, have become trained in the state's Literacy Passport Test and work in their public housing communities tutoring children. The women, graduates of past training programs, also helped organize Saturday's event.
Johnson said the conferences have given her ``direction'' in her job hunt and ``a desire to get out of public housing and into home ownership.''
A contingent of residents from Suffolk's public housing traveled to Portsmouth on Saturday to attend the conference and take back ideas.
``The Suffolk Resident Council is trying to do innovative things within public housing,'' said Patricia Briggs, president of the group.
Geraldine Diggs, a housing manager in Suffolk, said the group had learned a lot from the training session, which included courses on education and skills training, financial aid for education and training, health care, health insurance, employment, budgeting, domestic violence, child support, mental health, housing services and nutrition.
``With welfare reform and the family self-sufficiency act, this is important,'' Diggs said. ``We hope to be able to share what we've learned and prepare our residents for the impact.''
They have personal stories to take back, too - stories of women who learned their self-worth through the training programs.
Gloria Mark, who works for the Portsmouth Community Development Group, was on and off welfare for 17 years. She said she had several jobs with the government, but they were all temporary with little pay. There were gaps when she received no money and bills piled up.
Mark, a college graduate, finally decided to do volunteer work in something she enjoyed. That led her to the Portsmouth Community Development Group, a nonprofit agency designed to help build community and invest in low-income and struggling neighborhoods and businesses.
After eight months, Mark was offered a job. She had regained her confidence to the point that when she was offered the job at minimum wage, she said no and then negotiated a better salary. ``Since then I've even gotten a raise and a promotion,'' Mark told the group.
She also has gotten out of public housing and become a first-time home-owner. As part of her job responsibilities with the community development group, Mark has assisted 30 other families in becoming first-time homeowners.
``We're going to do what we can to make others successful,'' Mark told the participants. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
Although Gladys Cross-Mills and her son Chavarr recently moved out
of public housing, she participated in the summit.
by CNB