THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 6, 1995 TAG: 9507010195
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: In the Neighborhoods
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
It's interesting to see how ideas bubble up. Here are a few:
``Citizens Helping Citizens.'' That's the name of a free, all-day training conference - on July 15 - for volunteers who work with people addicted to narcotics, alcohol or nicotine or who meet them in other types of community work.
``You are the unsung heroes to be found in staffing soup kitchens, church outreach ministries and as volunteers in shelters, food pantries and other resource outlets,'' Ron Pritchard, a substance-abuse counselor, said in a flier.
The training is aimed at augmenting the skills of volunteers so they can ``more effectively identify, intervene and refer clients in need,'' Pritchard said.
The meeting will include a discussion of strategies that volunteers can take to their communities.
The July 15 program, hosted by the Community Services Board, will be in Webb Center, Old Dominion University. Call Ron Pritchard at 441-5930.
Y'all American. Norfolk didn't win an All American City award from the National Civic League this year, but folks who participated came away with new ideas.
``The whole purpose of the All-American City thing is to recognize citizen participation in solving community problems, in effect citizens working with government and the total community,'' said Assistant City Manager George Crawley. He led a diverse, 62-member contingent of officials and residents to Cleveland, Ohio, where the nationwide contest was held in June.
Norfolk's entries were East Ocean View redevelopment, PACE community policing and the CINCH childhood-immunization project.
However, the Norfolk contingent found that most of the 10 winning cities featured more grass-roots involvement and an emphasis on regional partnerships.
``The trend this year definitely was grass-roots participation in economic development or in regional activities or in education,'' Crawley said. He acknowledged that City Hall needs to emphasize citizen participation even in selection of projects future contests.
Don Williams, a Willoughby activist and planning commissioner, has a suggestion:
Ask all Norfolk civic leagues to nominate community projects that exemplify citizen participation. Groups may nominate themselves or any grass-roots organization.
Then, a jury of people from outside Norfolk would choose several winners for City Hall to consider for entry in the national contest.
All this would promote idea swapping among civic leagues, something that Williams believes is greatly needed despite progress through groups like PACE.
Williams speaks from experience. His trip to Cleveland enabled him to meet some other Norfolk neighborhood leaders for the first time, such as B.J. Stancel, president of the Park Place Civic League.
Crawley likes Williams' idea. ``The whole thing is supposed to be grass-roots participation. It behooves us to involve them at the front end,'' he said. ``It will serve us well for long-term cohesion.''
Cohesion! Everyone in Norfolk's delegation wore matching colors - blue shorts, pants or skirts, red belts and baseball-style caps, and white golf shirts with the city's Partnership Power logo.
``We were in our Norfolk uniforms from the time of arrival to the banquet Saturday night, 2 1/2 days,'' said Crawley. His code name for the mission was ``Trip Captain.''
What price near-glory? City Hall and other public agencies spent almost $50,000 on the All American contest, including travel, hotels and meals for most of the delegates.
But consider: Lumberton, N.C., population 20,000, sent 106 people. by CNB