THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507280228
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
- Margaret Mead
How often have we heard that idea expressed in one way or another. How seldom do we believe it - or see it in positive action.
But here in Portsmouth we have a perfect example of what a small group of good people can do.
The Portsmouth Community Development Group's annual meeting Thursday at the Commodore once again was testimony to importance of individuals with commitment.
How many times have you heard the question, ``What's Maury Cooke up to now?''
I get asked with great regularity, often by skeptics who either do not know what he has accomplished or are ill-informed about the organization he started.
In 1990, when PCDG was started, the group adopted a motto, ``People helping people build strong communities.'' The focus was to build community by building homes for families.
The first efforts were in Prentis Place, a deteriorated neighborhood where good people were being overrun by those with no respect for either themselves or others.
From one house to a few houses to a dozen, PCDG has started something in Prentis Place. In addition to the homes it has rehabilitated for owner occupancy, about 50 others have been renovated by other groups or by private owners. The neighborhood is returning.
From building houses and neighborhoods, the group moved to other projects: development of cottage industries, which has created any number of small new businesses for the city, and arts and culture which has brought many children to a greater understanding of not only arts but of themselves.
Currently, the group is concentrating on the 600 block of High St. The Large Brothers Cafe already is thriving in one of the previously abandoned storefronts. Antique shops, artists and galleries are scheduled to open within the coming year.
One of the large storefront spaces will become the Urban Arts Center, a cultural headquarters for the entire city providing space for rehearsals and performances.
The most visible cultural activity has been the steel drum project started last year and continuing this year. PCDG has brought in expert teachers from Trinidad and Tobago who are dedicated to the Portsmouth project. The Pan Parrot Steel Band, featuring some youngsters who just started playing three weeks ago, performed Thursday at the annual meeting. Once again, I was amazed. The level of proficiency reached by the youngsters in so short a time is little short of a miracle.
For those not interested in playing steel drums or dancing, PCDG has organized bicycle trips - last year from Maine to Virginia; this year from Maryland along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Now another volunteer group is forming a Youth Boat Club to use a 74-foot oyster boat as a place for learning about the environment and marine life of the area.
The organization has gone from assets totalling $158,000 in 1992 to $934,000 in 1994.
But while the financial aspects of the organization are important to those who measure success only by the bottom line, the more important part of the report is what the group has accomplished for human beings.
Of course, any good and successful small business person will tell you that if you do the right thing, the business will grow and that is exactly what has happened to Maury Cooke's group.
Cooke was one of the city's earliest exponents of Total Quality Management. He has applied TQM principles along with a mix of simple but powerful philosophical thought to building the organization.
Of course, Cooke always gives all the credit to other people and there's no doubt that others work very hard. But, without Maury Cooke, the Portsmouth Community Development Group might not even exist and certainly would not be quite so successful.
He is committed to change and to building a better community.
``I believe our greatest contribution over the next decade will be showing the power of blacks and whites working together and how much more we can accomplish together rather that independently,'' Cooke wrote in an introduction to an annual report.
To that we should all say, ``Amen!'' by CNB