THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 15, 1995 TAG: 9511150212
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
How's this advice for solving neighborhood problems: Don't look to experts for answers.
That was the major message coming out of a daylong ``Healthy Community Summit'' at Norfolk State University on Tuesday.
``This is not a blue-ribbon panel. We're not creating a blue-ribbon report,'' said Jackson H. Pope, an organizer of the conference. ``We're it. And we need you.''
As dozens of Hampton Roads citizens conferred over the area's problems and brainstormed ideas, they kept returning to the same theme of looking to neighborhoods for solutions.
``Community involvement is not something tangential to our work,'' said keynote speaker Tyler Norris of the National Civic League, based in Denver. ``It's not `a nice thing to do.' It's not just `the right thing to do.' It's the only way we're going to get things done. Communities know what their problems are, and they have a pretty darn good sense of what the solutions are.
``The bigger question is: How do we develop the community will to do it?''
Norris said activists can get more people involved by listening carefully to neighborhood residents, building on small victories and celebrating each step toward goals.
The conference sought to foster more ideas by convening a cross section of Hampton Roads citizens. Chad Gilbert of Hampton's Wythe neighborhood took the cue, promoting his city's Neighborhood College program for activists.
Conference participants broke into committees to discuss issues such as crime, education, jobs, housing, recreation and community aesthetics. Many pledged to continue working together over the next year.
``This made me want to reach out to other neighborhoods,'' said B.J. Stancel, president of Norfolk's Park Place Civic League.
The conference was sponsored by Plan 2007, a regionalism project spearheaded by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. by CNB