THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604090150
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEROME L. WILLIAMS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
In 1992, a former member of the California-based ``Coalition for Equality'' moved from San Diego to the ``slower paced'' Virginia Beach.
Before arriving with his wife, Angela, and three children, this former coalition member hoped to escape the fast-paced, often violent environment of the big city where the business group was trying to make a positive difference.
g1vbmulti Davis
Although escaping some of San Diego's violence, Walter Davis, a senior chief petty officer in the Navy, soon found himself involved in a fast-paced environment of his own creation.
In addition to being on active duty and owning his own marketing business, Davis has founded the Hampton Roads Coalition For Equality Business Network. Since last September, he already has enlisted more than 80 businesses to the coalition, which he hopes will make a positive contribution to Hampton Roads.
``We want to establish an economic and political platform through this network,'' he said. ``We also want to make Hampton Roads a better place to live.''
Echoing Davis' sentiments, coalition member Pamela Joyner adds: ``The network will become a vehicle for community enhancement through our various philanthropic activities. We're also emerging as a driving force for promoting new and established businesses.''
Joyner is owner of Added Touch, a fashion accessories business for men and women. She said that she has gained more advertising and networking skills through the coalition. ``I've always wanted to be a part of an organization which promotes business awareness,'' she said.
``The meetings are very inspiring,'' she continued. ``I find myself filled with so many ideas and new directions that I stay up for hours afterward.''
To accomplish the task of making a positive community impact, the organization has plans to build a Drug Rehabilitation Center with the New Life Development Church in Norfolk as well as raise money for Sickle Cell Anemia.
Upcoming projects also include starting a ``Jazz Brunch'' series of concerts at the Town Point Club, where the group holds its regular meetings.
Most of the group's meetings are held at 6 p.m. Thursdays at the downtown Norfolk club, including one this week. The cost is $7 per family or business.
Although the membership roster has yet to be finalized, Davis considers the coalition to be ``multicultural.''
Having lived as a child in Birmingham, Ala., during the civil rights movement, he has many reasons to idealize multiculturalism.
``Many of my friends were lynched and castrated during this period in Alabama,'' he recalled. ``My father was even murdered.''
In 1963, these events reached a horrendous climax when on Sept. 15, the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed, killing four girls.
``I was 7 years old at the time of that incident,'' Davis said. ``Some of the kids who were killed normally carpooled with my family.
``It was really hard not to hate,'' he admitted. ``My family would tell me not to hate when I was a kid, but my experiences nevertheless made me a violent teenager.''
His later involvement in counseling as a Navy drug and alcohol counselor helped him.
``As a counselor, I learned that hate kills the hater,'' he said. ``Those that hate us never win until we hate them back.''
It was this knowledge that led him to conduct multicultural tolerance seminars throughout the country. His experiences also encouraged him to start the business network with a similar multicultural slant.
Now as owner of Marketing Strategies, a company that assists small businesses in various marketing capacities, Davis describes his present life as being good.
``Virginia Beach is a nicer area to raise a family than on the West Coast,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Davis
KEYWORDS: SMALL BUSINESS by CNB