THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997           TAG: 9702220311
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: RALEIGH                           LENGTH:   37 lines

IN RALEIGH, CHRISTIAN COALITION'S REED TALKS OF GROUP'S GOALS TO AID INNER CITIES

The Christian Coalition will shift its focus from anti-abortion protests and establishing school prayer to reaching out to the poor, the leader of the conservative group said.

On a visit to Raleigh on Thursday, Ralph Reed promoted the coalition's new Samaritan Project, which will try to address the problems of inner cities by fighting poverty, illegitimacy and drug abuse through a combination of private and public efforts.

As part of the project, the coalition is urging Congress to support empowerment zones, which provide tax relief for new jobs in poverty areas; scholarships for kids trapped in tough, dangerous inner-city schools; and $500 tax credits for ministries that work with the poor.

``Our purpose is to demonstrate that as people of faith, we are not mere political actors,'' Reed told more than 100 members of the John Locke Foundation at a reception at the Velvet Cloak Inn.

The Chesapeake, Va.-based Christian Coalition claims more than 2 million members.

On Sept. 30, the welfare bill takes effect and many people who have been on welfare for two years will lose their assistance, Reed said. In some large cities there will be 25,000 to 100,000 people who will go off welfare immediately.

``We just can't be anti-welfare,'' Reed said. ``We have to be positive and pro-jobs growth, -opportunity, -faith and -family. Our agenda shouldn't be a negative anti-agenda. It should be a pro-family, pro-hope agenda.

``If anyone is denied a chance at the American dream, then we are all the less for it.''

KEYWORDS: CHRISTIAN COALITION RALPH REED