
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 8, 1994                   TAG: 9407120022
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SYMPOSIUM ADDRESSES COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION

Talk of community revitalization in Roanoke never has seemed to get much beyond just that - talk, said Martin Jeffrey, community development and outreach director for Total Action Against Poverty.

"What I found was a pervading mentality of complacency," Jeffrey said. "Too often, we look at things in a vacuum. We needed something to stimulate the existing discussion, to get more people involved."

Roanoke needed someone who could help convert talk into at least the beginnings of action, Jeffrey said. Three months ago, he contacted two people he knew could deliver.

His plans "hit the fast track" three weeks ago and resulted this week in a two-day symposium on communities, leadership and volunteer development.

The symposium was led by Robert Goodwin - executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Points of Light Foundation in Washington - and Anthony Jeffrey, a social planner and coordinator of Community Development Block Grant programs for Detroit.

At a town meeting Thursday called "Leadership & Volunteerism - Revival for Survival," both symposium leaders outlined the steps toward community revitalization - how individuals, churches, businesses and community organizations could work to improve their communities - and the role of volunteers in that effort.

"Changing communities is a long-term process," Goodwin said. "It has to be for the long haul."

Anthony Jeffrey encouraged the small group gathered in the Henry Street Music Center to approach revitalization first by exploring community assets, then looking at community needs.

He encouraged people to think "action rather than reaction." When crack cocaine first hit Detroit, neighborhoods did not react fast enough, he said.

"It affected teen-agers, housing, economy - so many areas of our lives. Why? Because we waited and reacted," Jeffrey said.

He encouraged people first to tap resources within their communities rather than looking externally - people, their income, churches, community associations and businesses.

The symposium - co-sponsored by TAP and the Council of Community Services - will continue today with a breakfast for ministers, a luncheon for volunteers, service providers and neighborhood leaders and a reception open to the public.

For further information call 345-6781, extension 372.

by CNB