THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510270497
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IN THE CITIES
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
In the past six months, Denise Wilson, single mother and 10th-grade dropout, found courage to resume her education, break self-destructive habits and improve her parenting skills.
Wilson, 27, stopped smoking marijuana and cursing at her three children. She changed from short, tight skirts to more modest attire, and she renewed her faith in God.
But the change with greatest potential may be this: Wilson discovered she can help other residents of her Tidewater Garden public housing neighborhood.
Wilson found help at the Urban Discovery Ministries learning center in the Hunton YMCA. She's now a tutor-mentor there for neighbors.
``This has elevated and motivated me even more,'' said Wilson, who hopes to parlay her newly tapped energies into going to college to become a teacher or counselor.
This is more than an example of someone taking small but steady steps toward a big goal. It also goes beyond volunteerism.
It's about neighborhoods renewing themselves from within. That happens when citizens discover their own positive value to the community and learn to build on that.
Others report similar changes.
Diggs Town resident Jerome Walton, 26, joined Men on the Move at the Berkley-Campostella Early Childhood Education Center. The group is one of the few to focus on issues facing inner-city men, their roles and responsibilities.
Walton's community activities include volunteering at an all-boys pre-school class. He wears a tie to reinforce grooming habits.
``You can see actual results, and you can see the transformations taking place, not only in the children but within their families and within the total community,'' principal Cheryl Bunch said.
Norfolk policy makers are only beginning to appreciate the depth of untapped potential in citizens like Denise Wilson and Jerome Walton. But they're still groping.
Elzie Stewart of Tidewater Gardens was frustrated with a recent ``visioning session'' of Norfolk's public-housing task force. He tried to push beyond conventional thinking about inner-city revitalization.
``If you can put back faith, if you can put back hope where there's no hope, then you can bring everything else to reality,'' he said.
But the panel focused on such things as the amount of rent tenants should pay, possible time limits on leases and how to modernize public housing. No doubt, the issues are important to good management in an era of reduced federal funding.
But to Stewart, the task force wasn't addressing basic aspirations of residents, including the desire to be wanted by the rest of the city. ``If you feel like you're not part of the team, that you're not wanted or needed, you don't participate,'' he said. ``You feel like you have no foundation to escalate on.''
But which comes first? Getting connected to the general community, or being valued by it? And is there a way to answer this conundrum without bogging down in finger-pointing arguments over who's to blame, individuals or society?
One way may be to focus on contributions that citizens make to their communities.
While not ignoring problems, it builds on strengths instead of always reminding people about weaknesses.
``The cornerstone of any kind of community development has to begin with approaching people . . . about what skills, what gifts they have to bring to the table,'' said Robert Woodson of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington.
Take a broader view of leadership, says Harry C. Boyte of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota.
``Find the invisible leaders, the people who are the heart of networks . . Boyte said. ``When you build on people's interests, you unleash a lot of energy.''
Look for natural, self-supporting networks that often hold together a community, he says. Consider even ``neighborhood grandmothers,'' who watch over others' children.
Still, there's much uncertainty about how to parlay such information into community improvement.
``What's everyone willing to commit? That's a conversation I'd love to have,'' said James G. Stockard Jr., a public-housing consultant who has advised Norfolk's task force.
While praising successful grass-roots efforts across the nation, he believes most have trouble sustaining because of funding problems, too few skilled leaders and volunteers, and a lack of commitment from local governments.
There are signs that the task force will look for more Denise Wilsons and Jerome Waltons - and try learning from them.
City Councilman Herbert M. Collins Sr., whose harsh criticism of public housing last year led to creation of the task force, now apologizes for not knowing about programs like Urban Discovery or Men on the Move. As task force co-chairman, he promises to seek more information.
Meanwhile, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority has started to track tenant accomplishments through household interviews, as well as inventory the needs and problems.
But residents need a role in this work. It would be a valuable self-help project itself and help make the achievements more visible within the communities.
It also would be a step toward what Denise Wilson means when she says: ``The community itself has to take back their community.'' by CNB