THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280242
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 49 lines
The nation's largest association of black churches announced a $12 million church rebuilding and arson-prevention initiative on Monday.
Officials of the Congress of National Black Churches Inc. announced that $6 million will come from a grant from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Foundation.
The officials said the rest of the money would come from public and private-sector ``partners'' and through a fund-raising drive.
At a news conference at the National Press Club, Bishop John Hurst Adams, founder of the organization, said about $3 million of the money will be used over the next three years to rebuild or repair some 50 black or multiracial churches in the South. Fire-retardant materials will be used in the work.
Adams and other officials said the rest of the fund will be used to provide black churches with anti-arson security systems and for educational efforts to increase understanding and reconciliation in communities where churches have been burned.
The effort will begin with pilot programs in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Eventually, projects will be started in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia.
The church association said that in a typical church burning, there is a financial gap of about $150,000 unpaid by insurance or other resources. And it said it hopes to fill that gap at the 50 churches it will select for help.
But Adams also stressed the project's goal to reach out to communities, especially to young people, in an educational effort to bring church burnings to a halt.
``We hope we can begin the new millennium without this issue being a threat to persons or property,'' Adams said.
Adams said that federal, state and local authorities have identified 318 churches that were destroyed by fire between Jan. 1, 1995, and the end of 1996. But he and other officials said the number is subject to constant change. They said that through the end of August, authorities have identified some 70 churches with black or multiracial congregations where race may have been the motive for arson.
An equal number of fires have been reported at white churches in the region, where white churches outnumber black churches.
Seven months ago, President Clinton ordered the Justice and Treasury departments to oversee investigations into church burnings.
The National Church Arson Task Force reported last week that since that step, authorities have made 104 arrests, eight times the previous rate.
Clinton reported last week that $10 million in federal loan guarantees have helped the rebuilding effort.