c. 1997 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ A group of African-American religious leaders Tuesday (April 8) unveiled an ambitious nationwide program to fight juvenile crime, challenging businesses and all levels of government to support its efforts to reclaim the nation’s inner cities.
Based on the approach of the Ten Point Coalition, a 43-church network formed to combat gang violence in Boston, the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation hopes to mobilize 1,000 churches by 2006 in 40 of the nation’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods.
The Rev. Eugene Rivers III, pastor at Azusa Christian Community in Dorchester, Mass., and his wife Jacqueline Cooke Rivers co-founded the national organization to expand the Boston program. They hope to raise $25 million in the next two years for”Operation 2006.””It is morally imperative that communities of faith, in particular black churches, mobilize to defend our future, which is the children,”said Rivers at a news conference.”As leaders of black churches, we are taking responsibility for our communities. But in doing so, we call on other sectors of society _ local philanthropies, individuals, business and government _ to be active and supportive partners in our efforts,”he said.
Some cities considered priorities for the national program include Philadelphia, Tampa, Fla., Detroit, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Louisville, Ky., and Chester, Pa.
Rivers said since the Boston coalition launched its program in 1992, there has been a noticeable decrease in drug-dealing and other crimes. Boston’s murder rate dropped 39 percent from 1995 to 1996.
The coalition of churches works with neighborhood police and other local organizations to reach out to inner-city youth.”The biggest obstacle facing black and brown people today is not racism or the market economy or the state,”said the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, co-founder and board chairman of the Boston coalition.”It is implosion from within.” Fighting juvenile crime will be ineffective, said Brown, if organizations fail to consider the spiritual _ not just the political and social _ aspects of the problem.
The Rev. Benjamin Smith, who has been involved in outreach to inner-city youths in his Philadelphia neighborhood for 40 years, said a faith-based perspective is central to the organization’s campaign.
Smith, a pastor at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, said churches can address the problems at the root of juvenile crime: nihilism and hopelessness.
Many young people, believing there are few jobs available for them, think the drug trade is their only option, he said.”People need to know that they’re worth something,” he said.
The ten-point plan asks churches to “adopt” gang members, send inner-city missionaries into crack houses to talk to young blacks and Latinos, sponsor enterprises to give job opportunities to teens, and keep their doors open seven days a week for children on the street.”This is not a recycled poverty pimp initiative in church drag,”Rivers said, referring to a phrase used by Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., earlier this year to criticize civil rights leaders who he said had made a career out of supporting federal welfare programs for their own advantage.”We want to produce measurable outcomes, we want to save children’s lives,”said Rivers.
Rivers called on the Republican-led Congress to help provide funding for the initiative.”This is a Republican’s dream!”he said.”It’s self-reliant, community-based, boot-strap initiative and discipline.” The National Ten Point Leadership Foundation also asked other religious groups to join in its efforts to address the root causes of juvenile crime. Rivers issued a challenge to conservative advocacy and religious groups to”put their money where their rhetoric of reconciliation has been.”He cited the Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and the evangelical men’s movement Promise Keepers.
In response, Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman for the Family Research Council (FRC), said:”I think the FRC has been very effective in putting our money where our mouth is. We’re doing a lot of partnerships in Washington, D.C., with groups like Promise Keepers and other organizations.” The Rev. Earl Jackson, coordinator of the Christian Coalition’s Samaritan Project to combat inner-city poverty, said he knew of Rivers’ programs but said the group would be considered for funding only after completing the application process.
But Rivers wants a firm commitment to produce “measurable outcomes.” He challenged the religious right to raise $10 million for inner-city ministries, adding that he wasn’t necessarily asking them to help finance the work of his group.”If they can find more worthy organizations that have more comprehensive plans and strategies they should support those,”he said.
Rivers’ coalition has already received a $750,000 pledge of support from the Institute for Civil Society, a Newton, Mass.-based organization that addresses social problems.
Andrea Camp, a senior fellow at the institute, said it supports the foundation’s “innovative approach” and hopes to increase its giving five-fold over the next year.
MJP END JONGSMA
