Group is up, but not quite running
By ADAM TAYLOR, The News Journal
Posted Monday, March 5, 2007
The organization has offices at the United Way at 625 N. Orange St. It has a phone number, 573-3776, for people to reach it. But its Web site, www. wilmingtonhopecommission.org, still lists outdated information.
Once people learn of the new phone number, either Provey Powell, the commission's $100,000-per-year executive director, or his newly hired Executive Assistant Debra Jackson Spence should be at the other end of the line. Spence said the Web site will soon be updated.
In a report last week to the City Council's Education, Youth and Families Committee, Powell said the new commission is still in the planning stages and isn't ready to take action on its goals yet. He said the holidays and recent inclement weather have slowed things down. Also, he said, the newest version of the organization is still brand new.
"Ninety days is 90 days. That's not a lot of time," he said.
Nonetheless, the commission already has received a $100,000 donation from Bank of America and made some progress in organizing itself administratively.
Three new commission members have been named, bringing the body to 18: Christina School District Superintendent Lillian Lowery; Nnamdi Chukwuocha, a member of the "Twin Poets" performance group and a youth worker at Kingswood Community Center, and Deneen Stewart, an attorney at ING Direct.
The group also has established its bylaws and named as co-chairmen Tony Allen, communications executive at Bank of America, and Michael Purzycki, executive director of the Riverfront Development Corp.
There has not been any significant criticism of the commission's slow start -- at least not openly. Yet.
Commission member Derrick Johnson, pastor of Joshua Harvest Church, said in December that things weren't moving fast enough. He would not comment for this article.
Powell, a Hockessin resident, said he understands that the commission's work is important, that his position is a high-profile one, that expectations are high and that people want fast action.
"But we're looking for a long-term fix," he said. "So we appreciate the patience and support."
Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker, while saying he's not upset at the commission's slow-but-steady pace, intimated that it's time for action.
"You can't look at the whole problem and try to solve it completely because that will take forever and will never happen," he said. "You've got to pick a spot for the pilot Hope Zone and try some things and see what works. If it doesn't work, then try something else, but just do it."
Baker created the commission in 2005, the year after nearly 100 people were shot in Wilmington, the second-most in the city's history.
The group was charged with finding ways to reduce the poverty-based root causes of violent crime. The commission released a report last year that called for solutions including more effective community policing, hiring social workers to talk with young men on dangerous drug corners and creating Hope Zones in high-crime areas where high concentrations of social services would be offered.
The original commission disbanded as planned after the report was issued. The new commission is charged with putting the plan into action. Existing government programs and nonprofit groups will be doing most of the work, while the commission will oversee the efforts and attempt to raise money from private sources.
The commission, which will not be connected to the government, has received $525,000 in commitments from city and state governments as well as the Delaware Community Foundation, a philanthropic group. The city government has pledged an additional $1 million during the next two years.
Other than salaries, the group isn't spending money yet, commission member and Baker's Chief of Staff William S. Montgomery said.
Powell said he expects the commission to announce how it's going to implement the findings in the commission's report in a month or two.
Many nonprofits in the city have called the commission asking for money. Powell said he's not sure if the commission will be giving any out. Montgomery said he's against the commission becoming a funding source for social service agencies, something Baker echoed as he urged the group to start on its biggest tasks.
"Unraveling this mess of fractured people is going to take a long time, but we can't let it overwhelm us," Baker said. "We need to just try to make inroads and not feel too much pressure to fund agencies because they say they have great programs. You have to pick your top goals and get to work on them.
"It's not complicated. It's not rocket science."
Councilman Michael A. Brown Sr. said he's willing to be patient.
"I support Provey," he said. "Let's let him get his organizational plan in place. I didn't expect him to take the assignment, run blind, be pulled all over the place and then get nothing done. We've got to allow him to lay the groundwork for a good plan to be put in motion." .
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