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Congratulations to the James Irvine Foundation, Riverside Historical Society and The Group for Leade |
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Sunday, 28 May 2006 |
Over the past few years, the Irvine Foundation has been looking to fund worthy projects and organizations in the Inland region. I have participated in several discussions with the Irvine staff and offered suggestions of organizations to fund that are doing great work here in the Inland Empire but don’t quite fit the profile of an Irvine grantee. I have been publicly critical of their granting strategy, especially as it pertains to people of color in this region because they seemed to overlook some of the best organizations doing good work. However, I would now like to commend the Irvine Foundation for re-examining their granting strategy and funding a project that brings together two key organizations in our community:
 The Group and the Riverside African-American Historical Society, Inc. The new project, the Eleanor Jean Grier Leadership Project, will train 50 low-income and ethnic minority adults to become leaders in the Riverside area. The project, funded for 3 years, will consist of weekly workshops, seminars, and mentorship opportunities.
Through this program, the entire community will benefit from this $90,000 three year grant, not only will we see immediate results, the community will benefit for generations as the trainees mentor others and those individuals mentor even more individuals. I’ve seen this type of project in action and know how powerfully it can influence a community. For instance, back in 1965 the University Of Riverside engaged the citizens - whites, blacks, browns - of the Inland Empire in a Sociology 101 discussion group on race. The thrust of the experience was to have each group meet in small sessions with a group leader and recorder to discuss racial issues and put forth ideas to resolve them.
The conclusion of the class was held in Banning at a resort location. I still have relationships with people of all races because of the experiences I had during that university funded program. Some banks in the area changed their lending and hiring practices when it came to Blacks and Hispanics because of that discussion group. There were spin-off programs that impacted the schools with pen pal programs in elementary education and new political alliances were made during election seasons that have remained viable today.
The same will happen with this new project led by the African American Historical Society and The Group with the support of the James Irvine Foundation. With Jennifer Vaughn-Blakey and Rose Mayes leading the program, it cannot help but succeed.
Orange Blossom Gone Wild
There is no doubt that large public events have the potential to draw two types of crowds: good citizens who want to have fun with their friends, family, and neighbors, and troublemakers who want to terrorize those folks – their friends, family, and neighbors. We constantly try to communicate to the troublemakers that certain types of bad behavior will not be tolerated in our society.
I remember when kids used to have record hops (that’s what we called them) and trouble makers would start fights, so parents created house parties by invitation only.
Every now and then you have to tell kids not to tell everyone about the party because as soon as the troublemakers hear about it they come to destroy. In San Bernardino, a couple of months ago, the crowd went on a wild rampage and wrecked businesses along “E” Street at the Orange Show Grounds. This past week at the Orange Blossom Festival in Riverside a different group of rowdy troublemakers decided they wanted to fight the police, pick on defenseless children, and just make sure people did not enjoy themselves. So what are cities like Riverside or San Bernardino to do when the participants go wild?
I commend Riverside’s leaders for taking immediate and what some might call drastic action this week by canceling the Orange Blossom Festival in the future. My friend former San Bernardino City Superintendent of Schools Dr. E. Neal Roberts used to always say to the school board, you must “inspect what you expect,” meaning that we must monitor our actions to reach our expected results. I believe the Riverside City Council this week moved a step further this week in promising a new “signature” event that will bring the focus back to celebrating Riverside’s citrus heritage in a more family friendly atmosphere. They are now “inspecting” elements like the beer garden, carnival rides, and rock concerts to see if they are the root of the violence or contributed to an environment that was far from “family friendly.” The new event, however, will incorporate some of the best elements of the current festival. And that’s a step in the right direction.
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