OUT & ABOUT: Will This Black Discussion Lead To Community Action?

BY DENISE CLAY/ The lobby of Universal Audenreid HS was crammed with activists and community leaders on Saturday for a meeting of the Philadelphia Community of Leaders.

The Leaders, a group made up of mostly African American organizations, got together to come up with strategies to deal with a variety of issues ranging from economic development to education.

Rahim Islam, CEO of Universal Cos. and head of the Community of Leaders, broke the group into committees who then went into rooms to hash out the issues and come up with solutions. I hung out with the education committee. It was a good session that discussed everything from funding to teacher qualification.

The Rev. Al Sharpton closed out the day with a rousing speech that was designed to motivate the group to implement solutions.

But now that the leaders have met, the committees have formed, and all of the requisite stuff accompanying that has happened, I find myself asking the same question I always find myself asking after spending an entire day of my life in one place with a large group of people. That question: What now?

I’m going to be brutally honest here. I have never seen a group of people that “meets” as much as Black community groups in Philadelphia. If I had a nickel for every meeting I’ve been asked to come to, I’d be loaded.

But I don’t see much in terms of results with all of these meetings. The schools still have issues. Employment is still hard to find. And don’t even get me started on the lack of affordable housing.

I have no problem with people getting together and coming up with a plan, but can we get some implementation here? In other words, let’s hope that this Community of Leaders gathering represents, at long last, an attempt to be about it … and not just talking about it.