Pubdate: Mon, 18 Aug 2003
Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC)
Copyright: 2003 The Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Contact:  http://www.goupstate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/977
Author: Jacob Jordan

FLORENCE COMMUNITY STRUGGLES TO OVERCOME DRUGS, VIOLENCE WITH NEW PROGRAMS

FLORENCE (AP) -- Tim Waters drives down a narrow street in a north Florence 
neighborhood, where windows and doors of small abandoned homes have been 
nailed shut with plywood, and front porches lean as if they could give way 
at any moment.

"This is like crack haven right here," Waters says of an area of the 
neighborhood that has been plagued by drugs, homelessness and violence.

Just a couple blocks away, Waters and a few others have built brand new 
homes on a former "crack street" and children are jumping rope -- one sign 
that part of the neighborhood has become safer.

Nearby is a hole-in-the wall community center where all the improvement 
started. The center, with an annual budget of $350,000 and six employees, 
is part of the federal Weed and Seed program, designed to help city 
neighborhoods address persistent drug-related crime.

 From this center located in an old strip mall, 28 programs reach out to 
the community teaching things such as HIV prevention and simple math for 
children.

Kids can come for after-school programs, can learn to box or can simply 
enjoy a game of pool or foosball in a safe environment.

"People say, there's no way in the world that all that's going on," Waters 
said.

The area the center serves has about 9,000 residents -- almost all of them 
black. Waters, 33, said his job as director entails being a friend, 
confidant, father-figure and counselor and is overwhelming at times.

Beyond working with kids in the academic programs, Waters and others hold 
neighborhood meetings at the center, where folks are urged to talk about 
potential drug activity or crime.

"Nobody wants to be a snitch, but that's the only way you're going to fix 
the problem," Waters said.

Walker Solomon, director of the Florence County Social Services office, is 
trying to get about 60 volunteers to participate in a program where members 
from the community act as liaisons between the state agency and families 
who may have potential cases of abuse and neglect.

The volunteers will be trained by DSS and the program would include other 
agencies such as the Department of Mental Health or the Department of 
Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.

"Generally when the Department of Social Services goes to someone's home, 
it's in regards to getting somebody for child support or responding to a 
call of abuse-neglect," Solomon said. "I felt that if a neighbor or someone 
in the community went to a family and approached them with offers of help 
or assistance that it would be received a whole lot better than DSS."

The program is expected to start up in a couple of months.

"I don't like the word snitch" Solomon said. "What we're trying to do is 
help people."

But some have reservations about the new DSS program.

Defense attorney Jack Swerling said he thinks people naturally look for 
abuse and neglect.

"But to go ahead and have people trained by DSS, an agency, to spot those 
things I think is inciting trouble, and I believe you'd start having a rash 
of reports that are unfounded," Swerling said. "And that's what causes me 
concern."

Solomon said program volunteers would have to know when to call police. 
"Sometimes we're going to be wrong," he said. But he hopes mistakes will 
"be few and far between."

While the Weed and Seed program gets a lot of credit for improving the 
neighborhood, not everyone is thrilled with the program's cameras installed 
outside the center.

"It's like Big Brother's watching and people don't like that," Waters said.

But, for kids like 10-year-old Demtric Russell, the center is more than 
just a haven.

"You learn more things than regular school," he said.

And for neighbors in this reinvigorated community, the shiny new homes 
along the former crack street are priceless.

Annie Briggs, 50, smiles when she talks to Waters about the revitalized 
neighborhood. "I know how it used to be," she said. "We've come a long ways."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom