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» | GEORGIA NEWSPAPER
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. w R : : R S x £ a ATHENS GA 30602 12/31/99
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S Augusta Focus
| %etmpolimn Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Areq
City could take minority
loan fund from League
B The CSRA Business League and the Minority
Business Development Center must come up
with $250,000 to maintain current levels of
staffing and service. At risk is the administra
tion of tens of thousands of business-loan money.
By Miranda Gastiaburo
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
A popular revolving loan fund,
now administered by the CSRA
Business League’s Minority Busi
ness Development Center, could
revert to the city’s Housing and
Neighborhood Development De
partment if the center is forced to
close due to lack of funding at the
end of the month. Changes could be
finalized asearly as next week when
representatives of the Business
League meet with officials from the
Neighborhood Development de
partment, accordingtoan employee
of the city department.
Despite, the imminent demise of
the minority development center
component —the federally-funded
agency will only exist until March
31 due to drastic belt-tightening in
Washington —the CSRA Business
League will continue to exist. They
must, however, arrange for an al
ternative fundingsource. However,
it is not likely that will happen
before League officials meet with
city officials next week.
“Ifalternative fundingisn’t found
by then, we just won’t exist any
more,” said Eddie L. Ferguson,
MBDC director.
Efforts to secure such funding
are in full swing. The League is
preparing proposalstobe presented
tolocal municipal and private fund
ing entities. Also, though consid
ered alongshot, the organization is
contactingthe Department of Com
merce and the Minority Business
Development Agency in hopes of
restoring funding for the local cen
ter.
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“If we only get funding from local
municipal or private sources, we
will no longer be called the MBDC,”
Ferguson said, “We’ll have to
change the name.”
The center may have to relocate,
as well as undergo a name change,
if full funding isn’t received by the
deadline, Mr. Ferguson said. Ac
cording to CSRA Business League
project coordinator Kelley Cornish,
the center needs $250,000 per year
to keep running without a cutback
of staff and/or services.
Similaragenciesin Savannah and
Macon have already been shut
down. Federal funding was cut from
$44 million to S2B million. The
smaller centers were cut to provide
funds for the larger area centers.
“The criteria for choosing which
centers to stop funding were based
on the number of minority people
and the number of minority-owned
businessesthereare within thearea
of service foreach center,” Ferguson
said. “Our facility ranked in the
mid 80s, which means we have to
find alternative funding to stay
open.”
“We’re doing everything we can to
get the funding we need to keep the
center open asis,” said Mrs. Cornish.
Asof Tuesday, the revolving loan
fund had between $78,000 to
SBO,OOO available for small minor
ity-owned business loans.
“We recently had some people
pay off their loans, so the account
level has just increased to that
amount,” said Serena Rogers of the
Housing and Neighborhood Devel
opment department.
No one, however, could tell Au
gusta Focus the amount of money
already in circulation. «
Suit seeks to zap
state black colleges
By Dick Pettys
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
ATLANTA
Alawsuit filed Monday contends
Georgia uses tokenism and racial
quotas to illegally perpetuate seg
regation in its public colleges and
\universities, and asks a federal
court to put an end to those prac
tices.
The suit was filed in Savannah
by attorney Lee Parks, the lawyer
who led the fight to overturn the
state’s majority-black legislative
and congressional districts. Parks
warned state officials eight months
ago he was preparing the action.
“We do not practice discrimina
tion,” said University System
Chancellor Stephen Portch. “We
are actively involved in working
towards the day when every child
in this state has.an equal opportu
nity to get prepared to go to the
institution of their choice.”
Attorney General Michael Bow
ers said, “We’re going to try very
quickly to determine the facts and
apply them to the law and then
advise the chancellor and the
Board of Regents accordingly.”
The suit was filed on behalf of a
group of white and black plain-
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Svme e R T N 3 .
REBECCA SIMS (R) was recently awarded the Grandmother of the Year Trophy at
a Black History program sponsored by the Savannah Place Multi-Cultural Center.
Pictured with Ms. Sims are grandchildren Carol Sims, 7, and Diedra Jackson.
Dorothy Williams was also honored as Grandmother of the Year. Photoby Tawana Lee
Costs for park upkeep
concerns commissioner
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
When the Augusta-Richmond County
Commission adopted Roger Davis & Associ
ates’ master plan for the new Lake Olmstead
Park, Augusta-Richmond County Commis
sioner Ulmer Bridges raised some concerns
about where the upkeep money is going to
come from.
Though he said he was “not going to
oppose” the $3.8 million plan, Mr. Bridges
warned his colleagues about proceeding
without having a clear idea of how to run
tiffs, including educators and two
students who said they were de
nied admission to the state’s flag
ship institution, the University of
Georgia.
Although the suit claims there
is discrimination throughout the
university system, it focuses
largely on the state’s three tradi
tionally black institutions _ Al
bany State University, Fort Val
ley State University and Savan
nah State University.
Each of the schools has a stu
dent body at least 88.4 percent
black, and the average SAT scores
for freshmen entering those
schools in 1994 were the lowest in
the university system.
“The continued racial identifi
ability of the TBl's has substan
tially contributed to the predomi
nantly white racial composition of
the remaining publicinstitutions,”
the suit contends.
Parks also charges the state has
failed to use recruitment policies
or system-wide student admission
standards which would desegre
g:h:n t'h:lwthroe schools, leavin%
to “a mission o
remedial education and second-
See LAWSUIT, page 3
the new park once it is built. :
He was particularly concerned about
whether additional employees will have to
be added to the county’s roster to take care
of theexpanded facilities. County Adminis
trator Randy Oliver assured him that no
new staff members would be required to
deal with theimprovementscurrently listed
in the plan.
The Commissioners did not make any
budgetary decisions, however, and com
missioners are not entirely sure where the
initial money is going to come from. “It’s
See LAKE OLMSTEAD, page 3
Trash bins for inner
city areas arrive here
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RECENT ARRIVALS. Hundreds of new 96-gallon trash bins arrived in town this
week as expected. Distribution of the bins to city dwellers is part of the
agreement between private contractors and the city of Augusta.
Tawana Lee
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
The long-awaited 96-gallon trash bins will
soon bedistrivuted in Augusta's black neigh
borhoods, according to John Polonus, owner
of Augusta Disposal and Recycling, Inc.
This week, trash bins began arriving in
town and are beingstored atasiteat 15th and
Ellis Streets.
Along with Melvin Coleman, owner of
WELFARE REFORM
No jobs
in city
B Fewer than 5 percent of
area welfare recipients
have found employment
as mandated by the new
welfare-reform act.
By Tawana Lee
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Only a tiny percentage
of area adults receiving
food stamps have been
able to find employment,
accordingto officials of the
Augusta-area Depart
ment of Family and Chil
dren Services (DFACS).
According to Linda
Johnson, director of the
local DFACS office, only
32individualsinthe Able-
Bodied-Adults-Without-
Dependents (ABAWD)
category have been able
to find jobs. The area has
some 1,624 individuals
bearing the ABAWD clas
sification. That’s 98 per
cent that have not been
able to find jobs.
They are not in danger
of losing their benefits,
however, despite the pass
ing of the first deadline
(March 1), because of a
favorable ruling made by
the Department of Labor
which classified the city
of Augusta (the part which
lies within the old city lim
its) as a Labor Surplus
area. ‘
The classification, how
ever, does not mean that ,
affected food stamp recipi
ents can ignore their re
Coleman Sanitation, Mr. Polonus is making
planstodistribute the bins within theold city
limits of Augusta —the urban service zone.
When the independent trash haulers took
over from the city Feb. 1, non-black and
mixed areas of the city received trash bins
first, prompting some black inner-city resi
dents to complain.
“It will take about a week before we get
started delivering downtown. Right now I'm
working on making a data base of everyone.
We're good to go!” said Mr. Polonus.
BULK RATE
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
NO. 302
AUGUSTA, GA
sponsibility to seek train
ing, work experience or
employment.
The waiver should not
be viewed as a relaxation
license by welfare recipi
ents. Work require
ments are still in ‘place
for ABAWDs, Ms.
Johnson said.
Theurban service zone
of the city qualifies un
der federal guidelines
because it has dn annual
unemployment rate of
over 10 percent.
Prior to the ruling,
ABAWDs which have not
found employment or
met other requirements
over a three-month pe
riod would not be eligible
forassistance. The labor
surplus designation
means ABAWDs will
continue to be eligible to
receive food stamps, de
spite not having found
work, Ms. Johnson said.
The labor surplus status
willcontinue forthe area
through September, she
said.
Finding employment
for welfare recipients has
not been easy for a num
ber of reasons, accord
ing to Ms. Johnson.
“Job placement is a
See JOBS, page 3