ARISE effort is being counted in grassroots work for needy

Catholic parishes in the Capital District are continuing to support ARISE, an interfaith advocacy group, as it enters its fifth year of existence. ARISE stands for A Regional Initiative Supporting Empowerment.

The coalition, which includes more than 40 faith communities from a four-county area, began as a grassroots movement in Schenectady and spread to a regional level with the support of Bishop Howard J. Hubbard and other local leaders.

Last year, the group secured a $250,000 grant to support youth programs at Carver Community Center in Schenectady, urged churches to build ties to their communities and advocated for an end to gang-related violence.

Goals

According to Inno Ake, a member of the Black Apostolate at St. George's Church in Albany, ARISE wishes this year to encourage lawmakers to "revisit" the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which hand down strict prison sentences for drug offenders with multiple convictions.

He hopes that "treatment can take the place of incarceration," with the main goal of punishment being rehabilitation and re-integration into society.

"By doing this, we will be strengthening our communities," said Mr. Ake, who "lives, works, and worships" in Albany's West Hill Neighborhood. "Right now, you have a lot of fathers away from their families, kids who are not seeing their parents, kids who have no role models. Drug dependency is an illness, and research has shown that drug-addicted people can be treated, given a supportive environment."

Drugs and dismay

St. Patrick's parishioner Maria Kuhsel is dismayed at the "overwhelming number of African-American males in prison."

She believes that the Rockefeller laws have created a situation that makes it easy for young men to be caught up in the drug culture.

With "their mother not having time, and living in an environment where there is a lot of drug dealing going on and where there's no one to take care of them in the afternoon," she said, "it's very hard for them to go on another path, and they are very likely to come in touch with the criminal justice system."

Sprucing up

For Ms. Kuhsel, landlord of a number of properties on Ontario and First Streets, taking pride in how a neighborhood appears is one step forward in the crusade to reclaim the streets.

She is gratified to see the city of Albany moving to tear down abandoned, dilapidated houses, which "only attract crime," and would like to see residents take care of trash on the streets, plant flowers on windowsills or pitch in to buy an abandoned lot and build a new playground.

"This is our holy ground," Ms. Kuhsel stated. "This is our mission: to create holy ground. Christ is living in this area. This is God's kingdom, right here. And right now, it's police ground and crime ground."

Meeting mayors

In early December, members of ARISE's leadership will meet with the mayors of local municipalities to discuss regional housing policy.

According to Rev. Van Stewart, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Schenectady, ARISE wishes to bridge a growing gap between cities and the suburbs.

"We are calling on mayors and town supervisors to talk about housing policies. And to see three to five of them coming together to say, 'we will do this,' is quite an accomplishment," he said.

New industry

Tech Valley is also of concern to ARISE. Center City committee member Ed Falterman, who moved to Albany from New York City last June, said that ARISE wants to "make sure that poor people have an opportunity to be involved" with the area's burgeoning technology industry.

ARISE will conduct a workforce audit to see where the jobs are, who is doing them and where the employment situation could be improved. A total of $400,000 in state and federal monies have been committed to accomplish that study.

"We want to understand what people do, how many categories there are in a county -- how many typists are in Schenectady, how many welders are in Schenectady, how many mathematicians," said Rev. Stewart. "When we get a map of those kinds of things, we'll go to the various employers and say, 'What skills are you looking for?' Once we know what they're looking for, that's where we'll put together programs."

(11/27/03) [[In-content Ad]]