The Vance County Coalition Against Violence’s Faith Summit will be a one-day affair instead of a full weekend, Sheila Kingsberry-Burt reported to the group during its weekly meeting at the Gateway Center on Thursday night.
She said ministers and others will be meeting over lunch Wednesday at Western Sizzlin’ to finalize many of the details, including how to schedule as many activities as possible April 23.
The Faith Summit was going to include a Sunday worship service April 24, but Kingsberry-Burt said planners shifted that service to Saturday night to avoid a rift among churches over their own Sunday services.
The Rev. William Barber still will be the speaker at the service, although he extracted a promise that he be allowed to speak at a Henderson church on that Sunday. Which church has yet to be determined, Kingsberry-Burt said.
The coalition envisions the Faith Summit as the culmination of a publicity blitz to introduce itself to the community. That blitz includes a prayer vigil at South Henderson Pentecostal Holiness Church on March 14 at 6 p.m., columns and inserts in The Daily Dispatch, and hundreds of posters around town to burn the coalition’s name and stop-sign logo into the public’s consciousness.
The coalition spent $200 on posters for businesses and residents to place in their windows, and all 500 of the posters have been distributed. But Kingsberry-Burt, who leads the coalition’s media efforts, said areas from North Henderson northward need more signs.
A $200 order for 100 outdoor signs should be delivered next week, she said, and she advised spending another $200 on 500 more indoor signs. The new signs will be bigger than the first order.
Cathy Ringley questioned whether the signs should send a more complete message than “Stop the violence,” such as “Stop the violence, start the respect.”
Cliff Rogers, however, said the images on the posters are far more important than the words right now.
“It’s a marketing concept. … The stop sign is like the Nike swoosh,” Rogers said. “In all honesty, it might not matter what the poster says.”
Steve Powell, who first attended a coalition meeting last week, said radio stations WHNC and WYCB are ready to participate in a comprehensive on-air campaign to help the coalition.
Having set the media tone, Kingsberry-Burt said she wants to help the coalition involve more young people, a goal the crowd of about 30 people embraced Thursday.
Coalition Chairwoman Elnora O’Hara said the attitude should be “If you want to work on something, you get in there, and you work on it.”
Rogers said that applies to adults as well as youths, and he recommended that the coalition should ensure everyone who attends a meeting signs up for at least one project before leaving “so they feel that they’re a part.”
Second-time attendee Mary Ann Hargrove signed up for the third of four steering committees, the one focusing on citizens, victims and civic organizations, and she signed up several friends who couldn’t make the meeting but want to play a part in fighting violence.
Getting as much of the community involved in that effort as possible is the whole idea, Margaret Ellis said. “We wanted to get this in your face.”
Among other issues Thursday night, the coalition also discussed:
* Getting churches to help sign up young parents for a program through the Cooperative Extension Service.
* Finding space so the Project Lift program can double the number of youngsters involved.
* Putting the brakes on proposals for a teen curfew and a police substation in a high-crime area. Ringley said her research into teen curfews in other cities failed to show whether such curfews are effective. Rogers said a police substation is still a good idea, but it might not be the best use of money.
* Launching a teen court, which Rogers said would require a big commitment of time from a lot of people.