Importance of diversity to community organizations to be discussed during 'Nettie Day' event at Tusculum College

Diversity and how it can benefit community service organizations will be the focus of the leadoff event Tuesday, Sept. 2, for "Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day" at Tusculum College.

Sally Causey, Leroy Ripley, and Loida Velazquez, all of whom participate in the Community Economic Development Network of East Tennessee (CEDNET), will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Behan Arena in the lower level of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building. The public is invited to the event, and there is no admission charge.

The event will help the campus prepare for Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day, an annual event in which students, faculty, and staff spend the day in community service in Northeast Tennessee. Last year, the college community provided more than 4,000 hours of service in 46 different projects on "Nettie Day." This year's service day will be Wednesday, Sept. 3.

CEDNET is a network of community organizations and community workers throughout East Tennessee who meet four times a year to "share stories of what we have been doing since the last meeting; it is also a time of constantly giving each other ideas and potential contacts," Causey explains. "It is an organization made up of many organizations that are doing amazing things in their communities."

The speakers will be sharing examples of what can be accomplished by these diverse groups working together, why this diversity is important, and how it strengthens each of the individual organizations in their own efforts.

Causey is executive director or Rural Resources, an organization based in Greene County to support and enhance rural life locally and the surrounding area through educational programs and economic initiatives. Several rural programs are part of CEDNET, and provide a variety of services to their communities.

Among the many activities of Rural Resources, for example, are educational day camps for youth at the organization's farm, co-sponsorship of the seasonal Downtown Farmer's Market in Greeneville, and the collecting of oral histories of the rural areas in Greene County.

Ripley is a member of the African-American Task Force that has been formed through CEDNET, and is also president of the George Clem Neighborhood Association in Greeneville, a grassroots organization formed to serve the community surrounding the former George Clem School. Ripley has participated in several activities on the Tusculum campus, including serving last winter as a facilitator in a forum about the Rev. Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

The creation of the African-American Task Force has resulted in the various organizations talking about their individual Aug. 8 celebrations that commemorate the freeing of the slaves. To this point, these celebrations have been planned by each individual community without an idea of what others were doing.

The task force has also held workshops to provide assistance in a variety of areas to the organizations that serve the African-American communities. A workshop was recently held in Greeneville to provide guidance in grant writing.

Velazquez is a member of the Latino Task Force, formed two years to serve that growing community in Tennessee. One of the projects of the task force has been to educate banks about the needs of Latino workers and to request flexible requirements in allowing people without such documentation as social security numbers to open accounts at a bank. Several banks have been receptive and have implemented flexible requirements for Latino workers, according Velazquez.

Another issue being addressed by the Latino Task Force is housing. The task force was able to join other organizations at a Hispanic Housing Conference in Nashville to help educate bankers, realtors and non-profit organizations about the needs of the Latino community. Members of the task force have also been invited to speak at a number of meetings about the Latino community, and its culture.

For more information about the event, contact Arts Outreach at 798-1620. The event is also part of the Acts, Arts, Academia 2003 performance and lecture series. Acts, Arts Academia, a Tusculum College Arts Outreach program in partnership with Community Concerts, focuses on bringing a variety of cultural events to the region throughout the academic year. It is supported by Dr. Sam and Mrs. Mary Agnes Miller, the Society of Cicero, Tusculum College Campus Life, and Arts Outreach.