Black Horizons; 2142

Hello and welcome to Black Horizons. I'm Chris Moore and today we are jam -packed with significant information on community events that are both historic and entertaining. History will repeat itself when the Afro -American Heritage Parade steps off downtown next week. We'll see highlights of last year's parade and learn what has been added to this event that helps celebrate African -American achievement. Manette Seed is here to review a new movie featuring the talents of Morgan Freeman whom you may remember played in Battleschool Principal Joe Clark in the hit movie Lean On Me. We'll also continue our focus on mentoring with another I Want to Be Segment. Let's begin with a celebration of history. In 1964, three agencies joined forces to address the many complex problems of the Hill District. The Annabee Heldman Center, Hill City Youth Municipality, and Soho Community House all became what we now know as the Hill House. Combining their efforts, they were able to tackle unemployment, healthcare, education, housing, child care, and the needs of our elderly

population. The Hill House could be compared to a large tree that spreads its leafy branches, offering shelter and relief to all who seek it. According to the organization's Executive Director, Jim Henry, the roots of that tree run very deep. Well, coming to the Hill House for me, too, was like coming home. I was born and raised in Hill. In fact, literally born in the Hill. My father delivered me at home at the corner of Wannelson, Webster, Avenue's, and I attended Madison, Harren Hill, Jr. High School at that time, and then Shenley High School. So this is my turf, and I have, I guess, a vested interest in this community besides a professional interest. I found an extended family here at Hill House. The staff, the board, the volunteers, and many of the community residents just provide that family atmosphere. Service to the community is the focus of the Hill House Association. As the nerve

center for many services and organizations who work in the Hill District and throughout Allegheny County, we continue to make it possible for people to live productive and creative lives in their community. As we face the future at the Hill House Association, we look forward to new opportunities to provide services, new challenges, and chances to work with and for the people of Allegheny County. We are bringing a brand new attitude to our work in the years ahead. The Hill House Association, 25 years of service, a united way organization. Joining me now is the Hill House's executive director, Jim Henry. Welcome to our program. Thanks, Chris. Good to be here. Thank you for being here. As you look back, what do you think are the greatest accomplishments that the Hill House has made? Well, the Hill House has made accomplishments in the housing. We've provided over the years

sponsored over 400 units of low and moderate income housing in the Hill District. Our daycare center developed what we call a values -based curriculum that's even being considered by the Board of Public Education to see if it's going to be expanded to grades K through 5. We have our new opportunities for the aging, which services over 2 ,000 individual elderly and handicapped 55 years of aging over. So it's almost too many to name there. Oh, I could keep going all the evenings. Okay, let's look to the future. The little video segment that we saw just a second ago say is that you are with your mind to the future. What do you look toward? What kinds of services can be provided with your agenda? Well, our main agenda that's going to cause change at the Hill House is with our recreation program. We are weaning away from recreation at our co -K program center and we're looking to develop into education, job training and development. Why is that? Recreation is secondary to those things?

Well, we're looking at priorities, Chris, to be honest with you. The unemployment rate that's not only in the Hill District, but throughout Allegheny County, especially for minorities. I mean, it's estimated anywhere between 40 and 60%. We're talking about drugs. Our answer to drugs are to have alternatives for young people and alternatives in education, employment and training. I think it's the old principle that if you teach somebody how to fish, they can eat fish every day. Rather than give them a fish. Thank you. Okay. There must be a lot of real caring people. I mean, I look at the programs that you have there. There are a lot of caring people who actually live in the community who work there. And so there's a real basis for the roots that you've put down. Well, we've broken a lot of barriers. A lot of people think that in our community it's hard to get volunteers, but we just had our volunteer recognition dinner a few months ago. And we realized that we have over 180 volunteers that we had to celebrate

that help us carry out the mission of the Hill House Association. Now, you're getting ready to observe your 25th anniversary. What's the big celebration? Well, the big celebration is going to start off on October the 16th at our Coffman Program Center, where it's not there ready for prime time players, but some of the Hill House staff and our teen parents and a few senior citizens that are going to tell the Hill House story on stage. Are you part of this production? Well, I've said to say I'm more of the director. I thought you might sing or something. You've got a couple of old friends together. Well, that's something to think about. Maybe they'll push me into duty. They have a way of doing that at Hill House. I'll tell Melanie McGann about it. Okay. She's a forceful person. Well, tell Harvey. Harvey, before Harvey could tap dance, he learned to sing. Oh, you're referring to Harvey Adams. He'll be a guest on the next segment of the program. But tell us a little bit more about the celebration. I'm sorry. That's all right. Well, this is what happens when friends get together. But on Tuesday, we're going to highlight our aging center that services the

elderly at 2038 Bedford Avenue, which is the old Hill City Youth Municipality. And they're going to have, I guess, one of our famous senior citizens in the city. The mayor is going to be there, Mayor Sophie Maslov for lunch. And that will take place on the 17th. On the 18th, we're going to have the Hill House Center at 1835 Center Avenue. That's our multi -service center. And it's going to start off with the United Way is going to give their mid -campaign report. W -A -M -O is going to do a live broadcast. So there are a lot of things that are going to be going on. Can the general public get involved just like they do almost every day? Oh, please. It wouldn't be a celebration if the public weren't there. So I hope everybody in your listening audience takes one of those three days and stops by. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Now, if you are interested in getting involved in the Hill House program, the Hill House Association kicks off its 25th anniversary celebration, October 16th at 4 .30 pm. If

you want more information about the schedule of events, call 392 -4400. That number again is 392 -4400. There's a new movie that has just been released called Johnny Handsome. It stars Mickey Rork and Morgan Freeman. Before Manette Seat tells us her opinion on it, we'll let you form one of your own by looking at this clip. Well, Johnny, to boss your whole load, hook line and sink. Y 'all think it's going to be a whole new world out there with this new name, this new face. Like, he was born all over again. But one thing for sure, Lieutenant, for now, in the least Johnny's world is going to be what he makes of it. You know Johnny, you might feel this quacking little sister over there. But I know you.

I know who you are and I know what you are. And we both know right where you're going, don't you Johnny? Hi. Hi. Harry? Harry, Harry. I'll tell you about that later. Okay, the scene you just saw was with Forest Whitaker and Mickey Rork and Morgan Freeman. And what's going on? The story of Johnny Handsome, Johnny Handsome played by Mickey Rork, is this guy who has these horrible deformities. And he goes through this bank robbery, he gets hurt. And then all of a sudden, the Forest Whitaker, the young concern doctor, decides he's going to put him through this program where he gets plastic surgery, he gets a new life. But Morgan Freeman is the old police lieutenant who knows this guy's got a life of crime. There's nothing he's ever going to be able to do to change. That's what he's convinced of anyway. And the scene there, he's just been paroled. The nun is there and Forest Whitaker is this wonderful little sweet dog going, I don't think he could ever do anything wrong. And they're about to let him out on the street again. And Morgan Freeman's more or less just letting him know that he's going to be watching him for the rest of his

life. Morgan Freeman seems to be getting a lot of meaty roles. Does he do a lot with this? He does a lot with this one. The only problem is he does a lot with his part and so does Mickey Rourke and so does Ellen Barking and so do all the other actors. But the movie doesn't go anywhere. It's like everybody's left to their own devices. It's a Walter Hill movie. He made 48 hours and a lot of good action movies. But in this one, it seemed like he was working with the special effects guys with the guns and the caps so much. He forgot he had like these great actors. He was supposed to be paying attention to. So everybody's got their own little style. They ramble aimlessly in little circles and just kind of bounce off of each other. It's kind of, it's really disappointing because it's this great cast and you want to see them all do something. Oh, you see it's like a really good bullet wound like this. That did. Big hole. Big, big hole. Oh boy. So you shouldn't take your kids then. I'm not at all. It's really violent. Like I said, it's disappointing because I've always really, really liked Forrest Whitaker. I mean, he went from this little teeny tiny parts like in the color of money, to being in bird, to being in this movie. And then he's just like he's, they don't do anything with him. It's kind of

a mousey part. Yeah, it's like, remember when Spencer Tracy used to always play these like really soft priests in the movie? That's him. He's like, you could just walk all over him. Wouldn't he bother him one bit? Well, what if it's during the other cheek? Okay, what's your rating system? Um, five dollars because the movies have gone up if it's very, very good and if it's just terrible, don't even watch it on cable like a dollar or less. But this one I'd say you could catch it on three dollar night at a rerun house. Go see it for who's in it, but don't expect a lot. Okay, now tell me about the shirt. Okay, this is a hairy shirt from a Moriarty Brothers Mortuary in Pasek, New Jersey. I got it in New York, can I? You plug them, we plan. You plug them, we plan them. Okay, thanks. From movies to parades, we cover the waterfront. If you're in the parades, you will not want to miss the third annual African American Heritage Day Parade. It's full of visual and oral excitement. There'll be floats, bands, characters, and costumes for children of all ages. The parade is a celebration that spans the entire downtown area. This is a parade with a goal. It seeks to promote unity

with the black community and improved ethnic relations. The parade also serves as an acknowledgement and celebration of contributions that African Americans have made to humanity. Joining me now to tell us what's planned for this year and how you can participate are Harvey Adams Jr. President of the Afro -American Heritage Association. What a mouthful. And a member of the Association's Board of Directors, Leon W. Howard Jr. Nice has, you guys. Thanks so much. I was going to present you with more. Oh, I get one too. There's no question about it. I'm making an honorary member of the Afro -American Heritage Day Parade. Does this mean I have to come to the committee meetings? No, no, no, no, no. I was about to say my wife will kill me if I have to go to another meeting, but such is life, right? So tell me, what's going on this year? That was some tremendous footage you had there of the Afro -American students at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon and the other universities in town. They were all in their native garb. We're certainly going to repeat that this year. And this year, Melanie's mom is going to send for the to the UN for flags of all the

third world nations and they will be prominently displayed throughout the parade route. And as you know, Chris, the idea of the parade is just to regenerate the pride in our heritage. We have so many things that we should be talking in a positive vein about and we've allowed ourselves to be programmed into a negative vein. The parade's main thrust is to certainly turn that around and to get into the schools and get into other arenas and let folks know that, hey, in spite of or maybe even because of the adversity, we're indeed a very resilient people, a resourceful people, and we've made untold contributions to civilization from the dawning of civilization. Leon, I know that also another goal of the parade is to strengthen the ethnic bonds between all the peoples who inhabit Pittsburgh and we've seen some, I don't know, I wasn't looking at the monitor, but I've seen some of the footage and I saw the guys in Kilds and

the County Sheriff's Department represented. All sorts of people come to participate in this parade, right? Well, this is the third annual parade of us said and it has the evolution theme behind it, which means that all people of all groups and all ethnic origins are part of this. No one group can be singled out to say that they were all meaningful in the history of our United States and in order history of Pittsburgh or Pennsylvania. One thing that Harvey did not mention is that three years ago, he came up with the idea of this Heritage Day Parade to show dignity, pride, and concern. He's just such a modest man. Harvey has never been modest, nothing more I've been concerned with. I just forgot. Oh, okay. And this is, for the sake of the entire audience, this is not a single effort by the Pittsburgh and HCP. This is a joint effort by the majority of the groups within and around the city of Pittsburgh to name a few, the Hill House Association, the Urban League of Pittsburgh, just to name a few.

And Harvey can elaborate on some of the other groups and it will be a coalition. We just got back today from Erie, the Erie Bay Front Ballet, which is a tremendous group of young people, one first prize in their category. So we took them their plaque today and we're interested in doing more with the parade than localizing it. We'd like to go to an area, to a Cleveland and to a Philadelphia and say, hey, let's get cracking, let's get up and get off and start doing something in a magnificent way to tell the world. Here we are. You have to deal with us. This could be a big regional event, right? Well, it is the second largest parade in Western Pennsylvania and we're working on becoming the largest, but not just on the volume itself, but on the quality of the kinds of persons and groups that are going to be represented. Do you think people really get the message, or if people are downtown shopping that Saturday, they say, oh, it's a parade. You're kind of looking at the kids and I'm looking at you. Chris, I think the first year that we

had the parade, you saw black adults and even seniors on the sidelines with tears in their eyes. They were so proud of what we were trying to do. And they understood clearly what the message was and the youth are very enthused about it. We'd like to see a resurgence. We're going to talk with Jim Henry. We heard him talk about recreation, but and also education. We'd like to see a resurgence of groups like the thunderird, which is in a eclipse right now, which one national honors. And they were tremendous. They were as good as Florida M &M. I mean, the kids were that good and the enthusiasm and the scholarship aspect of it, where they had to maintain certain grades. They had to, as Jim Henry said, learn some values that possibly they didn't even get it home. Yeah, a lot of cookies for them. Okay, they were great. We were raising funds. We'd like to see that happen as a spin off. We certainly would like to see more educational things happening in the school. We're going to lobby the school. You know, our kids have to fight to get black studies in the high schools in the city of Pittsburgh.

Then they have a heck of a time getting the material and the books to conduct the classes. They have to buy them themselves. So it's really about building that kind of pride and that initiative to get some other things done, right? What happens doing a course of parade is not always the glamour and glitter that you see. The character and the purpose and the theme of the parade is depicted by the kinds of floats that are put into the parade. The parade may have a float for education, may have a historical float, may also have a recreational float. The floats depict the character and the theme of the parade aside from the enjoyment and the festivities they're connected with. Our float this year, Chris, will depict the evolution of the Afro -American from Cleopatra from the now to the great King's in Cleopatra. I thought that Liz Taylor, right? Yes, I was our sister. Oh, okay, all right. I've been watching too many of them all the way down the line. We may even have Hannibal on his elephant out there this year and our kids have to

relate to this and we will have contemporary figures on the float and we will even have a scene hopefully on a very small float that depicts the slave era and just show the evolution of the Afro -American. So we don't forget, not for reasons of rank or ugliness, but if we don't know where we came from, how do we know where we're going? Amen. What a different man. I gave you the last chance to say something about Jim Henry since he got you in the first stage. Well, Jim Henry is a very fine young man. It's always the different man. In fact, Hill House, certainly there deserves a lot of allocates. I saw it in transition. I saw it when it was the Irene Kaufman settlement and I can see something now, right? They're fantastic and they're going to get better. Gentlemen, thank you for being here with us. The African -American Heritage Day Parade happens on October 21st at 10 a .m. It steps off at the Civic Arena and if you want more information or want to participate, call 471 -1596. That number again is

471 -1596. Onstage at Wolftrap is a PBS program that presents a wide variety of music for your enjoyment. Monday, the focus will be on piano pizzazz and among others, the program features Carmen MacGray. Next, onstage at Wolftrap, join Harry Connick Jr., Alice Marcellus, Carmen MacGray, Peter Niro, Donald O 'Connor, Anthony and Joseph Paratory, and Roger Williams for an evening of piano pizzazz onstage at Wolftrap. Onstage at Wolftrap here on WQED Monday at 11 .30 p .m. For some time now, we have profiled a number of people and groups who are mentoring, providing role models for young people so that they might have a pattern to build their own lives upon. One such agency is called Youth Guidance. They build their relationships upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. Here to tell us more are

Shirley Seifas, Staff Associate of Youth Guidance. Michael Snowden, one of the group's mentees, and Oliver Dent, Michael's Mentor. Oliver, I'd like to start with you if I may, sir. How long have you and Michael been in this mentor -menti relationship? Well, he started, I assure you, about this time in September. I just got married and I came back and the people at Youth Guidance said they had someone to to match me with and it was Michael. And my wife has this twin sister. Oh, so it's almost a family arrangement. Okay, I didn't even know he was a twin. So how have you benefited? What have you gotten out of this? Well, the thing that really, yes, that I get out of it is the fun that I have with Michael because I enjoy kids and you don't, I don't really get a chance a lot to like play around and kid and to be able to take someone to a ballgame with me or things like that or just to just to talk with. Michael, have you had a good time with Oliver? Yes. What do

you all do? We go to football games, I get out of this house, we go to church. What do you like the most? I'm going to football games. What games you go to? Pit, the Steelers? What? That pit. You went to pit. Did they win? Okay, all right. What do you want to do in life, Michael? Have you decided yet you're young? It's a room, it's time to decide. Would you like being with Oliver? Is he like a big brother or a father? A father. Is he strict? He is sometimes. Okay, Shirley Cifis is a staff associate with Youth Guidance. Welcome to our program. Thank you. Tell me a little bit about Youth Guidance. Of all the mentor programs we've run, I think yours is the first that is Christian based. Can you tell me how important that part of your program is? Yes, it is important. It is a

Christ -centered organization, and the thing that is important with our group is that the children are addressed their areas, a spiritual, physical, mental, all areas, and the spiritual aspect is very important because there are so many frustrations and confusion in many children's homes, and this area of spirituality is dealt with. Michael, what church do you all go to when you go without? Covenant Church. Covenant, who so have we on? Is that it? It's Covenant Church of Pittsburgh. Covenant Church of Pittsburgh, okay. Do you enjoy the services? Yes. Did you ever go to church before? Yes. You went to another church? Okay. Well, he had a Christian upbringing, it sounds like. So you had a base to work with, but not every kid is as fortunate as Michael is ever. No, that's true. Oliver, what have you got planned for the future? Well, one of the things we're going to work with the Michael

is tutoring. He's kind of went down like that. You need a little help with the schoolwork, Mike. Not really. Not really. You're doing pretty good. Does Oliver agree? Well, he needs a little help in some areas that we're going to help him with. Yeah. Well, I was like that in school, too. Now, I look at me. I still don't know. Well, I know that you'll be able to help, and I imagine you get a lot out of it. What would you say to other, particularly Christian men, because they need that kind of role model, don't they? Well, yeah, I would say to other Christian men that boys, such as Michael and other boys, they need help, and they need Christian men to really teach them good values, and how to, I guess, as they grow up, how to grow up and be good men, be good fathers, and grow a model for someone else who might come along, who comes along and don't their time. Do you view this as a long term commitment to Michael? Oh, I do. Yes. He's my buddy now, so. Oh, okay. Kind of attached to him now. All right, you

won't let him go if he wants to. I guess it'll be a good thing for both of you. Yes, it will. I'm thankful. Miss Seif, tell me a little bit more about you've got and your goals and what you're going to try to do. What's your next move? Do you need to recruit more young men or what? Oh, definitely. That's our area of need. There's 160 children on the waiting list, and I'd say 30 to 40 % are black children, and especially black male. That's where we need the volunteers, black men for black boys. Do you ever mix the pairings? We've had, the reason I ask is we've had men from Westinghouse, retirees from Westinghouse Corporation, and I want to be segment. They have been retired white engineers who have worked with young black men, mainly because they couldn't find a lot of black engineers. There are some, but they couldn't find a lot to pair with the boy. The need was greater than the resources that they had, and the pairings worked well. Well, they've thought of it.

They really would desire first to keep within the race, but if there continues to be many boys that need someone to mentor them, then that has been considered. I do encourage any black male that is available and is willing to devote some time to a young child. Please inquire. What kind of impact do you think that you're making with the limited resources that you have? Really, for children, their needs are so, they don't really require a lot. What they really require is someone that will give their time, and to know that there is an adult that really is interested in what they're doing, and whether it be their schoolwork, whether they just need someone to play board games with, or just to

have someone that has a listening ear. That is what the volunteer is really asked to do. There doesn't really need to be any money involved. Michael, you still think you look pretty good on TV? You look like yourself? You think you look like yourself? None of us do the first time we see ourselves. Thank you for being here. All three of you, we appreciate it. If you want to become involved with the Black Horizons, I want to be project, or with you've guidance or any of the other agencies we have profiled, then call the Volunteer Action Center at 394 -538 -0. They'll send you this free pamphlet that lists those groups and tells you what you can do. The number again is 394 -538 -0. Here we are at the end of another show, and I'm glad that you are here, and I hope that you'll come back next week. We'll do it all over again. I'm Chris Moore. Bye.