nation individually or collectively, raising taxes, or expanding incentives for individuals to contribute meaningfully, we will fail if we are unwilling to meet the challenge head on. Nor should we forget that similar conditions of depression and despair are any less evident in our nation's rural core. What happened in Los Angeles was not just about a single city, but a warning about a society on the brink. To not heed the warning would be a disastrous mistake. Thank you.

TESTIMONY OF VALORA WASHINGTON

VICE PRESIDENT, W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION

W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION-PHILOSOPHY AND VALUES • Helping People Help Themselves

• Application of Knowledge to the Problems of People • Learning by Doing

• Education is the Best Means of Improving One Generation Over

Another

The principles stated above guide the work of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. That was true 62 years ago when Mr. Kellogg established his Foundation to "help people to help themselves, and it is equally true today and will remain true in the future. The Kellogg Foundation operates out of a strong value system, one that hoids people at the center.

Organizations, institutions and governments are made up of people-individuals and groups who were nurtured and developed within the context of family and community. The words family and community are defined very broadly in Kellogg Foundation programming. Community, for instance, is not necessarily confined to a specific geographic area; rather it includes all individuals and organizations needed to solve a particular problem or meet a shared challenge or opportunity in which they have shared commitment and ownership. Similarly, the word family is broadly defined. From the Foundation's perspective, there is no typical family unit or neighborhood. For the young, family serves as the first nursery, school and church. Through parents and other primary care givers, young people learn to trust or mistrust, to love and accept, or to react with fear and anger. For adults, families can be havens of support and touchstones for human experience over time.

The Foundation believes that all social progress evolves from initial defining experiences within the family and community. Mr. Kellogg saw the importance of this in the early years of the Foundation when he wrote to his Board of Trustees: "Relief, raiment and shelter are necessary for destitute children, but the greatest good for the greatest number can come only through the education of the child, the parent, the teacher... and the community in general."

In addition, we believe that organizations, institutions and governments are only as strong as their building blocks-the individuals and groups that comprise them. We focus on the building blocks and important ways in which we can help them configure

and reconfigure themselves to meet changing conditions. Our job is to assist with change, not to create it alone or to dictate it, but to facilitate it. We do this not by funding individual projects, although we certainly do that. Rather we try to listen to people, develop comprehensive programs to address what we have heard and foster innovative demonstration efforts that can help serve as models for the larger society.

Visitors often comment that Foundation staff may be too idealistic or optimistic about people and the human condition. The Foundation accepts the label and wears it proudly. In the paraphrased words of Dietrick Bonhoeffer, optimism enables us to claim the future for ourselves and not abandon it to dance. In our optimism, however, we believe we are above all else practical, grounded in reality and committed to programs that allow people to develop and achieve their potential. Retaining our optimistic attitude toward people and a can-do approach toward improving social conditions serve as indicators that we still adhere solidly to our founder's guiding principles and philosophy.

We appreciate this opportunity to share with you how we do our work and some of the lessons we have learned over the past 62 years. These lessons, we believe, speak directly to the urban challenge.

STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE URBAN REVITALIZATION

While our urban centers are daunted by problems, there are potential solutions. The Kellogg Foundation's approach to promoting urban revitalization is the same as its overall approach to social change. The following four strategies characterizes the Foundation's approach to human development and change.

1. Enhance the capacity of families and communities to solve their own problems.

2. Work with others to encourage collaboration and cooperation on complex issues so more comprehensive approaches and innovative partnerships can be achieved.

3. Work from a positive base of success to increase the opportunities and circumstances of those involved.

4. Promote and pursue leadership development of indigenous people.

Strategy 1: Enhance the capacity of families and communities to solve their own problems.

Society's building blocks-families and communities-come in a wide array of shapes, sizes and colors. Strong families, neighborhoods and communities provide the firm foundation on which society rests. Society must carefully support and maintain our families and neighborhoods and the Kellogg Foundation attempts to do that from the bottom up. We try to help people tackle their own problems and then leverage their work to the larger society so that more comprehensive networks, policies and practices can be built. For too long, well-intentioned efforts to address family and community needs have been too one-sided and characterized by topdown behavior. While "experts" from universities, medical schools, government agencies and similar institutions frequently make valuable contributions to solving family and community concerns, they

often remain too far apart from the people they want to serve. When this happens, experts may diagnose problems and decide how to fix them without actively involving the individuals and groups most affected by those issues. A typical outcome of many development efforts is that programs get put into place that inadequately address the needs of the people they are designed to help. The intentions may be noble, but solutions imposed from the outside seldom work. Instead of this model, the Foundation strives to find people-bridges or boundary spanners-who can enhance the capacity of families and communities to help themselves.

Bridge people relate to the problems being faced by the family and community and are comfortable working in grass-root settings. However, these same people must also be able to access the traditional institutions where funding, information and other resources to support them are available. For instance, in West Haven, Connecticut, we have funded a project that is assisting 19 immigrant groups.

Appropriately named "The Bridge" (Educational Resources, Inc.), the project is run by a nonprofit youth and family services agency in partnership with the local Board of Education, the West Hartford Department of Social Services, West Hartford Extended Experiences and Charter Oak Elementary School's principal, parents, students, teachers and staff. The effort, designed and operated by local people concerned with local needs, provides a canopy for a comprehensive array of programs at the school aimed at making healthier children, families and neighborhoods. Like many communities that border large U.S. cities, West Hartford has begun to see its population grow more ethnically diverse as families emigrate there in hopes of making a better life. Today, West Hartford's school and social service systems are overburdened as scores of non-English speaking and bilingual students walk through the school's doors each year. The school's students come from families trying to learn a new language and the social skills to interact with others in a new culture and a new world. The barriers, especially that of language, present tremendous challenges.

To address them, The Bridge offers interventions for families with children in preschool through grade five. It serves primarily low-income families by providing a variety of services, including home-based support where a certified parent educator visits families and offers parenting information and referrals to appropriate services, a preschool program, a youth counseling program, homework assistance, family therapy and parent mentoring efforts. The program links residents to local resources and it impacts the entire family system as it works to eliminate social isolation among socially and economically depressed families.

Most of the Bridge's work is targeted at families of elementary school age and younger. By the time many youth are in high school, it is more difficult to reverse certain behaviors. More than 70 percent of its caseload is now families with kids under 6. The program, with its linkages to community services and its emphasis on family, has helped to break down an us-versus-them mentality. It has become a cooperative venture where everyone works for the same goals.

Strategy 2: Work with others to encourage collaboration and

cooperation on complex issues so more comprehensive approaches and innovative partnerships can be achieved.

The Kellogg Foundation's approach can best be characterized as working with others to encourage effective partnerships for developing comprehensive solutions to complex problems. We seek out people who have a vision of the future, want to work with others on creating that vision and have the capacity to generate practical ideas on how to effect their dreams. From the beginning, the Foundation has felt that the best avenue to ensuring a healthy future for our society is to focus on the young. For instance, dogged by poverty and instability, many young families find it increasingly difficult to provide healthy developmental experiences for their children. Increasingly, school systems inherit children who are illprepared, ill-nourished, ill-clad and ill-housed. Some of these children have never held a book or been given a sense of limits and potentialities. They begin kindergarten without the school-expected experiences of their more fortunate classmates, and the gap quickly widens. These are the dropouts of seven to eleven years hence. The consequences are of tremendous cost to society for the next 50 or 60 years.

The outlook is not bright, but neither is it hopeless. Workable solutions, however, can only be devised and implemented by individuals, communities, organizations and institutions acting cooperatively and comprehensively. Clearly, the challenges facing society in more effectively serving the developmental needs of youth are too complex for any individual or group to solve single-handed. "The task of leadership," says Robert Reich of Harvard, "is to help the public face its most pressing problems and collaborate to solve them."

The Kellogg Foundation's newly launched "Families for Kids" initiative is a comprehensive effort that promotes collaboration as a means for finding permanent homes for the many youngsters who are living in foster care or waiting for adoption.

Statistics show that hundreds of thousands of youngsters are currently in the nation's foster care system-including at least 100,000 who are waiting to be adopted. These youngsters are illserved by traditional "child welfare" systems, which are at best fragmented and localized both within and between states. Many children drift through the foster care maze without the resources and action needed to find them permanent homes. The results are costly-both to the individuals and to society. There are not only increased foster care expenses, but a disproportionately high number of youngsters find themselves living on the streets or end up confined to juvenile homes, jails or other institutions.

The Families for Kids initiative, which is currently in the project development stage, seeks to bring about comprehensive, institutional change in those systems that control the placement of children into permanent homes. Those willing to work together to help unclaimed children find the peace and security that only a stable family life can offer, have been invited to submit concept papers for ways to change the system. The initiative strongly encourages individuals and agencies to work together, share lessons learned through networking and establish links among successful efforts. The Foundation believes that the barriers to adoption can only be

overcome if we are successful in fostering collaboration between key players, such as communities, businesses, public policy makers, the legal systems, parent groups, child welfare agencies, and oth

ers.

Strategy 3: Work from a positive base of success to increase the opportunities and circumstances of those involved.

The Kellogg Foundation also strived to work from a positive base of success rather than from a deprivation model. As our current CEO, Dr. Russell G. Mawby has said, "Even in the most troubled times, in the most troubled areas, we must not acquiesce to a belief that there is a general crisis. Even the grim statistics of failure so often cited can be inverted to tell a tale of success. . . . . Emphasis should be given to positive approaches that enhance the opportunities and circumstances of those involved."

Marc Mauer, a noted expert on prison reform, said recently that, "We now risk the possibility of writing off an entire generation of black men from leading productive lives." It needn't be that way. The Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute in Oakland, California, is building on the positive to make sure that doesn't occur. Central to the effort is its Role Model Mentor Program aimed at AfricanAmerican youth. The program links outstanding black role models with at-risk youth. Success begets success.

The Role Model Mentor Program attempts to bridge the gap between children who are in need of guidance and adults who can provide it. Volunteer mentors are selected and asked to make a two-year commitment to the program. A school-site team identifies students who have low grade-point averages and no regular contact with an adult male. With parental and guardian approval, a match is made.

Mentors represent corporations such as IBM and Pacific Bell, as well as community service agencies. To help them serve in this role, training materials have been developed. These materials have proven so effective that they have been made available to other interested organizations.

Unlocking potential is the main goal of the mentor program. As students begin to realize that somebody out there cares, school absenteeism decreases and academic performance improves. The effort has lead to heightened feelings of self-worth and the belief that a better life is possible.

Strategy 4: Promote and pursue leadership development of indigenous people.

The Foundation's approach is characterized by a strong commitment to indigenous leadership development in all that we do. "Foundations are always on the alert for the leadership of men and women a step or two ahead in their comprehension of the complexities of the contemporary scene. . . . A foundation can serve as a catalyst agent to assist these people in their great work," noted Will Keith Kellogg in 1932. We try to find the individuals who can make a difference and work with them. We are convinced that problems can best be solved at the local level by the people who live with them on a daily basis. In other words, individuals and groups of people must be empowered to become changemakers and solve their own problems through the organizations and institu