New Coalition to Avoid Politics : Black Group Aims at ‘Quality of Life’

Several black professional organizations announced Thursday that they have formed a coalition to provide educational and business opportunities and “improve the quality of life” in San Diego’s black community.

Bob Countryman, coordinator of the San Diego Coalition of Black Organizations, said the group will sponsor workshops and educational forums, organize business seminars and explore the possibility of forming a black chamber of commerce.

“What I felt was that there was a void in the coordination of efforts of the black groups,” said Countryman, a chemist with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “That’s what we’re trying to focus on . . . to synergize their efforts.”

Countryman said the coalition intends not to take political positions or “make political controversy.” Nor will it speak on behalf of the black community because “there are other groups that can do that.”

Instead, it will focus on educational and economic development through scholarship programs, job fairs, employment referral, small-business workshops, advertising and support for black businesses, and participation in special events like Black History Month.

Among its first activities will be a business training program for secondary-school students beginning Nov. 7. Thirty selected students will meet every Saturday morning during the school year as part of the program.

Countryman said the coalition’s members include groups representing city employees, county employees, police officers, firefighters, chemists and chemical engineers, engineers and scientists, and nurses.

“The fact remains that San Diego is a city that does not have a large black population and is only now beginning to show an increase in black professionals,” Countryman said. He said the group will “encourage more black professionals to do some things that impact on people of lesser fortunes.”