PACOIMA : Talks Planned to Aid Young Black Men

A program to bring together teen-age African Americans with adult male role models will be launched Thursday night at Pacoima United Methodist Church with a six-week series of talks on black men in history.

“If we can get into the lives of young men who have no positive male model in their lives, then maybe we can divert them from the negative role models they see, the drug dealer or the bank robber,” said Garth Gilliam, a former aerospace engineer now studying for a degree in urban ministry.

Gilliam is a newly named community developer in the United Methodist Church’s San Fernando Valley Shalom Zone Project, an effort to aid blacks and Latinos in the Valley in acquiring tutorial assistance, job training and skills.

Ahmen Rah, professor of black history at Compton College, will talk on “The Black Man in Antiquity” at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Pacoima church at 12550 Van Nuys Blvd. Other topics include the black man in the Bible and in recent history. Food will be served each of the six Thursday nights. There is no charge.

“The program itself will be uplifting for anyone who wants to come,” Gilliam said, “but we are especially welcoming young black men who don’t have positive male role models in their lives.”

Gilliam said the male mentoring program calls for linkups between adults and teens for fishing trips, career development and eventually a recreational program.