NOW Chief Aids Launch of Coalition : Activism: Feminist leader Patricia Ireland announces formation of local group to defend affirmative action.

The president of the National Organization for Women joined with San Fernando Valley-based civil rights organizations to launch a campaign Friday opposing a proposed state initiative to repeal affirmative action programs.

“If affirmative action is repealed, it means that women will have fewer job opportunities,” said Patricia Ireland, the leader of NOW. “Our families’ futures are on the line.”

Ireland spoke at a news conference announcing formation of the San Fernando Valley Affirmative Action Coalition, created to fight the California Civil Rights Initiative. The initiative--which has not qualified for a vote--seeks to repeal state and local governments’ affirmative action programs.

Ireland is on a statewide tour to help launch similar efforts in other cities.

The Valley coalition held its news conference at the West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills because the racially and ethnically diverse center trains people whose opportunities would be put at risk if affirmative action programs are curtailed, organizers said.

“It is when these women and people of color get out into the work force that they will need affirmative action,” said the Rev. Zedar Broadus, head of the Valley NAACP chapter.

His group has joined with a Valley chapter of NOW, as well as local church groups, student organizations and labor unions.

Coalition organizers said they will hold voter-registration drives and community education forums.

“We will be there to prevent politicians like Pete Wilson from twisting the reality to make people believe that affirmative action is about preferences,” Ireland said. “We want to make sure people pick their heads up from the statistics and see the real benefits of affirmative action.”

Ireland said the Valley coalition is organizing in preparation for the ballot initiative, which will require 694,000 signatures to qualify for a vote.

“Right now we’re playing a game of defense, trying not to get pushed backward,” Ireland said. “With women, we started this century getting the right to vote, and we’d like to end it with another victory.”

Initiative organizers, who plan to begin collecting signatures in late summer or fall, characterize the Valley coalition’s effort as misdirected.

“If they say that affirmative action is not about preferences, then they should not have a problem with the California Civil Rights Initiative, because all that does is do away with preferences,” said Joe Gelman, campaign manager for the initiative. “The words affirmative action are never mentioned in the CCRI.”

In Central Los Angeles, a similar coalition of more than a dozen church groups, civil rights organizations and businesses has been meeting since February to develop a strategy against the proposed initiative.