Volunteers Sought for Panel Discussions on Violence

A team of social workers is seeking 50 volunteers to participate in a series of community meetings on violence in central Long Beach.

Maintaining an open mind and “being able to disagree without being disagreeable” are among the criteria for the five so-called study circles, which will begin within the next two weeks.

After all, program coordinator Rene Castro said, these are to be people who wouldn’t interact otherwise.

“The whole point of the study circle is to bring together and mix people who don’t normally dialogue together,” said Castro, a community development specialist at Cal State Long Beach.

Already, Castro said, some older volunteers have asked that any youths who want to participate be steered toward their own study group to reduce cross-generational tensions. And although he said such requests violate the spirit of the discussion, they were accommodated in order to assemble a cross-section of the diverse, square-mile neighborhood that will be both host and subject of the discussions.

“What we’re trying to focus on in these circles is that we all have something to learn from each other,” he said.

During at least six weekly two-hour rap sessions, organizers intend to explore the roots of violence in the area and develop possible alternatives. At the conclusion of the project they hope to involve participants in grass-roots organizations such as neighborhood watch groups or graffiti cleanup crews. If successful, the program could be expanded to 50 circles within a year.

Funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the study circles program has won acclaim nationally for bridging racial discord. In Los Angeles it fostered frank discussion of race three weeks after the O.J. Simpson verdicts last October.

Information: (310) 624-2376.