wfn.org | AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS FOR FEBRUARY 21,1997

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American Baptist News Service_____________________
Office of Communication / American Baptist Churches USA
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320 
Richard W. Schramm, Director (E-mail:
RICH_SCHRAMM.PARTI@ECUNET.ORG)

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UPDATE: FEBRUARY 21, 1997
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o  American Baptists were among participants and
observers at a roundtable discussion on welfare reform
led
by President Bill Clinton Feb. 18 at Riverside Church in
New York City.  Dr. James Forbes Jr., senior
minister at American Baptist Churches USA-affiliated
Riverside Church, was part of the roundtable forum that
addressed the issue of how churches and the private
sector could develop employment opportunities for those
who have been removed from government assistance
programs.  Among observers at the event were a select
group of religious leaders invited by the White House,
including Dr. Daniel E. Weiss, American Baptist
Churches general secretary, the Rev. Joan S. Parrott, ABC
deputy general secretary for Cooperative
Christianity, and Dr. James O. Stallings, executive
minister of the American Baptist Churches of Metro New
York.  Clinton signed recent welfare reform legislation
that creates strict time limits for how long recipients
can
remain on welfare and also shifts much responsibility for
welfare administration from the federal government to
the states.  At the Riverside discussion Clinton was
criticized by Earl G. Graves, publisher of Black
Enterprize
magazine and a member of Riverside Church, who maintained
that "black businesses and the black church are
doing more than their fair share" in ministering to those
affected by decreasing government assistance.  In
response to that and other concerns expressed about the
welfare reform bill, Clinton said, "I don't think it's
accurate to say that this bill destroys the safety net
for poor people," according to the Feb. 19 New York
Times. 
In defending the bill, Clinton noted that it carries
provisions for continuing nutritional, health care and
child care
assistance, and affirms that if "you are able bodied, you
cannot stay on welfare forever without going into the
work force."

o  American Baptist-related Virginia Union University in
Richmond, Va., formally dedicated its new L.
Douglas Wilder Library and Learning Resource Center on
Feb. 14.  The complex honors the nation's first
elected African American governor, L. Douglas Wilder, who
graduated from Virginia Union in 1951.

o  Another American Baptist-related school, Franklin
College in Franklin, Ind., is the recent recipient of a
$1.97-million Lilly Endowment Inc. grant designed to
"significantly impact" Indiana students in a number of
ways.  Among other activities enabled by the Special
Initiative grant are the creation of a state-of-the-art
teaching/learning center and a freshman program linking
students with peers and adult mentors and emphasizing
the virtues of a liberal arts education.

97U221___________________________________________________
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