Posts By This Author

Round, Round, I Get Around

by Larry Bellinger 07-01-2002
Taking Action: West Virginia car donation

‘Every once in a while, a truly brilliant idea comes along: the wheel, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Cannoli...you get the idea." So say Tom and Ray of NPR's "Car Talk" radio program about the Good News Garages in Vermont and Massachusetts. Following the example of the folks in New England, people in Charleston, West Virginia, have established their own Good News Mountaineer Garage.

The agenda is simple. They fix cars and give them away. As Tom and Ray joke: "Not a good business plan!" Unless one is in the business of helping move folks from welfare to work.

"People want to help others—I believe it is a part of our basic nature," said the program's executive director, Barbara Bayes, who grew up in an impoverished area of eastern Kentucky, "and this program addresses the most difficult barrier for poor people in rural areas" in their efforts to break their cycle of poverty.

"In West Virginia, one out of four low-income people listed lack of transportation as the main problem in maintaining employment or getting to job training," said Bayes, citing the West Virginia Research Task Force on Welfare Reform. It was to deal with that problem that the Good News Mountaineer Garage was developed by the West Virginia Council of Churches, the state Department of Health and Human Resources, the Bureau of Family and Children, and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.

A New Farrakhan?

by Larry Bellinger 05-01-2002
The Nation of Islam leans toward the mainstream.

Scared Crooked

by Larry Bellinger 09-01-2001

Are in-your-face visits to prison the best we can do for 'troubled' teens?

City Songs

by Larry Bellinger 09-01-2001

Cornel West is nothing if not prolific.

Joyful Noise

by Larry Bellinger 07-01-2001
On Spirit of the Century, the Blind Boys bring their strong and gritty harmonies to traditional gospel tunes as well as rock and roll.

Late to Bed, Early to Rise, Keep the Faith and ORGANIZE!

by Larry Bellinger 03-01-2001

Lisa Sullivan has set her heart on politicizing the hip-hop nation.

The Shaw Redemption

by Larry Bellinger 01-01-2001

"Art has the power to heal spiritual, emotional, and physical brokenness."

You Say You Want a Revolution?

by Larry Bellinger 09-01-2000

Resistance Records recruits soldiers for 'racial holy war.'

Who Deserves a Second Chance?

by Larry Bellinger 03-01-2000
Ed Koch and Al Sharpton find common cause.

Mystic, Prophet, and Seeker

by Larry Bellinger 07-01-1999

That Howard Thurman is not a household name is a situation that may soon change.