AVillage, Inc. at Work

Activist raises AVillage in place of real need
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Activist-raises-AVillage-in-place-of-real-need-919906.php

White, 51, is the founder of AVillage, Inc., a 14-month-old not-for-profit based on Morton Avenue that, with virtually no resources, inserted itself this year into some of the most pressing issues in the city's neighborhoods.

And none of it might have happened if White hadn't slipped June 2, 2008 on a wet kitchen floor while carrying five gallons of soup. White's fall -- which came just four days after 10-year-old West Hill girl Kathina Thomas was slain on her front stoop by a stray bullet fired by a 15-year-old -- ruptured a disk in his spine.

"That was burning in my heart," White recalled in a recent discussion of the girl's death. "I lied in my bed and I cried, and I said, 'I'm responsible to help our community.' AVillage has always been in my heart, but the time never provided me the opportunity to do things that I wanted to do."

His six-month recovery gave him time to contemplate the changes he wanted to see in his neighborhood -- and to begin to outline how to achieve them.

The agenda is varied and apolitical. And while many of its core members are people of faith, AVillage -- unlike many of the other groups working to improve conditions in inner-city neighborhoods -- is not a religious organization. "We truly define grass roots. We talk to ordinary people, just plain Joe Blow people in the community," said White, the 16th of 18 children and a native of Tupelo, Miss., which he's quick to note is also Elvis Presley's hometown.