Posted on 12/11/2002 11:17:12 AM PST by zingzang
By PATRICK COURREGES pcourreges@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau
State Sen. Cleo Fields wants to let the young people in his youth outreach program know they are not second-class.
So he has provided, through a state grant, a first-class ride to let them and anyone who sees them travel know they rate better than that.
Fields arranged for his Louisiana Leadership Institute, funded in part by Urban Affairs & Development program in the Governor's Office, to buy the 50-plus-seat motor coach last year for about $400,000.
The money is a mix of about $142,000 in redirected Urban Affairs money originally earmarked for other Leadership Institute programs, plus $100,000 from the state treasury, with the balance to come from funds the institute will generate itself.
The motor coach has cloth-upholstered individual seats, a video system and a spacious interior, with an exterior boldly painted with the Louisiana Leadership Institute and a photo of the state Capitol.
"It's a traveling billboard in the state or out of state," said Fields, D-Baton Rouge. "It gives the kids a sense of pride.
The motor coach is a tool to help the institute broaden inner-city young people who would have little other way of seeing the world outside Baton Rouge. It is also a reward to keep them striving to meet the demands of the program, he said.
Fields said the institute has about 1,000 youngsters on the rolls, with about 600 who are active.
He said the motor coach is an important tool in getting the institute's message of responsibility and pride to children and teenagers.
The young people have taken trips in the bus to places as far as Washington, D.C., as fun as Jazzland and as grim as Angola to further the teaching mission of the program, Fields said.
"When I was a little kid, I never had the experience of traveling outside the limits of East Baton Rouge or West Baton Rouge," the Baton Rouge native said.
He wants the children in the program he sponsors to have that chance.
The institute is an offshoot of the Congressional Classroom program Fields sponsored when he served in the U.S. Congress from 1993 to 1997, before his district was abolished by redistricting.
Fields started the institute when he took office as a state senator again in 1997.
He said the idea to put money toward the motor coach came a few years back, stemming from frustration and safety concerns with using older vans for trips.
The Urban Affairs office, which controls spending of Urban Affairs funds, initially rejected the proposed purchase in March 2001.
Urban Affairs Director Jerry Cole said, however, that once the use of the motor coach was more fully explained, it was found to be within the stated mission of the institute's program.
"The bus itself, it speaks well for the state of Louisiana," Cole said.
Cole also said the office found that the planned use of the motor coach fit well with the program's mission of developing young leaders.
Asked if the bus is an unusual use of the program's funds, Cole said, "I don't know of another program of that nature, but I wouldn't term it unusual."
Fields said the motorcoach has been popular with the youngsters and has helped drum up interest in the program, making it well worth the money spent.
"I legislate three months out of the year. Actually, my real impact is programs like the institute," he said. "I wish all legislators would sponsor programs like this."
It's a black-Louisiana-democrat-Edwin Edwards crony-thing.
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