University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 18, Feb. 6, 1997
Community development course certificates awarded

     Judith Gibson, affirmative action and multicultural
programs, was among a group of 22 community activists graduated
from the University's 16-week Community Development Certificate
Course at a January ceremony held at the Neighborhood House in
Wilmington.
     For the third year, leaders from some of the most challenged
neighborhoods in Delaware and Philadelphia have completed the UD
course that gives them the tools to transform their communities.
     A standing-room-only crowd of well-wishers, friends and
relatives heard past graduates talk about the improvements in
their neighborhoods, and even their neighbors, since they put
into effect what they learned in the course.
     Some of those improvements include millions of dollars worth
of new and rehabilitated housing, reduction in crime, new
recreational facilities for neighborhood children, new housing
for senior citizens and the homeless and programs to combat
neighborhood truancy.
     The Community Development Certificate course was created
three years ago by Raheemah Jabbar-Bey, urban affairs and public
policy.
     Other graduates represented such diverse organizations as
Neighborhood House in Wilmington, Howard Bailey Life Enrichment
Program in Dover and Smyrna, Pentecostal Holiness Church in
Ellendale and Dover Education and Community Center.