April 2, 2009

Charlottesville's mayor is tackling the issue of racism, saying there needs to be more diversity in the workplace. Thursday, he unveiled his plans for reaching that goal.

Mayor Dave Norris says that the number of African-American professionals in the community is decreasing and the city needs to do something to address the problem.

Norris announced his plan with community leaders in front of the Jefferson School on Thursday morning. The school once was the city's first high school for African-American students. Norris says that the city hasn't done enough to attract African-American professionals to the area.

The mayor offered a variety of suggestions such as increased efforts to reach out to minority students at the University of Virginia, enforcing more anti-discrimination policies at the workplace, and targeting low-income minority kids, giving them a hands-on experience with jobs.

"[We want to] be known not just as a community that commits to talking about the difficult issue of race, but a community that also takes proactive steps to lead the way in improving conditions for all races," says Dave Norris.

The proposal by Mayor Norris comes after City Council's approval of the "Community Dialogues on Race."

Leaders from Big Brothers Big SIsters agree with Norris' call for more diversity in the area.

Anne Oliver has been working with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Charlottesville since it began nearly a year ago. She says she has about 50 big Brothers and big sisters, but out of all them, only about 10% are minorities.

She says that while the families she works with don't care about race, it would be nice to have the option. She says that it's important for minority kids to see successful minority big brothers and sisters so they believe they can do anything.

"Because sometimes that's what they need the most. They need to see someone who looks like them who is successful, someone who they can model after who looks just like them," said Oliver.

For more information about how you can volunteer just visit the Charlottesville Big Brothers Big SIsters website.