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By Colette Dell

Shiloh Church recently held its 5th community forum, where public officials, pastors and local residents came to discuss concerns and prospective solutions to those concerns.

Public officials and pastors came together for the 5th community forum.

Since there have been previous forums, the moderator, Pastor Jerrel Gilliam, presented four main topics of discussion that have come up in other forums. Those topics were: developing supportive youth activities, utilizing the church as a resource, increasing collaboration between police and the community, and leveraging city resources to support grassroots community ideas and initiatives.

The panel of public officials who were there for discussion included Bethel Park Councilman Tim Moury; Bethel Park Police Chief Tim O’Conner; Allegheny County Council District Rep Fawn Montgomery; PA Stat Representative Bill Kortz; Bethel Park School District policeman James Modrak; Assistant Principal at Bethel Park High School Jason Shoaf; Mayor of Finleyville Mike Meyer; South Park supervisors David Buchewicz and Karen Fosbaugh; and Allegheny Council District 5 Rep Sue Means.

As the first topic was brought up about the development of supportive youth activities, several panelists responded, saying that there are plenty of activities out there. David Buchewicz mentioned, “Friends of South Park” and if people want to know about activities in the area, all they need to do is go to southparkfriends.org to see what’s going on in the park. Karen Fosbaugh added that South Park Township’s website has activities listed on there and the South Park News is also a good source to find out about upcoming events.

Brenda Lockley, who is the Executive Director and CEO of Melting Pot Ministries, said that she understood that there are activities out there for kids, but getting them connected is the problem. She has been looking to find a way to get the kids in her afterschool program a chance to participate in sports and get them involved in the arts, but she has not found an affordable facility to use or transportation.

“If you don’t provide the basketball court and/or the transportation or the activities bus to do all those things, then you understand that all they do is go home,” Lockley said.
Mike Meyer responded. He mentioned the idea of tapping into grant money. “A lot of money is there, more than enough to cover $10 per child, even to build your own center. Look for those grants,” Meyer said.

The next topic was touched on fairly quickly, which was the topic of learning to utilize the church as a resource. People seemed to agree that it is key to have the clergy of their local churches involved in their lives and having their help and support in times of need.

The following topic was about increasing collaboration between the police and the community. Attendees mostly brought up the concern of drugs and drug deals taking place in their neighborhoods. There has been some action on this issue since previous meetings, such as camera installations and officers probing the neighborhoods, but any new occurrences of drug activity that has not been reported should be. The Bethel Park Police Chief said, “We need people to call. Either call police dispatch or 9-1-1. Bethel Park and the County both dispatch in South Park.”

Karen Fosbaugh added that when calling about any suspicious activity witnessed, try to get the license plate number and the type of vehicle the person is driving.
The last part of the meeting briefly touched on the last topic, leveraging city resources to support grassroot community ideas and initiatives.

Brenda Lockley brought up the idea of building a community center, saying that she even knows where to build, but all she needs is assistance from the government to help make the community center a reality. “We have a location; what we need are government partners, and we need to work together and put together our best dream.” Lockley went on to say that the building of the facility would make it possible for kids to be off the streets and instead, be in organized programs.

David Buchewicz invited Lockley to come to South Park’s next board meeting to present her idea.

The facilitator of the event, Alma Gilliam, would like to thank all who made this event a success.

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