Action Agency

Anne Arundel's Community Action Agency has appointed a long-time employee to act as its chief executive officer until a new chief can be found.Edith M. Knight, the agency's deputy chief executive officer, was named yesterday to fill the position left vacant by Dallas Evans, who resigned Oct. 1.Ms. Knight, a lifelong resident of Anne Arundel, has worked for the agency for 19 years. Eleanor Harris, president of the agency's board of directors, said Ms. Knight will act as CEO until a search for a new administrator is completed.

The Harford Community Action Agency is again providing the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program to people and families with low- to moderate-incomes (annual income of up to $50,000). The program is a free income tax assistance service where help with preparing and filing (paper or electronically) state and federal returns are offered; the program is also able to assist with filing prior year as well as amended returns. The program helps filers take advantage of all the tax credits for which they are eligible, whether they owe taxes.

The city of Annapolis and the Community Action Agency broke ground yesterday on a five-home affordable housing project on Gross Avenue.About 30 city, federal, state and Community Action Agency officials were on hand for the ceremony. Construction will begin today.The premanufactured single-family homes will sell for about $60,000 each to qualified buyers, who will be able to take advantage of low-interest mortgages from the state.The city bought the land for the project last year with $100,000 of federal Community Development Block Grant money.

The Anne Arundel Community Action Agency studied a long list of nominees as it prepared to induct the first members into its Hall of Fame. In its nearly 50-year history battling poverty, many staff members and volunteers have kept the agency going, and a few made sure it survived. The final decision fell to the History Committee, which nominated five for the initial honor. "Oh, we have great stories and many great nominees who made significant contributions," said Kinaya Sokoya, chief executive officer of the Annapolis-based agency.

A plan to build 35 affordable homes off Forest Drive is back to the drawing board after the Annapolis City Council's finance committee found the plan would have cost too much to keep the homes affordable.Community Action Agency director Yevola Peters said the group hasn't given up on city financing, but will also look at low-interest financing from the state."It's just one more hurdle we have to overcome," Peters said. "We're trying to identify answers, based on the feasibility study."The Community Action Agency had asked the city to buy the three-acre tract for the Greenbriar project, which would have cost about $459,000.

Arnold Dante Broccolino, a retired official of the old Community Action Agency, died of pneumonia Tuesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The former Highlandtown resident was 89. Born in Baltimore and raised on Belnord Avenue, he was a tailor and worked with his brother at an East Monument Street jewelry store called the Treasure Chest. During World War II, he was an Army gunnery instructor. After the war, he became a watch repairman and remained in that trade until a wrist injury forced him to give up the trade.

Human Services Programs Inc., the private agency that runs most of Carroll's shelters and emergency assistance, won approval from the County Commissioners yesterday to become a "community action agency."That designation was started by former President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s during his "War on Poverty."Community action agencies formed in other parts of the state and country in the 1960s, but never in Carroll. Human Services needed the commissioners' OK and now awaits state approval.

Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley (R-2nd) has named Charles Cresswell to serve as her district representative. His new duties include overseeing the Congresswoman's three district offices and representingher locally when she is in Washington, D.C.Cresswell is presently the Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Community Action Agencies, a position he has held for four years. Prior to that hespent six years as the Executive Director of the Human Resources Development Agency, Baltimore County's Community Action Agency.

Delese Spriggs used to daydream about having a home of her own. But even after cutting out luxuries and living with her father to save money, she couldn't afford a house in Annapolis.Yesterday, the 31-year-old secretary stood on a driveway and pointed to the place where her dreams came true."It's perfect," she said, gesturing at a gray-shingled house withbright green shutters. "It's a good price, a good opportunity, a good neighborhood and a good interest rate."Spriggs is moving into one of five homes built by the city in an attempt to ease its shortageof low-cost housing for first-time buyers.

Two months before their wedding, Rita Nurmi and Brian Kay got the present of their dreams -- the keys to a modern two-story town house inAnnapolis.With excited smiles, they rushed into their new home and went from room to room, admiring the freshly painted cream-coloredwalls, the well-equipped kitchen and the muddy back yard.They talked eagerly about their plans to fill the empty rooms with furniture. Kay, a sous chef at the Treaty of Paris restaurant in downtown Annapolis, inspected the kitchen with an eye toward cooking romantic dinners after his April 5 marriage to Nurmi.

Harford Community Action Agency honored volunteers, supporting organizations and individuals and employees at it annual awards dinner at the Bayou Restaurant in Havre de Grace Oct. 13. AMES United Methodist Church in Bel Air was honored with a Partnership Award for its support of the Community Action Agency food bank and food pantries through the annual Race for the Hungry. Donna Lewis, one of the organizers of the AMES effort, said the event at Edgeley Grove Park in Fallston raised more than $11,000 for the food pantry.

As nonprofits across the state brace for what could be deep cuts in federal funding and the possibility of a government shutdown, many are already taking steps to trim services, staff and hours. The Harford Community Action Agency has instituted a 20 percent reduction in staff hours that will affect its aid programs for needy families, and it will be closed on Fridays for the foreseeable future. The 23 employees at the Edgewood-based agency, which assisted more than 7,000 families last year, are now working a four-day week, all while requests for assistance are on the increase.

Arnold Dante Broccolino, a retired official of the old Community Action Agency, died of pneumonia Tuesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The former Highlandtown resident was 89. Born in Baltimore and raised on Belnord Avenue, he was a tailor and worked with his brother at an East Monument Street jewelry store called the Treasure Chest. During World War II, he was an Army gunnery instructor. After the war, he became a watch repairman and remained in that trade until a wrist injury forced him to give up the trade.

WASHINGTON - Mixing threat and persuasion yesterday, the Federal Aviation Administration gathered dozens of executives from 15 airlines that fly into O'Hare International Airport and asked them to cut their schedules by about 5 percent to reduce delays that are so extensive that they ripple from Chicago through the whole country. Agency officials said they had never tried negotiating landing slots among so many airlines before. O'Hare can handle without delay 86 arrivals an hour from domestic airliners, and up to 22 in any 15-minute period, but more than 40 are scheduled to arrive between 8 a.m. and 8:14 a.m., and much of the rest of the day is also overcrowded, according to the FAA. "The gridlock situation at O'Hare is not good for anyone," said Norman Y. Mineta, secretary of transportation.

CLEVELAND - Gliatech Inc. shares fell as much as 27 percent after the surgical products maker said U.S. regulators suspended the review of an anti-scarring gel as they questioned the validity of data Gliatech submitted with applications to expand the gel's use. Shares of the Cleveland company closed down $1.25 to $5 yesterday, after dropping as low as $4.56. The Food and Drug Administration suspended its review of pre-marketing applications for ADCON-L gel, used to prevent internal scarring and pain after spinal surgery, until questions about testing are answered, the company said Saturday in a statement.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration, responding to public alarm over the safety of meat and produce, will propose a significant increase in spending for food inspection and safety research in the budget to be presented to Congress early next year, administration officials say.After a year that saw outbreaks of food-borne illnesses from tainted Guatemalan raspberries, Louisiana oysters and Midwestern ground beef, President Clinton is seeking an additional...

Dallas Evans, chief executive officer of the Anne Arundel County Economic Opportunity Committee Inc., is under fire from some members of his board of directors who want to oust him.The committee, also known as the Community Action Agency, oversees a budget of about $3.5 million in public and private funds and a staff of more than 100 who manage the county's Head Start and Senior Aide programs and several smaller ones.Eleanor Harris, the president, said she hoped to call a board meeting today or Monday to discuss the situation, but would not comment further.

Edith Knight was named chief executive officer of the Annapolis-based Community Action Agency yesterday by the nonprofit group's 21-member board.Board President Eleanor Harris said Ms. Knight, an Annapolis resident, has been with the agency almost 20 years, serving in various financial positions and as interim chief executive officer since Dallas Evans resigned in October.For more than 25 years, the agency has been funded by federal, state and local grants and has operated weatherization, nutrition and other programs for needy county residents.

The private agency designated to serve Carroll County's low-income families is applying for a grant that would help it do so more efficiently, said Sylvia Canon, executive director for Human Services Programs of Carroll County Inc."It would be a one-stop shopping set-up," Ms. Canon said.If a person needed help but didn't know whether to go to state, county or private agencies, Human Services Programs would be able to direct him through an information and referral system it wants to start.