Is there a cost involved?
Yes, based on the Gainesville and Lakeland experience, the newspaper will spend $5000 - $6000 to support a class. This will cover catered meals and professionally framed graduation photos and certificates as well as incidentals. Each partcipant will incure a small cost of approximately $50.

Are there any areas where Focus should not be involved?
We have urged them not to get involved in patrician politics, although voter registration and get out and vote projects are fine.

What type of programs are included?
One idea is to outline what is expected from membership on a civic board. This would be everything from how to read budgets, to the proper way to make a motion. Invite prominent civic leaders to be the panel. Have a night on law enforcement with your police chief or sheriff, a judge, the district attorney, etc. Education is a good topic with your school superintendent and community college president. Economic development always generates interest. Invite people who can explain what is being done to attract better jobs and what the obstacles are. The media is a good program with your editor, someone from local TV and a representative of radio. Have them talk about how minorities access the local media and the difference between news, ads and public service ads.

What happens at “graduation”?
It obviously differs a bit from town to town, but in Gainesville, members of the class each tell what the program has meant to them and they talk about the success of their project. All three participating papers provide a framed ‘diploma’ with a color photo of the class. (The photos/dipolmas can be seen hanging in offices all around the towns.) Ocala holds its graduation at the Appleton Museum. It’s a nice event complete with invitations to participants and guests, food, graduation gifts and a guest speaker. Lakeland has held its first two graduations at The Polk Museum of Art with dinner for graduates and guests.

Should there be a community advisory board?
Gainesville and Ocala do not have them, but Lakeland does. The committee is largely minority but does include several members of the majority community. They have assisted in planning programs primarily.

Is this a program only for African Americans?
No. The same opportunities exist for a program for Hispanics, or any other emerging minorities. Thus far, the three participating communities have concentrated on the African American community. In Lakeland, three white participants have been in the first two classes. One was a prominent local business leader who liked the program and wanted to see it from the inside. Then there were two women who applied because they wanted the learning experience. In Gainesville, Jim Doughton went through the class to both learn about the program and learn about his new community.

After the program starts, what is the desired outcome?
Ideally, graduates of Focus will begin being added to local boards and committees previously lacking adequate minority representation. We have found that in many cases, groups are looking for minority representation but turn to the same few familiar faces. In Gainesville, groups have called upon the newspaper for years to suggest names of potential board members and in 2002 The Ledger received numerous similar inquiries.