BELL Foundation Begins Year

A non-profit Cambridge organization aiming to provide black role models for disadvantaged youths will begin its year today with opening ceremonies in Sanders Theatre.

Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree Jr. will give the opening remarks at today's annual kick-off for the Building Enterprises of Learning and Living (BELL) Foundation.

The ceremonies will be followed by two workshops in the Science Center.

"Kids are getting a taste of culture which is historically part of their culture but which has been lost," said Mark A. Price '98, a volunteer for the program. "It will lead to a sense of pride and better appreciation of art in general."

About three dozen of the program's 250 volunteers are Harvard students, and BELL's leadership consists primarily of alumni of the University.

On Harvard's campus, the four-year-old organization has recruited volunteers from the ranks of the Black Student Association, the Black Men's Forum and the Graduate School of Education's African, Latino, and Native American group (ALANA), said Raphaela Diaz, assistant volunteer coordinator.

The foundation also recruits volunteers from many schools in the area, including Boston University, Northeastern, Tufts and Wellesley.

Ogletree, chair of the BELL Board, described the foundation as "a wonderful symbol of grad students at Harvard with a commitment to giving as much back as they have received."

BELL organized the opening ceremonies in order to showcase the new additions to its BELL After School Instituted Curriculum (BASICS) program. BASICS is a community service provided by volunteer and work-study college students who spend three to nine hours per week helping local underprivileged elementary school children master reading and math.

The program will be modified this year to include three extra hours of tutoring time each week. That extra time will be devoted to instruction in African culture, led by groups such as The Art of Black Dance and Music, the Institute of Boston Art and Arts in Progress, said Earl Martin Phalen, founder and chief executive officer of BELL.

Workshops in the Science Center to teach tutors about the change will take place immediately following today's opening ceremonies.

BELL began in 1992 when Phalen, then a Harvard Law student, participated in a similar program as part of the Harvard Black Law Students Association's community service committee.

Phalen wanted the committee to focus more on teaching reading and math. When its leaders refused, Phalen approached Ogletree.

"I opened my mouth and said it was a good idea," the professor said, and that was all the encouragement Phalen needed.