A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE north carolina MARTIN LUTHER KING RESOURCE CENTER.
Whereas, Martin Luther King, Jr. was driven by his vision of racial equality for all people and devoted his life and ministry to the pursuit of this dream; and
Whereas, a growing number of legislative leaders in North Carolina of both political parties and all races and cultures now recognize, acknowledge, and confirm that despite improvements made during and since the civil rights movement the following concerns continue to persist:
(1)	African‑Americans and Hispanics are tremendously overrepresented in North Carolina's prison system.
(2)	African‑Americans continue to lag far behind North Carolina's mainstream population in statistical measures for quality of life.
(3)	African‑Americans face income disparities, high infant mortality, continuing gaps in education, higher than average unemployment, substandard housing patterns, high levels of substance abuse, barriers in health care, and below-average life-spans; and
Whereas, the objectives of the Martin Luther King Resource Center are to:
(1)	Collect data that supports strategies focused on the enhancement of racial and cultural cooperation, communication, and understanding.
(2)	Document disparity levels between ethnic and cultural groups relating to housing, educational attainment, and the availability of medical resources.
(3)	Identify and catalog community resources in the areas of child care, economic development, health care, crime prevention, job training, and community development.
(4)	Identify and document the long‑term psychological and physiological effects of social policy and group behavior, seek root causes of youth violence, and develop substantive conflict resolution systems throughout society.
(5)	Understand the nature of the race/socioeconomic class relationship and provide solutions and strategies in overcoming persistent barriers; and
Whereas, the Center represents our best hope of bringing together a multidisciplinary team of experts, public officials, human service agency leaders, and grassroots citizens to dig deeply into finding manageable solutions to today's complex social problems related to educational and economic disparities throughout society; and
Whereas, the Center serves as a Leadership Training Laboratory for creative thought, which will teach, motivate, and indoctrinate young people in the pursuit of educational disciplines that foster self‑growth and development, leadership skills, reconciliation skills, spiritual enlightenment, and communication skills; and
Whereas, the Center has sought and received by unanimous vote of the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina collaborative involvement and support among other private institutions of higher learning in North Carolina; and
Whereas, representatives of several of the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina serve on the Center's Board of Directors; and
Whereas, the Center will benefit from the keenest minds of scholars and academicians from colleges and universities in the Triangle as well as the rest of the State and nation; and
Whereas, the Center's scholars will dutifully examine previously conducted studies and form ongoing collaborations with State institutions, agencies, commissions, and grassroots civic and community‑based groups in conducting applied and clinical research; and
Whereas, the Center is positioned to become a state‑of‑the‑art research facility that will serve as a repository for case studies and academic research from top scholars in the State and nation in the disciplines of sociology, psychology, anthropology, genetic biology, theology, economics, public safety, and technology; and
Whereas, the Center is located in Raleigh, but its operations, programs, research, and solutions will be made available to all organizations, elected officials, State, county, and municipal agencies, media outlets, and educational institutions throughout the State and nation via various forms of electronic and technological means; and
Whereas, the Center will be the "crown jewel" of innovative and proactive programs designed to improve race relations through racial reconciliation efforts; and
Whereas, the Center receives operating funds from private sources, including foundations, corporations, and civic organizations, but needs additional funding to accomplish its objectives; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to The North Carolina Martin Luther King Resource Center, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year for operating expenses, provided these funds are matched on the basis of one dollar ($1.00) of non‑State funds for every two dollars ($2.00) of State funds.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.