Staff report

The first steps toward the re-birth of Selma and Dallas County will begin today with an announcement at 10 a.m. at the Selma/Dallas County Centre for Commerce.

Organizers of the Selma/Dallas Renaissance Commission hope by creation of this broad-based initiative, they will bring people from all races, age groups, genders and socioeconomic backgrounds to the table where they can cooperatively invest their time toward building a community with a goal of “achieving excellence in all areas of life in Selma and Dallas County.”

“This will be a way to get people of different backgrounds to sit down together and focus in on issues that are meaningful to the whole community,” said Wayne Vardaman, a steering committee member. “Anytime you can get people talking, a lot of good can come out of it.”

Other committee members are state Sen. Hank Sanders, Dr. James Mitchell, Jim Hodo, Dr. Margaret Hardy and Gail Lovelady.

Vardaman said more information about the initiative would be given to the public at today’s announcement.