Black Leaders’ Talks Focus on Youth : Violence: Jackson calls for a ‘moral offensive,’ using the family, church and school. He will take agenda to Clinton.

WASHINGTON — Black leaders at a summit meeting on violence produced an agenda Saturday that was heavy on the old-fashioned notion of reaching out to save wayward young people through family, church and school.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose National Rainbow Coalition convened the three-day summit, called for black Americans to take the “moral offensive” in the attack on violence.

He also pushed some of his own political causes, such as voter registration and pressing the Clinton Administration to put together an urban policy and to take a stronger position on civil rights.

“Oftentimes, what a movement does is determine the options of a President,” Jackson said. “Urban policy, for the first time in a long time, will be discussed at the White House. . . .”

Jackson said he would take the agenda to President Clinton. No meeting date had been set as of Saturday.

He also said that on April 4, the 26th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., youth from around the country will march on the White House to challenge the Clinton Administration to devise what they consider a coherent urban policy and a meaningful jobs bill.

Jackson called the summit to address what black leaders have called an alarming rise in murder, assault and other violent crime among black Americans. Homicide is the leading cause of death among black males, and the killer typically is another young black male.

Participants came away calling the agenda a watershed and said it would be received enthusiastically in urban communities struggling with violent crime.

“This is the first meaningful and measurable blow to deal with the problem. While black people are not a monolith, on this issue we are pretty close to a consensus,” said Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mfume suggested attacking the problem with an all-out traditional values campaign that stresses responsibility, respect for the elderly, pride in black heritage and stronger connections between black parents and teachers.

New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton suggested that blacks press for criminal penalties for gun manufacturers whose weapons turn up in markets for illegal sales.

Saturday’s agenda also forged an alliance between high-profile leaders and some grass-roots activists.

“These are some of the walls we must knock down,” said Minister Fontian, a Chicago activist who works with the Black Disciples, a gang with about 35,000 members. “They need us as much as we need them. Now I can go back and give a reasonable report.”

Proposals on the overall agenda included:

* Mentoring 10 youths each at 100 churches in 100 cities.

* Anti-violence pledges between students and parents.

* Crackdowns by parents on studying and attending school.

* Employment programs for young people aged 17 to 30.

* Degree programs at black colleges for prison inmates.

* Supervised after-school programs.

* Removing barriers to family life in social service programs.

Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros pointed to rules in public housing that tie rent to a family’s income. In many cases, he said, husbands and fathers leave the household so their income won’t be included and the rent won’t go up.

Cisneros said he wants to delete such rules from housing policy. Those barriers aside, he said, families can then help themselves.

“Government is not very good at strengthening families,” he said. “Government can do something. We can do a better job.”