The Ghetto Solution [Hardcover]

Roland Gilbert (Author), Cheo Tyehimba-Taylor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Reared in a Los Angeles ghetto, Gilbert served a three-and-a-half-year prison term for robbery, after which he got a "second chance" at UC-Irvine. He graduated and, having been selected for President Carter's Presidential Management program, was on the way to a career when he became addicted to crack. Through a mix of religion and New Age self-help concepts, Gilbert reformed himself and then turned his attention to helping other ghetto kids. What they need, he argues, is to be reprogramed to value people more than money, to believe in their own power to change. He created a seminar program called Simba, the Swahili word for lion. While Gilbert's eclectic mixture of spirituality, self-help and Afrocentrism has apparently worked to help young men to negotiate the passage into adulthood and others to resolve conflicts, his account is too sketchy to be truly convincing. Tyehimba-Taylor is editor of Forward Magazine . Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The echoes of Malcolm X, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King reverberate throughout this inspiring account of the author's efforts to improve the welfare of the African American community. Seeking to strengthen the lives of black men, Gilbert created SIMBA in 1988. This organization, which requires 66 hours of training and 12 years of commitment from its participants, aims to foster the development of young boys, with an emphasis on discipline, pride, responsibility, and respect for oneself, women, and the community. This process, the author shows, helped participants examine their own pain, heal it, and become mentors to young people. A work of tremendous social, political, and spiritual significance; recommended for all libraries.
- Keven Whalen, Montville Lib., N.J.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 187 pages
• Publisher: WRS Publishing (February 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567960219
• ISBN-13: 978-1567960211
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #564,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roland Gilbert grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles, California. He was born in 1947. His father was born, one of thirteen children, in Beaumont, Texas about 1901 and died in Los Angeles, California in 1978. Roland's grandfather was born prior to 1865 in Texas into legal American slavery. Roland's father could not read or write, but he remained married to one wife until he died and raised three children. He always provided for his family and made sure his daughter and two sons could read and write. One son went to college.

After a youth laced with drugs, violence, crime and prison God brought Robert L. Newcomb, Ph.D. into Roland's life. Bob was a mathematician and an associate professor at the University of California at Irvine. Dr. Newcomb saw the value of people within their circumstance rather than letting their condition determine their value. Robert Newcomb went to the Federal Penitentiary at Lompoc, California looking for people of value and found Roland Gilbert there. Bob became Roland's mentor and friend.

God gave Roland a new heart and a new life in Christ Jesus. Bob opened the door into a new world for Roland.

Mr. Gilbert attended the University of California, Irvine, receiving straight-A's in Economics, and earning a BA degree in Economics in 1976. He continued at UCI and, in 1978, he earned a MS degree in Administration, with straight-A's in Operations Research. Mr. Gilbert derived a mathematical formula to solve an underground construction problem for the engineering department of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company in Anaheim, California. The dean of the graduate school nominated Roland for a Presidential Management Internship.

President Jimmy Carter selected him for national program management and appointed Mr. Gilbert to the United States Small Business Administration, in Washington, D.C., as a Business Revitalization Specialist. Roland was instrumental in leveraging $100 million into $1 billion of financing for 26 cities within one year. Who's Who in Finance and Industry® recognized Mr. Gilbert for his accomplishments.

After leaving government, he went into private practice as a small business management consultant for ten years. During five years of this time, he also taught graduate level management courses for the University of Redlands, as Adjunct Faculty, in the Whitehead Center for Lifelong Learning and he served on their Orals Committee.

God called Roland from private practice into His service. Jesus opened Roland's heart to the poor. Roland founded Simba, Inc. in Oakland, California and was Executive Director for 15 years. Simba helped inner city residents overcome self-destructive attitudes and behaviors and achieve more success in their lives.

Mr. Gilbert is the author of three books and says he has, at least, two more to write. Roland has now spent 25 years, and counting, answering God's call: "to help poor people discover and cultivate their greatness and give their gifts to the world." During the last five years, he has been working with the Skid Row Development Corporation in Los Angeles, California.

Please visit Roland at www.PowerParenting.net. You may send emails to [e-mail]. You can call Roland at [phone].

You can write to Roland at:
P. O. Box 582
Burbank, CA 91503

Please join our community on Facebook and twitter:
Facebook.com/OvercomeBeingPoor
twitter.com/overcomebeingpo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a manifesto on African American soul survival!, December 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ghetto Solution (Hardcover)

This is a must read for anyone concerned with uplifting African people in America. It details the life of an ex-con turned Presidential advisor turned crack addict...Gilbert somehow saves himself from self-destruction and establishes SIMBA, INC., the Oakland,CA-based 12-year rites-of-passage mentoring program (the nation's only) for African American youth. The co-author, Cheo Tyehimba, an award-winning journalist, weaves Gilbert's narrative with uncompromising honesty and has a brilliant flair for creative non-fiction. His upcoming novel, "Drum Sold" will be published in the spring 1999.Look for it!

Although, the book is currently out-of-print, I've heard that it can still be purchased from Simba, Inc. the non-profit org. represented in "The Ghetto Solution." And all proceeds go to support the organization.