Leader of program to help poor dies in Norfolk

NORFOLK

Edith Jones arrived at the Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project 44 years ago as a nurse and worked her way up the ranks to become president of the poverty-fighting agency.

Jones died early Tuesday at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, agency officials said. Regina Lawrence, a vice president of the organization, said the agency is awaiting family directions before releasing more information about her death.

A longtime advocate for the poor, Jones joined STOP as a nurse for the agency's cornerstone Head Start program, a federal initiative that educates at-risk preschool children.

Over the years Jones served in several capacities at STOP, which helps low-income individuals and families with housing, transportation, education and employment. Lawrence said Jones was named executive director in the early 1990s and had served in the post of president and CEO since then.

In a 1996 interview, Jones said: "Head Start didn't have the blessings of the movers and shakers at first because it didn't look like an educational institution; it was operated out of church basements and storefronts. But we knew we were doing something that would last forever."

The Norfolk-based agency was founded in 1964 and serves Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and the counties of Isle of Wight and Southampton.

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com