You could call Nathaniel O. Wilkins a grass-roots power broker.

As head of NOW Group Inc., a consulting and training firm, Wilkins is recruiting and training people to be leaders for the Grassroots Leadership Academy in Avondale.

He trains them to step out front in their neighborhoods and make sure potholes are fixed, traffic lights work and the neighborhood is not taken over by drug dealers.

"What the academy is really about is empowering people to do things for themselves," Wilkins said. "We train people to take a leadership role in their neighborhoods, to learn how the process of government works and to learn how they can make a difference in their neighborhoods."

Wilkins said the academy has a class of 30 that will begin training next Tuesday. The class will run through May 6.

It deals with neighborhood problems, how to recognize them and what to do about changing them. Many of the training sessions will be held at the academy, 3330 Reading Road, Avondale. Some will be held at YMCAs, federal buildings and city halls, Wilkins said.

"They need to know their neighborhoods and also know how and where government functions," Wilkins said.

Wilkins received a master's degree in public administration from the University of Kansas and an undergraduate degree from Kansas State University.

He was superintendent of recreation here from 1998 to 2001 and assistant director of the Cincinnati Recreation Commission from 2001 to 2002.

"My greatest asset is being able to relate at the grass-roots level, in the trenches with the people to know how they think. This is the only way you can train them to help themselves," Wilkins said.

The class will do a neighborhood project after graduation.

Wilkins, 48, lives in Westwood.

Twenty-three Episcopalian women, black and white, will begin a 24-hour retreat Friday evening at the Convent of the Transfiguration in Glendale.

They come from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Evanston and the Church of the Redeemer in Hyde Park.

"The focus of our discussion will be around the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neal Hurston," said Anne Greenwald, organizer of the retreat. "The book will be used for reflections. We have adopted the theme `Together We Will Do Something Beautiful for God.'"

Greenwald is a member of the Church of the Redeemer.

"We are all members of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio and the retreat is a discussion about the journey of women," said Lisa Hughes, a member of St. Andrew's who will lead the discussion.

Allen Howard's "Some Good News'' column runs Sunday-Friday. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are uplifting to the Tristate, let him know at 768-8362, at ahoward@enquirer.com or by fax at 768-8340.