A new voice for black conservatives

A year-old black conservative organization, The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change, is dispatching a special message: it intends to compete with traditional civil-rights organizations for black support.

Buoyed by backing from The Heritage Foundation, from Edwin Meese, chief adviser to President Reagan, and from black Republicans, the foundation made its East Coast debut Sept. 12 and 13 with a conference, ''Rethinking the Black Agenda.''

''We are a fledgling organization which is off to a good beginning,'' said its national president, Clarence Pendleton, the often-criticized (by blacks) chairman of the US Civil Rights Commission.

The New Coalition was formed a year ago in California and has headquarters in San Diego, Calif., Mr. Pendleton's home city.

Saying it is not organized to discredit the NAACP, the Urban League, and other civil rights groups, he reasoned, ''We are simply offering an alternative to those organizations.''

Although the conference featured prepared papers by such people as black conservative Walter E. Williams, an economics professor, its officers emphasized the recruitment of new members and organizing new chapters. It passed no resolutions, but ''set the stage for discussion of issues facing blacks,'' says Pendleton.

Mr. Meese assured the group of the President's interest, saying it ''offers the greatest potential for progress in this country.''