.MzgzOA.MzgzOA

Lillk NEWS OF THE CORPS Atlanta Urban Corps Mr . Dan Sweat Government Liason Mayor's Office City Hall Atlanta , Georgia 30 Courtland Street, N. E. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Volume IV HlTERNS hA ·l fl ~ -1£!. CENTER Located in the recreation area of Trinity t·;e thodist Church , .265 Washington Street , is t he Walk- In Counseling Center directed by the the Atlanta Youth Council. The Center is a new proj ect which is dedicated to serving the immediate personal problems of the 13-21 year age group. Three Atlanta Urban Corps interns are managing the program. In an interview with Loyd Sanders , intern from Morehouse College , it was learned that Sanders , Bill Patter son (Univ. o f Indiana) , and Jo Ingle (Georgia College at Milledgeville) spend some seventy hours per week counseling young people whose problems range from general feelings of dejection and lack of personal value drug addiction and illigitimate pregnancies. As the problems of the Center's clientele vary in degrees of urgency and acuteness, Loyd, Bill and Jo have learned through sessions o f debriefing that each must be handled quite s eparately. The interns are fully aware of their own limitations in the field of counseling although all three are upper-level psycholo gy majors at their respe£tive colleges . Therefore, the Center relie s heavily on the relationship i t has est abl ished with various social service agencies which are prepared to offer professional assistance in the treatmen t of more severe cases of adolescen t problems. Loyd praised Georgia State College ' s willingness to donate professional time at a moment ' s notice . Hours of psychological testing and the like are administered by Georgia Stat e professionals who cari be at th e Center within five minutes after having_ been contacted. Great assistance has come too from Mr. John Cox, director of the Atlanta Youth Council , Nr. Lewis Dinkins , assistant to t,,,r. Cox, Mrs. Yvonne Bingham, counselor from Atlanta University , and Mr. David \'/eddi nton, director of the Walk-In Center. Of concern to Sanders and to the other t wo interns is the location of the Walk-In Center. Trinity Methodist is located under the shadow of City Hall itself, and though the Center is grateful to have the comfortable space in the Church, it seems that the Walk-In pDogram might be far more effective were it located in the area of the city were young people live and feel most natural . As Loyd pointed out , 11 Who is i;oing to just 'Walk in to 265 Was hington Street and bare their souls? 11 Sanders feels that the Center might more effectively be located in the Capitol Ho mes area. For the present ,1 .. however , the Center is operating with as much effec tiveness as these three interns can foster . A campaign is on to publicize the program so that young people can learn where they can come for personal counseling and professional help. Loyd , B811 and Jo man the Center from 11 a . m. to 11 p . m. six days per week. They find that most young people respond to th e Center ' s pro gram in the evening and t hus have geared t heir working .hours to meet the needs of the people whom they serve. If the Walk-In Center proves s uccessful in i ts initial operation it is hoped that an expansion program will result in branch offices out in the areas of the city where counseling for adolescents is so desperately needed. At the Walk-In Counseling Center are three Urban Corps interns who are applying their experienc e and educational training to a real need of the city, who are realizing their limitations and finding ways to supplement their own service capaci ties, and who are creatively planning for a more effective program. Theirs is a job of responsibility and relevancy . ATLANTA .!Lfil?Mi CORPS REPRESENTED llL NEW XQEK In a fiv e day trip to t he national of fi c e of the Urban Corps in new York City, Sam Williams, direc to r of the Atlanta Urban Corps , learne d of the operations of other Urban Corps throughout the na tion and represented our Atlanta procram reporting on its progress, its problems and successes. At th e meeting were directors from ei gh t different Urban Corps and represen tatives fro m six other cities which at present do not have Urban Corps but are considering establishing the Urban Corps program . After hearing reports from the directors of Urban Corps in cities such as New York, Boston , Dayton, Detroit, and San Francisc9 , Bo.11l concludes that the Atlanta program is unique in its empl1asis on the educational aspect of the intern experience. Only in Syracuse, N. Y. does there exist a like effort to involve an educationally sound learning experience for Urban Corps interns. In that city I s Urban Corpe program fairly succuss:fUl attempts have been made to develop �! academic cour se-c redit f or Ur ban Corps i nterns hi p experi en c e . Generall y , however , Urban Co rps i n citie s other t han Atl anta a re basic ally pro grams for s ummer emplo ymen t wi th very lit t l e emphasi s place d on educat io nal r el evan cy or s tud ent admi ni strat io n. FALL URBAN CORPS PROGRAM !l.filliQ PLANN ED Under the direction o f Dave Wh elan, the Placement and Development br anch o f t he Urban Corps is i n t he proc ess of planning i ts continuing pro gram. City and a gency s upervisors hav e expres sed gr eat s atisfac t io n wi t h t he wo rk tha t Urban Co rps i nterns have ac co mpl ished t has summer and are anxio us to employ more s tudent s throughout the year . Students may co ntinue their involvment wi th t he Urban Co rps in any of several ways . The pro gram al ways v,el co mes volunteers , t hose co mmuni ty mi nde d s tu den t s who will be abl e to find t ime duri nG t h e s chool year to devote a pa rtial work week to ci ty probl em areas . For t hose studen ts who qual ify f or Collet;e Work-St udy f unds , the Urban Co rps will be able t o f i nd both f ull- t i me and part- t i me jobs , There al s o may be funds available for a limit ed number of s tudent s who nee d t o work dur i ng t he scho ol year but who are no t eligi bl e fo r c.w.s.P. funding . Another \'Jay by whic h s tudents wi ll be able to work with t he Urban Corps pro gram beyond i t s summer 1969 schedule is through coll ege a c creditat i on of the Urban Corps i nternship pro gr am. Several col leges have already a greed t o offer course credit in the f or m of special co urses, s ociology , independent study and the l ike to t heir students who work during the s chool term wi t h the Urban Corps. Two major Atlanta school s will giv e c r edit for Urban Corps i nterns hi ps and/or r elated courses whic h will be trans f erabl e t o t he other colleges. The r e will be t hose s tu den ts v,ho will want to take a qua rter off from re gular course work and devote an en ti re three months to Urban Co rps work . Just as studen ts are urged to continue their involvement nith the Urban Corps con t i nue d prograr:: so i nstitutions are urged to involve their facult;,r memb ers and staff as advisors and consultants to both Urban Corps students and er,, ploy4n- a-genci&a . Dave indicates that if enough Urban Corps staff is available this fall there will be provisioJP.s n!ade to establish an office of co1ur.unity projects. This office will aid individual students and student g~oups in finding oor,uJunicy projects or the in-training equipment for· all·eady existing projects which stude:ets JT.iC;1t sponsor or assist. 7he expansion plans of the Urban Corps are still quite flexible and any comments or suggestions from students, faculty, and others interested in the program are welcomed. Applications for fall participation will be made avaialable in the near future. IN'rERNS A'rTEND HUNGER £NQ. MAL.l'iUTRITION HEARING Representi ng the Ur ban Corps at the Hunger and Ma l nu tri t io n Hearing July 11 and 12 we r e i nterns Ral ph Mar tin and Charli e Br own. Char l ie de scribed t he heari ng i n t erm s o f its attempts to bri ne to t h e a tt entio nc of Fu+ ton County o ffi cial s t he i nade quacies of t he county's s urplus fo od pr oGrarn . At pre sent the Food VJarehouse i s open t o t he publ i c b etwe en the hours o f 9 a . m. and 4 p .m. As Char li e pointed out, it is dur i ng these hours that the peopl e who ar~ dependen t on surplus food fo r exi stence need to be on the job. The f ood pro gram has only on e di stributi on point whic h often make s it very di ff ic ul t f or people who live i n the l a r c e met r opoli s of · Atl anta t o Get t o t he warehouse. \'/hen ask e d if th ere mi ght be other point s of !tis tribution made avai l able a11d more appropriate hours s chedul ed, o ff icial s o f the pr o gr am admitted that the fe a sibili ty o f s uc h plann i i1G had never been dis cussed . At t he he aring it was learned, too, t hat t he f ood pro s ram makes no att empt to me e t the spe ci al diet problems of i t s cus t omer s . ~efe rre d to by the offici als a s " recipi en ts ," a t erm 1,hich t o Char lie connot e s degradation , the people who depend on surplus f ood u s ually are peopl e who are s ick or undernouri s hed i n t he f irs t plac e . Several cas es were heard of peopl e who have received strict medical orders for special diets, eg. so dium di et s f or he a rt patien ts, whol e milk requirements f or cancer .patien t s , and who have been unable to mee t these diet s because of their dependency on a fo o d surplus program whic h is deaf to their needs. Charlie notes that there is no interaction at all between Grady Hospital and t he Food Warehouse whi ch could alleviate this situat ion. Another di s tnrbibg fact is that the Warehouse makes food pick-up avail abl e only once per month. Food issues wei gh 130 pounds for an average welfare fami l y t hus making transportation necessary. Cha rlie has r ecogni zed t he fact t hat taxicabs cost approximately $3 . 50 fo r an average t r i p to the warehouse, and f or each package an addi t ional $.75 is charged. For a fami l y dependent on surplu~ food , such money just fo r ~ae transpoFtat-i-on of that tee seem£ outrageous t o this intera. The Hunger and Malnutrition Hearing was sponsored by the Health, Education and Welfare Department and chaired by Mr. Maynard Jackson. Personal testimony was given by people 1·1ho Imo\'/ t he effects of hunger in Atlanta. Panels discussed the problems and directed their comments to Fulton County officials. It is hoped that from the uncovering of such inadequacies as those of the Commodity Foods program some relief will be found for the hungry people oi our city. �