Box 8, Folder 16, Document 30

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A Report of Citizen Participation in the
Pittsburg Community

The Pittsburg Neighborhood Service Center, as is true of all
other centers, has a citizen's advisory committee, whose primary function
is to keep the staff of the center advised on changing needs and sug-
gested remedies. Since the Pittsburg Neighborhood Service Center is
still operating with a temporary committee, and is only now holding
elections for its first permanent committee, the ad hoc committee in
this community is much larger and has a broader base than normal. The
prior function of this group had been to generate sufficient community
concern and interest, and to demonstrate to EOA Headquarters a need
for a center in the Pittsburg Community. To this end, meetings were
held over a period of a year during which all of the committees and
sub-committees functioned.

When the Pittsburg Neighborhood Service Center opened, this
temporary committee continued to advise. Representing approximately
four hundred (400) people, this group has been able to give direction
to the center from a variety of experiences, and from a general know-
ledge of community problems. Things for which this community is or
has been directly responsible are:

1 - recommendations for indigeneous and indigent persons
to be employed

2 - determination of priorities of service
3 - selection of site

4 - advocates for the center.








A further evidence of citizen involvement may be demonstrated by
the neighborhood elections which are now in progress. The entire
community, which has been subdivided into groups called area blocks,
is at work electing persons to represent them on a permanent committee,
and this is being accomplished via the same procedure used in all
local and national elections. The same machines used in general
elections are being used in these neighborhood elections, and the
same registration procedures are being employed. After a survey conducted
by the center staff, and after finding that voter registration did not
account for a reasonable percentage of the total community population,
the ad hoc committee of the Pittsburg Neighborhood Service Center felt
that in conjunction With the election process, some emphasis should be
placed on voter registration. In all of these instances, the entire
staff of the center has operated both at the direction of the com-
mittee, and in response to the obvious need for organization.

One major project, which is still continuing, is a cooperative
effort of the center and the Pittsburg Civic League toward the ac-
quisition of a community center. The extension and housing departments,
along with the director, have had plans drawn up, inspected sites and
written proposals, all at the direction of the Pittsburg Civic League.
Contact has been made with Dr. Phillip Weltner of The Whitehead
Foundation with the hope that funds for this project may be made avail-
able. Due to some difficulty with a will, the first choice was re-
luctantly rejected. Title searches are in process to determine the
availability of other sites, and, hopefully, the Pittsburg Civic League
will be able to realize this ambition in the very near future.

There are other instances of general community involvement which
are usually on a smaller scale, and would require a more specific and

numerical presentation.




All of the above are submitted as examples of the involvement of
the Pittsburg Community through the Pittsburg Neighborhood Service

Center in the solution of their own problems.
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