A New National Public Assistance Strategy. Supplement 3: a Self-Help Catalog
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DOCUMENT RESUME FD 316 591 UD 026 583 AUTHOR Kotler, Martin;.And Others TITLE Up from Dependency: A New National Public Assistance Strategy. Supplement 3: A Self-Help Catalog. INSTITUTION Office of Policy Development, Washington, DC. PUB DATE Dec 86 NOTE 520p.; For other volumes in this series, see UD 026 579-584 and UD 027 261. AVAILABLE FROM Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. PUB TYPE Reports - Descriptive (141) Reference Materials Directories /Catalogs (132) EDRS PRICE MF02/PC21 r'lus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adoption; Adult Programs; Business; Children; *Community Programs; Crime Prevention; Day Care; Disabilities; Drug Abuse; Early Parenthood; Education; Employment Programs; Family Programs; Health Programs; Homeless People; Housing; *Low Income Groups; Mental Health Programs, Older Adults; Parenting Skills; *Poverty Programs; Program Budgeting; Program Descriptions; Program Development; Rural Areas; *Self Help Programs; Social Services; Suburbs; Urban Programs; Welfare Services; Youth Programs ABSTRACT Self-help among low-income people is vitally important. In no area is self-help more important than in overcoming pcnarty's burdens and energizing the escape from poverty. This document comprises an inventory of self-help and mutual-help programs that feature active involvement of members of the low-income population. The programs in this inventory reflect a variety of program foci, sizes, budgets, locations, ages of participants, and operational methods. They represent only a fraction of the diverse programs operating in every paLL of this country. The following aspects of grassroots self-help programs are discussed: (1) how low-income people become involved;(2) how grassroots initiatives are funded;(3) employment initiatives;(4) neighborhood and community development;(5) housing development;(6) promotion of fesponsible behavior;(7) education programs; and (8) family programs. Profiles of 385 selected self-help programs are provided, arranged by state. For Hach program the following information is provided:(1) name, address, telephone number, and director;(2) population involved; (3) purpose;(4) grassroots involvement;(5) summary of activities; (6) accomplishments;(7) funding/support; and (8) contact. Information sources are listed. A user's guide is included that lists the programs by 24 topic areas representing program focus, age or target groups served, and primary location. (BJV) **********************************************************A************ Reproductions supplied by IMPS are the best that can be made from the original document. * ************-********************************************************* UP FROM DEPENDENCY A New National Public AssistanceStrategy SUPPLEMENT 3 A SELF-HELP CATALOG Executive Office of the President Office of Policy Development December 1,286 3 . .For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 4 PREFACE Self-help among low income people is a vitally important process. Not only does the process contributetoward meeting needs, it also changes people, and their percept.Lons ofthemselves. Self- help is a process celebrating and fostering whatpeople can do. The process helps people escape being only recipientsof public and private benevolence into being problem-solvers, communicators, networkers, and service providers. The self-help process is basic to any community orneighborhood's development of capacities and strengths. Whereas the public sector tends primarily to see in low income peopleneeds to be met, self-help involves and nourishes people'sabilities. By networking them, it helps foster the growth of communityspirit. The process is, in fact, an essential building block of a community. In no area is self-help more important than inovercoming poverty's burdens and energizing the escape from being 7c r. While public assistance helps people cope, self-help pl. ..des the essential impetus to make them self-sufficient. It develops in an individual gradual, butdramatic change: from passive recipient to agent of change. Self-help is a process of bonding among people to deal with problems deeply felt by all involved. Among low income people, far from being a process of grouping people to copein isolation, self-help is a process of organization and commitment. It not only builds people's own capacities but attracts'outside' aid that otherwise would be put off by fear of failure. Experience and practice in this field is steadily growing. The process is one in which we all can learn muchfrom each other. The White House Domestic Policy Council Low Income Opportunity Working Group and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), contracted Macro Systems, Inc., to develop an inventory of self- help and mutual-help programs that feature active involvement of members of the low income population. In collaboration with the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, Macro identified 385 programs broadly illustrative of the process. We know there are many more. The programs in this inventory reflr t a variety of program focuses, sizes, budgets, locations, es of participants, and operational methods. They represen only a fraction of the diverse programs operating in every part of this country. They are the "tip of the iceberg." The strength and diversity of these programs overwhelmingly demonstrate that, despitethe lack of visibility, members of the low income community are indeed increasing their social and economic self-sufficiency under their initiative and control. The grass roots involvement,self-help, community enrichment, and volunteerismare no longer exclusively middle-class phenomena. Development of this inventorywas possible only through the cooperation and participationof a great many people. First, of course, are the self-help program representativesthemselves. They were unfailinglygenerous with their time during telephone interviews, frequently followedup with program descriptive material, and responded quicklyto our requests for correction of draft profiles. Charles Hobbs and Morgan Doughton, WhiteHouse Office of Policy Development, provided helpful suggestionsthat shaped the development of the inventory. The HHS project officers, Carol McHale, David Rust, and Arnold Tompkins,were invaluable throughout the project andalways available for consultation and problem-solving. Robert Woodson, President of theNational Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, andhis staff were exceedingly supportive and helpfulwith the identification of programs. Pamela Taylor and RosalindInge, NCNE staff members, were also especially important toprogram identification efforts. In addition, HHS Regional Offices,governors' offices, andmany other agencies and organizationsgenerously shared their knowledge of community-basedinitiatives. The inventory was written byMacro Systems, Inc., staff: Martin Kotler, Tecla Jaskulski, AlbertAudette, Monica Barron, Judy Cravens, Anita Fox, Berrie Hirst,Suzanne Kitchen, Marsha Margarella, Claudia Norris, andRebecca Weader. In addition, Robert Hill and Diane Anderson,of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise alsocontributed extensively to the report. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE I. INTRODUCTION II. WHAT WE FOUND III. PROFILES OF SELF-HELP AND MUTUAL-HELP PROGRAMS IV. INFORMATION SOURCES USERS' GUIDE I. INTRODUCTION s 1. NEED F_OR_ MILINVENTORY Several misconceptions impede thedevelopment of effective approaches for reducing poverty andunemployment. The first myth is that these problems only can be overcomeby huge bureaucracies and massive infusions of governmentaid. But after two decades of record-level government expendituresfor the poor, joblessness and poverty continue at unacceptablelevels. Moreover, many current welfare policies appear toincrease dependency rather than reduce it. Policymakers are increasingly perplexedabout the appropriate strategies to improvethe sociai* and economic status of inner-city and rural lowincome people. The American public also has become more resistant tospending further taxpayer dollars for ineffectivesolutions to seemingly intractable problems. A second myth is that low incomepeople are incapable of playing major roles in shaping their owndestiny and need "professionals" to develop and manage remediesfor them. Often eAernally designed programs are parachuted into lowincome communities, including their inevitable controls andconstraints. If they fail, or succeed only marginally, the poor areblamed, not the program designers. Allied with this myth is themisconception that government responsibility can beimplemented only by government agencies, and cannot bedelegated to those who reside in low income communities and whohave the most at stake. Yet grass-roots groups in many lowincome communities across this nation are successfully overcoming problemsthat defy solution by government bureaucracies and traditionalsocial service agencies. Building upon their inherent strengths,low income residents are banding together to transform theircommunities into better places for themselves and their children. They have demonstrated that low income people can devise effectiveapproaches to make progress without total reliance ongovernment aid or outside experts. As the self-help programs illustratedin this volume show, there is a significant opportunity to redirectgovernment efforts to empower low income individualsand groups. For example, these programs have: o Turned deteriorating neighborhoodsinto