Day Care Program In Limbo
(Continued from page 1)
ing needed child care services, could
be that it paves the way for this future
plan not only in North Carolina, but
in other states throughout the South
east, it is believed.
School boards in all cities in which
this state-sponsored program is of
fered are responsible for finding the
children and the space for operation.
Training of teachers and technical
assistance have been promised by the
Department of Public Instruction.
All a school board must do is to
request the program. In High Point,
additional help for operation is avail
able through Fore-See.
To date, no such request has been
made by the local school board. At
the Februar)' town meeting, Dr. James
Jenkins, co-ordinator of all efforts in
Make Sure Your Child
Gets Vaccinations
Make sure that your child receives
the combined Red Measles and Ger
man Measles vaccination between
March 10 and March 26. This com
bined vaccination is for children ages
1-12 and will be given in the pubhc
schools as well as other places in the
city.
The vaccination will be given on
Sunday, March 26, between 12:30 and
3:00 p.m. at the Health Department
on Montlieu Avenue and at Hillside
Recreation Center on Vail Street.
Parents have already received let
ters from the schools concerning the
campaign. For additional information,
call the Health Department, 883-9166.
the state for the new program, stated
his eagerness to work with local
school administrators to get child
care for six-year-olds established in
High Point as soon as possible.
Formal letters from the ofiBce of Dr.
A. Craig Phillips, state superintendent
of Public Instruction, to Dr. Dean B.
Pruette, High Point schools superin
tendent, have made it clear that the
state is “happy to include High Point
in the North Carolina Child Develop
ment Program based on the release
of Title IV-A funds for our use, and
providing your agency supplies the
25 percent matching funds.”
In further correspondence, the
Fore-See Agency has assured the sup
erintendent’s office that “the necessary
local matching funds for a five- and
six-year-old program are presently
available through this agency. Such
a program must meet the conditions
and standards set forth in the agree
ment between the Departments of
Public Instruction and Social Serv
ices.”
The letter went on to note that
Dr. Jenkins was at the superinten
dent’s disposal for discussion and ex
pedition of the program in High
Point.
NO FUNDS’
Dr. Pruette, on the other hand, ex
plains that no funds have been re
leased from the Social Services De
partment. “No funds have been forth
coming from the state, so where is
the money going to come from?” he
said.
“We (the school board) made a
proposal with Model Cities last year
^God’s Farm’ Replaces
Juvenile Reform School
(Continued from page 1)
In the informar atmosphere of the
farm, Thomas hopes, boys can be
helped to discover who they really
are, and what they want out of life.
“Most of these young people are con
fused, they have a background of
police records and family trouble,”
he went on. “We want to show them
a way out, that they can break away
from the pattern.”
Around the farm the boys will work
with the livestock and machinery, as
signed what Thomas calls the dirtiest
jobs the first week, and assuming
more responsibility as the program
progresses.
LOOK FORWARD
“We want to say, ‘All right, we
trust you, and we’re going to trust you
until you prove us difFerently,”* said
Thomas. “We’re not looking at pasts,
but looking forward.
“We want to say, ‘You are a worth
while individual, you have potentials,
we’re going to try to help you. . .’”
To help the boys, Thomas hopes to
be sensitive to the needs of the in
dividual boys. When he finds an in-
for a kindergarten and they weren’t
in a position then to accept it. As far
as I know, there is no kindergarten
program in the planning stage,” he
went on. “So I just don’t know much
about it.”
Pruette voiced concern over where
the centers would be located, and
where the participants would come
from. ‘Where would you have it, and
who would be enrolled? There are no
guidelines drawn up under which we’d
operate such a program,” he said.
“I’m in favor of kindergartens, but
it becomes quite a different thing
when it comes to day care. . . .
We operate pubHc schools. We don’t
have any money to finance kinder
gartens,” said Pruette.
The proposed developmental day
care program, which rests on the will
ingness of city school systems not to
fund it, but to administer it, has not
yet been brought before the High
Point Board of Education as a body
for approval or rejection.
Meanwhile, Jenkins and others in
Raleigh describe themselves as “ready
to do business” and wait only upon
the invitation from High Point to put
the wheels in motion.
LEGAL SERVICES - Michael Mc
Gee has joined the High Point Legal
Services office, 106 E. Grimes Street.
McGee, a 1971 graduate of the Uni
versity of North Carolina Law School,
will work with John Poisson, senior
staff attorney, in providing free non-
criminal legal advice and courtroom
representation to High Point residents
certified by the county Department of
Social Services. The new attorney, who
comes to the city from a practice iii
Raleigh, replaces Kenneth Glusman.
Legal Services is a federally funded
project available to many Model
Neighborhood residents, depending
upon their income.
Unity Club Organized
By Neighborhood Teens
terest shown, he hopes to build on
that interest and eventually perhaps
see that the boy pursues it in a trade
school.
So far as Youth Unlimited is con
cerned, the day camp is an experi
ment. Furthermore, Thomas knows of
no other such program for young men
on probation anywhere else.
When the project reaches its po
tential, it will operate weekend re
treats and 12-week sessions for up to
15 participants Monday through Fri
day. A professional counselor will be
brought in for group therapy, and an
additional staff member to assist
Thomas will eventually be hired.
One important by-product of the
experience on the farm. Youth Un
limited hopes, will be shortened
court sentences and prayers for judg
ment. When a need and a desire are
shown, counselors will also help boys
find jobs or return to school.
“We do all this, hope for the best,
and see what comes of it. In each one
of them there is something good,”
said Thomas. “We want them to rea
lize it too.”
A couple of months ago a group of
Model Neighborhood teenagers ap
proached the Model Cities Citizen Par
ticipation oflBce and said, “We need
some place to go.”
Milton Stallings, CP director, set
January 27 for an organizational meet
ing. Nineteen young students were
present, and the Unity Club was bom.
Since that time, about ten more
eleventh- and twelfth-graders have
been added to the roster. The group
meets at 7 p.m. most Thursdays at the
Citizen Participation oflBce, 1315
Franklin Street.
The Unity Club — which grew out
of a need for evening activities and a
meeting place — is a club formed by
young people for young people. Adult
guidance is provided by Eva B. Stew
art, retired high school English teach
er, who says her role is to “sit in, give
direction. But I have no affiliation,
and no title that I know of.”
According to Mrs. Stewart, the pur
pose of the Unity Club is “to aid
youth in all matters of civic interest
and need; to initiate, organize and con
duct programs which are helpful to
youth of this community. The main
aim seems to be to provide a place at
least one evening a week, rather than
meeting on a street comer.”
Mrs. Stewart added that the group
was “dedicated to wholesome recre
ation and community service.” To carry
out these objectives, the club plans a
beautification week, a service project
to help families with yard work, field
trips to nearby historic sites, discus
sions with guest speakers on current
topics, and dances.
Officers of the club include presi
dent, Darrell Ingram; secretary, Mary
Brown; and treasurer, Carl Scott.
“We’re finding a lot of leadership
that needs channeling,” said Mrs.
Stewart. “These young people need so
much . . . I’m suggesting they bring
in speakers on parliamentary proce
dure, personal hygiene, male-female
relationships, dope, all sorts of topics.”
The Unity Club, which has only
Model Nei^borhood residents on its
membership list now, is open to any
one in the high school, junior and
senior age range. A schedule of activi
ties can be obtained by contacting a
club officer, Mrs. Stewart, or the CP
office.
WHATS HAPPENING is published
bimonthly by the Model Cities Com
mission of High Point, North Carolina,
William S. Bencini, Mayor; Dr. Otis
E. Tillman, Commission Chairman;
Don J. Forney, Director; Cedi A.
Brown, Information and Evaluation
Specialist. OflSces of the agency are
located at 609 S. Main St., High Point,
N. C. 27260. Telephone 885-9081.
The preparation of this magazine
and its free distribution were financially
aided and made possible through a
federal grant from the United States
Department of Housing and Urban
Development under Title I of the
Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan
Act of 1966.
Editor Emily Hedrick