WHAT'S • HAPPENING
Free Copy OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HIGH POINT MODEL CITY COMMISSION March 10,1972
Waiting for City's Okay
Day Care Program For 500 Held In Limbo
BY EMILY HEDRICK
The pilot day care program for up
to 500 five-and six-year-olds planned
for High Point by February 1 is being
held in limbo until education admin
istrators can come to working agree
ments on its funding, location and
operational guidelines.
The estimated budget of $670,000
to carry out the all-day, year-round
school readiness program is available
through the state Department of
Social Services in contract with the
Department of Public Instruction, and
the Fore-See Agency (Comprehensive
Community CTiild Care), a division of
Guilford Technical Institute.
In rural Randolph County there is
a farm. And on this farm is love.
The 171-acre farm near the tiny
community of Sophie is operated by
Youth Unlimited, a Christian organ
ization devoted to young people.
It’s a beautiful farm, with cows
and bams and fertile fields and the
happiness of people working together.
What is left, however, is for the
local school board to adopt the pro
gram.
The new child development pro
gram, if put into operation here,
would come as a result of a joint con
tract between the two North Carolina
departments. No such day care pro
gram for five- and six-year-olds —
children in their last year before first
grade — exists in High Point at this
time.
In other communities where the ex
perimental program is being offered.
Public Instruction provides the local
share of 25 percent of the total budget,
while Social Services administers the
At best it’s a place where young
people can discover who they are.
“God’s Farm,” as it’s called, is the
setting for many projects involving
kids, including a day program for
youthful offenders, a youth outreach
project contracted with Model Cities.
Several youth outreach projects,
such as a job development program
remaining federal Title IV-A share of
75 percent.
MATCHING SHARE
In High Point’s case, however, the
Fore-See Agency, an administrative
umbrella over all other child care pro
grams in the community, would pro
vide the local matching share through
Model Cities supplemental funds —
approximately $170,000 a year if the
program were fully implemented.
As part of its ^cond Action Year
proposal. Model Cities had charged
the Fore-See Agency to develop a day
care program for six-year-olds. Al
ready in operation are a developmental
day care program for children ages
for teens, have been undertaken with
Model Cities funds before. This latest
venture, which came about during the
commission’s first reprogramming
cycle in January, is for boys ages
14-17 who have been involved in
juvenile court action or who appear
to be “heading for trouble.”
The latest youth outreach project
is headed by associate director of
Youth Unlimited, Larry Thomas.
Thomas has been connected with
the youth organization for about three
years, having become the Rev. Tom
Watson’s righthand man. Watson is
founder of Youth Unlimited.
In the day program, boys are bussed
to the farm daily Monday through
Friday from High Point for outdoor
work, recreation, counseling, and
group therapy. Two are involved in
the program presently; by summer,
Thomas hopes for some 25 each week.
COURT REFERS
Boys will be referred by the 18th
Judicial District Court Probation De
partment, who maintains jurisdiction
over them. Not all will have been
convicted of a crime, but all must
have had a record with the court.
The purpose of the day camp is to
give judges and probation officers an
alternative to sending young male
offenders to reform school or prison.
While on probation under the care of
Youth Unlimited, the boys will be
given personal attention aimed at re-
I habilitating them and helping them
1 go back to school or on to other
training.
“There are so many cases in High
Point and the United States where
there are boys in trouble, or on the
verge of being sent to reform school,
but they have not committed a seri
ous crime,” said Larry Thomas. “The
court hasn’t had any alternative but
to send him. What we’re doing is
to give an option to that.”
(Continued on page 2)
three to six, and a day care program
for mentally handicapped youngsters.
Early last year a kindergarten pro
posal submitted to Model Cities by
the school board was rejected be
cause it lacked the necessary educa
tional components required to draw
federal matching money. Fore-See
planners then sat down to design an
other program to implement their third
objective according to federal guide
lines.
When the state’s child care program
was announced in the fall, it was dis
covered that the Fore-See proposal
was so similar that almost no altera
tions were necessary in order to at
tract it to High Point. The 25 per
cent matching share, after all, was
already available from Model Cities.
NOT KINDERGARTEN
A program of this nature, by virtue
of the fact that it would incorporate
federal (Title IV-A) money, is not a
kindergarten. Rather than serving chil
dren only half a day, it would be open
from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Such ele
ments as social development, adjust
ment to grotip living, good health and
play habits, self-expression through art,
and good attitudes would be stressed
in preparation for first grade.
There are several indicators from a
state level that show that North Caro
lina is moving toward adopting com
prehensive child care programs funded
through Title IV-A and other sources.
A by-product of High Point’s pilot ap
proach to such day care while provid-
(Continued on page 2)
Consumer Workshop
Planned This Month
A consumer education workshop
sponsored by Consumer Credit Coun
seling and Model Cities will be con
ducted March 28 and 29.
The first day of the workshop will
be held in the auditorium of Astor
Dowdy Towers, followed by the sec
ond day in the conference room of
the Chamber of Commerce. A sched
ule of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. will be observed
each day.
The Georgia Consumer Service is in
charge of the sessions. Films and dis
cussions of counseling skills, approach
es to training consumers, and how to
cope with money problems will be on
the agenda. Contracts, loans, gyps and
schemes will also be dealt with.
The purpose of the forum is to
inform other Model Cities operating
agencies and the community at large
how to handle consumers and their
problems. The training is to show
clients how they can help themselves
in their money management.
Anyone within the business or pri
vate community can attend the two
free sessions. To reserve a place in the
seminar, call Consumer Credit Coun
seling, 885-0041.
JUST ONE OF THE GUYS - L^ Thomas, right, director of Youth
Unlimited’s current outreach project, jokes with two participants, both of
whom were referred by the court. At left is John Little, 15, a Model Neighbor
hood resident, and in the center, Johnny Faircloth, 16.
^God’s Farm^ In Randolph Replaces
Reform School For Young Offenders