MFY (MOBILIZATION FOR YOUTH): WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT WAS BORN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000302070002-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 27, 2014
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 6, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

S
Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/27: CIA-R6P73-00475R000302070002-4
MACAW KIM INF
SEP 8 1964
MOBILIZATION for youth?the cortAroversial projectaimed ,
'at compatinONelinguency and poverty?is barely tWo 'tears
.old awl in trouble SeriouS charges that the project has been, ' ? ._.
infiltrated by Communists and agitators -have been leveled;gc,in:::". '
vestigators have descen. ded.:on the $13.2 million Lower East Side
agency. What .exactly ibll. Mobilization for Youth de. sign-e&to wig, .
be?,What is it today? Aid how did it get _that way? These art4
cleebY reporters Claude Lewis and Sue Peinert, tell the StOriiitivi 044.,x, ,
- ' ' .- 41-- ttii41,104;11-4 .
, 4 , . . ? ? -", ? i .. I anAir,(
...Rlobihzationt. for .11.o.. a
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-111 All ? ' r
By Claude Lewis.
or The Herald irtburte Staff
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'PROJECTS ?
projects, and ',Richard A. ect.waS 'to help 16-to-20-Vear-
., .
oId higt-school dropouts in
Cloward,, who heads
Seven years ? ago several Specific 'projects include ' research division.
_coffee houses (for social
Activities), with emphasis on,
Culture and a youth corps to
.conduct public works'
- In the main, Mobilization is
rehabilitation pvogram with
It secondary einphasis on pre-
Lower East Side social agen-
cies began to realize that
they were losing their war on
poverty. Rehabilitation pro-
grams for youths, built
around basketball, ? baseball
irention. The Lower East Side
MFY. employs' more than
:300 persons (200, of them are
professionals) 13'' run its
three-year program, ?which
will deflate a $13.2 million
budget by the summer of
1965. The original plans for
.1VIFY called for a five-year
vandalism, violence, thievery 1-area was one of the 10 wdrst -?uration to 'demonstrate
areas for youth offenses in' whether it would work. But
and drug addiction. Some-
the nation, and became a the President's Committe,e on
thing ,had to be done, they
proving' ground for the idea i.Poverty limited the program
decided, something new, 'to a three-year life span.
? that a comprehensive pro-
samething dramatic. Their
'ram can turn back the rising. , As of the fiscal year begin-
answer, after five years of
tide of delinquency across the ?iiing July 1; MFY was to re-
thought and study, was an
'nation.
experimental project called
l :/- .? ..
' .4'4' calve grants totaling $13.2
Mobilization for Youth. Most of the organizitions i million. Funding sources, and
; that sat in onf/the original',
31, 1962,' when President
MFY was spawned on May
MFY planning sessions axe
. e amounts, include the City if
- New York millien ,Na-
still in existence and re-atialY I , ,,
Kennedy announced the plan ' . . . - - 1 tonal Institute of, %Menfdol
the lowest 20 Per cent brack4t
of the econothic scale, while
at the same time devising
methods that could be used in
other similarly affected areas.
1
? MFY's target. area encom-
passes Jewsi (27 per cent),
, other whites (36 pet cent), ,
Puerto Ricans (26 per cent),
'
as a massive attack .on ju- ' oner neir iaciiiies It.LL1CHealth ($5.2 lmillion), Pres*.i
MFY project.
venile , delinquency on: Man- ? dent's Committee an.Juvefille
hattan's Lower East Side, by Winslow Carlton, a health- -',' Delinquenci .,:% and ??? Youth
Federal and city ,govern- , insurance executive, has Crime 41.9 million),, and the
merits, voluntary agencies,' served as chairman of the Ford Foundation ($1,8 mil-
neighborhood workers and I beard for the two years that', lion). 4 4
?Columbia University. 1, I MFY: 'has been,. operating,z1, The MFY area is boundttli
, The program, consists of''' is run 1?1 Jam onon the north by E. 14th St:. oxi
'Intensive and coordinated ?
i
McCarthy,. 48, an .ex-street7. : ' the south by the Brooklyn
t
B
rojects in employment,
corn_ gang fighter and an otitl.:1 Bridge, on the east by the
tnunity development, educa- standing social worker for' 1 East ,River and on the west by
lion, social services to youths _most of his life. Two of Avenue 13 and East Broadway.
, More than 110 000 persons
Negroes (8. per Onti and
other non-whites (3 per
? cent). In the period' from
1959 to 11)61, Lower East Side
crime had soared 70 Per cent';
six youths in each 10 between
the ages of 7 and 20 corn-
mitt.ed some . offense that
brought them into the courts:.
Against, this geographic,
ethnic, and sociological back-
ground, the MFY- objective,
developed by Dr. Richard
? Cloward and Dr. Lloyd.Ohlin,
is to prevent and control de-1
linquenc.3;,4by expanding op-
portunities within 'the area.
Two examples of MFY's.
panded opportunities can 'be
seen at their own. as station
and luncheankte; ;both of
I which are run by MFY train-'
ees, who work from 9 to 4 (at
$1,25 an hour).
.McCarthy s closest assistants
and their families, and re- : '
_parch trainthg. _ __;(4..apf thereLGeogepgraAy.p mBrage,s__xtion r, director . live in the area's 67 blocks.
The foremost aim of the p_yoj-
s ,.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/27: CIA-RDP73-00475R000302070002-4
. ? Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/27: CIA:RDP73-00475R000302070002-4
III
This, specifically, ii what to help them."
MFY does: One young man named '
MFY's most successful 01)-, Roy, who did very well in
eration is its homework help- one of MFY's workshops,
or program. Fred Delliquadri, completed the program, then
vice-chai In n. of Mobiliz-j a
a slipped into a state of with-
tion'
and dean 'Of Columbia drawal. "We lost him," says
University Sdhool of Social Steinlauf.
Work, Says the fourth and ,
fifth grade pupils: in an ex- SUCCESS STORY
perimental -group made a 40
One success*ry is pretty.
per cent greater gain in read- ?19-year-old Emma Fontaine,
Ing proficiency than those in a soft-spoken ierto Rican
a Control group. high-school ,dropout. "I just
. A variety of work pro- wasn't getting anywhere in
grams are now available to school," she says. "A friend
once angry youths who stood of mine-. told me ahout
?hands in pockets?on street Mobilization and I came in to
corners. And more than. 60 '4,iind out if I could get some
youths are now receiving on- help here," she ? said. sitting ?
the-job training with wages In a makeshift office. (Their
being shared by MFY and rundown regular headquara?
the employer. Some 240 others ters at 214 E. Second St., is
are tutored in the non-profit, 'Undergoing renovation by a:
organization's Urban Youth group of boys in one of 1VIFY's4,
Work Corps shops.; In these 4ji-jbP.-:classeS.., Another group
shops, which are supervised eenovatinv;t,an East Side
by experienced people, the "Synagogue.),-'-':
; Youngsters learn woodwork- Was tested shortly
ing sewing-machine opera-; after she appeared- in ?MFY's
ion machines contribu- ; offices:gad .shewed,superior
by th nte,rnationlilti ability" 11-4- clerical perform-
Gar orker's and 'day for five
1114, monhe,Jattended MFY's
opt-, cleric she punched a
Stes4 *m0 `she fltiould
ger e she, ell-NO
hs ce skill . ?
, 4
remedial math, spelling, and ,Today, runs an,-of-
reading. ?akeav- ? , esley Display
j "We have many success kl n She '
I stories," said 33-year-old ad- .,4,raeets?with ei Counselor at
ministrative assistant Nor- the MFY offide two nights a
man Steinlauf,"and we have week. Her counselor instructs
f some failure; 1A50, These kids' her in personal hygiene,-.
I are unemploYabla when they dress, and good' woWing ,
come to us iindaelne of them, habits. "I doll% know What
have such deep-seated prob-1 -*my, life Would have come to-,"
lems that we can_ do litti; says Emma happily, "I wish ,
-1 I could repay MFY for theie.
help."
I tt
ted
Urhon),
other skil
fully prere th
Ziornie survival.
Other youths train y
chirdren in such subjec
?8EPt 1%4
-
A Timetable
JUNE, 1957?Lower East Side community -leaders decide '
that a new type of social agency is neeessary to rehabili- i
, tate youth. .
' MAY 31, 1962?President Kennedy ,announces Mobilization
? for Youth program. Winslow Carlton named board i
? ? chairman. , , , ,
JUNE 'I, 1962?James .E. McCarthy, MFY administrative
, director, announces search for 300 staff members. ? Mayor
Wagner announces Ford Foundation is giving $1.8 mil-
lion to help program, the city $1.4 million a year and
the Federal government $2.1 million a year.
. JULY 5, 19637-U. S. endorses on-job-training program for
MFY.'
FEB. 11, 1964?Four local school board districts open hear- [
ings to air charges that MF,Y, encourages extremist groups I
to "war against individual schools ag_ rippipals.".., \
lipti.
AUG. 16, 1964-?Daily News breaks sterSct city and
are investigating MFY for possible in ration by,Co 41V.T1
munists. .
AUG. 17, 1964?MFY director James McCarthy called to 1
, White House. Wagner orders police to investigate WA I
and says city will not renew MFY contract, which expired 1
June 30, unless organization is cleared of Red charges.
? AUG. 13, 1964?Mr. Carlton announces MFY is investigat-
- in .itself
AUG. 19, 1964?Rep. Charles E. Goodell, R.. N.Y., demands
pov9ty -difector Sargent Shriver disclose steps he'll take
tol(event radicals from entrenching themselves in Fed-
eraltnti-poverty program.
.? AUG. 20, 1964?U. S. and city threaten to hold back money
unless MFY cleans house.
AUG. 24, 1964?FBI report reveals two current MFY em-
ployees are presently members of Communist party and
three others belong to other leftist organizations. Report,
also reveals that at least 32 of agency's, employees have
been linked in the past to Communist party or front
groups. ..
AUG. 31, 1964?Sen. Jacob K. Javits says at MFY. rally
that he is "confident the essential program" would gain
Congressional support but that some personnel changes
would have to tbe made and that MFY may have to "con-
centrate on Youth actiVitiee."
SEPT. 2,--1964,?Cit1 C:OUncil, President Paul R: Screvane
--:, anneunces1A, i'? Ipti,.... iitnOt provide "a base of activity
?
,?
"'and a sale hive''-; ' -... .versivs." City will hold budget
A ? contracts in abeyande until the Investigation is completed.
i? ,e- MFY to reCve finances on month-to-month basis until
tik,toinclit,ikation is complete. ,
Screvane disregards deniands by Queens '
Councilailan-at-large Joseph Modugno that he release
FBI and city reports on staff of MFY, saying: "I won't
make public raw information that could smear or destroy
the I eputation of poeplai ..i.?. that would be irresponsible
' and a throwback to McCarthyism." DaRy also reeeived
support from 15 clergymen and civil leaders who pre-
sentad a petition bearing 13;500 names at City Hall.
.,-
? . 11111111
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/27: CIA-RDP73-00475R000302070002-4