LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 773 135 3 • LC 233 .C4 fl5 1919 Copy 1 A Tentative Program FOR Community Centers Chicago Board of Education January, 1919 102 The Committee on Community Center- Board of Education ■ Chicago, Illinois Community Center Committee, MR. MAX LOEB. Chairman MR. ERNEST J. KRUETGEN MRS. CHARLES O. SETHNESS MR. JOHN W. ECKHART MRS. JOHN MacMAHON MRS. GEORGE P. VOSBRINK PRESIDENT JACOB M. LOEB, Ex-Officio Acting Secretary of Advisory Commission, EDWARD L. BURCHARD Assistant Secretary, MISS ALICE H. THOMPSON Members of the Community Center Committee are ex-officio members of all committees of the Advisory Commission. GEORGE W. EGGERS, Director, Art Institute ALDERMAN JAMES A. LONG, Chairman, Council Committee on Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches FRED G. HEUCHLING, Secretary, Civil Service Board, West Chicago Park Commis- sioners E. L. BURCHARD, Editor, Community Center WILLIAM A. BOND, Americanization Committee, Chicago Ass'n. of Commerce PHILIP L. SEMAN, Superintendent, Chicago Hebrew Institute EUGENE, T. LIES, Superintendent War Camp Community Service HARRY A. LIPSKY, Jewish Daily Courier L. A. CALVIN, Secretary Patriotic Community Council of Cook County FELIX STREYCKMANS, Chief, Foreign Language Division of Liberty Loan Committee MRS. HARLAN WARD COOLEY, Chicago Woman's Club MRS. DUNLAP SMITH, Woman's City Club MRS. MORRIS WOOLF, Chicago Woman's Aid, also Chicago Woman's Club (Com- munity Center Committee) WILFRED S. REYNOLDS, President Central Council of Social Agencies CARL RODEN, Librarian, Chicago Public Library JOHN METZ, Former I'resideut, Carpenters' District Council JOSEPH HOPP, President Motion Picture Exhibitors' League CHARLES H. WACKER, Chicago Plan Commission MRS. MOSES L. PURVIN, First Vice-President Council of Jewish Women MRS. HENRY SOLOMON, Woman's Committee, Council of National Defense ALICE H. THOMPSON, President Eli Bates House LORADO TAFT DR. W. A. EVANS, Former Commissioner of Health MRS. WILLIAM S. HEFFERAN, President Parent-Teachers' Federation JOHN R. RICHARDS, Superintendent of Recreation, South Park Board MRS. HERMAN RIESER, Chairman, Social Center Com- mittee, Johanna Lodge MRS. FREDERICK D. SILBER, Chairman, Community Center Committee, Chicago Womans Club MRS. ROBERT J. ROULSTON, L. WILBUR MESSER General Secretarv, Y. M. C. A. PROF. NATHANIEL BUTLER, Director. University Lecture Association ANGUS HIBBARD, Director, Civic Music Assn. DR. GRAHAivx TAYLOR, Warden, Chicago Commons H. C. BAKER, Chicago Daily News MRS. HARRY HART, State Council of Defense WALTER WRIGHT, Secretary Bureau of Parks, Public Playgrounds & Beaches, Department Public Works JENS HANSEN • « President Security Bank m 1 1 COMMITTEES OF THE ADVISORY COMMISSION ON COMMUNITY CENTERS MRS. HENRY SOLOMON. LORADO TAFT, MRS. HEN^y SOLOMON, EUGENE T. LIES, MRS. DUNLAP SMITH, Art Exhibits: GEORGE W. EGGERS, Chairman, H. C. BAKER, MRS. DUNLAP SMITH, Classes in English and Citizenship: PROF. NATHANIEL BUTLER, HARRY A. LirSKY, Chairman, L. WILBUR MESSER, FELIX STREYCKMANS, JENS Ha\NSEN. MRS. FRED. SILBER, Sub-Committee on Chicago Association of Commerce Classes in English and Citizenship: WILLIAM A. BOND, Chairman. Community Councils: L. A. GALVIN and MISS ALICE THOMPSON, Joint Chairmen, E. L. BURCHARD, MRS. WILLIAM S. HEFFERAN, Music : ANGUS HIBBARD, Chairman, MRS. FRED SILBER. E. L. BURCHARD. MRS. HARRY HART, GEORGE W. EGGERS, Speakers' Bureau: MRS. H. WARD COOLEY. Chairman, H. C. BAKER, Secretaries and Other Paid Workers: EUGENE T. LIES, Chirman. L. A. CALVIN, PHILIP L. SEMAN, JOHN R. RICHARDS WILFRED S. REYNOLDS, Placing Equipment and Adaptation: CHARLES H. WACKER, Chairman, CARL RODEN, Films : JOSEPH HOPP, Chairman, CARL RODEN. Health and Sanitation: DR. W. A. EVANS, Chairman, JOHN METZ. CHARLES H. WACKER, JOHN METZ, HARRY A. LIPSKY, MRS. W. S. HEFFERAN, LORADO TAFT MRS. HANNAH SOLOMON. ALD. JOHN A. LONG. Organizations of "New Americans' FELIX STREYCKMANS, Chairman, HARRY A. LIPSKY, JENS HANSEN, WILLIAM A. BOND, Community Civics: WILFRED S. REYNOLDS, Chairman, EUGENE T. LIES, PHILIP L. SEMAN, MRS. MORRiS WOOLF, Library Co-operation: CARL RODEN, Chairman. GEORGE W. EGGERS, Vocational Practice Work: JOHN METZ, Chairman, MRS. WILLIAM S. HEFFERAN, Summer Activities: MRS. ROBERT J. ROULSTON, Chairman, MRS. HERMAN RIESER, Training of Community Center Workers: FRED G. HEUCHLING, Chairman, PROF. GRAHAM TAYLOR, GEORGE W. EGGERS, Playgrounds and Athletics: WALTER WRIGHT, Chairman, FRED. G. HEUCHLING. ALD. JAMES A. LONG, MRS. FRED SILBER, MISS ALICE H. THOMPSON, L. WILBUR MESSER, MRS. MOSES PURVIN, MRS. DUNLAP SMITH. MRS. HARRY HART, DR. GRAHAM TAYLOR, MRS. MOSES PURVIN, MRS. MORRIS WOOLF. PHILIP L. SEMAN, MRS. MORRIS WOOLF. FRED. HEUCHLING, ALD. JAMES A. LONG. MISS ALICE H. THOMPSON, L. A. CALVIN. JOHN R. RICHARDS, MRS. HERMAN RIESER. ^ THE ADVISORY COMMISSION This Commission is not an ornamental one. It has a real and important field of service; it has three functions, by the exercise of which the usefulness of our community centers may be greatly extended. 1. The Commission should act as a Board of Visitors. Each member will, as a matter of course, visit the community center in his own neighborhood. Visiting by members of an official commission will greatly stimulate the efforts of the local directors of the community centers. Knowing that their efforts are being observed and that good work will be com- mended, they will re-double their efforts and renew their enthusiasm. The existence of an Advisory Commission will act as a spur on the work of the Department of Community Centers. It will be a source of support when the department asks for needed enlargement and extension; it will be quick to see any weakness in management and ^eady with sugges- tions for improvement. 2. The Commission should make definite recommenda- tions to the Board Committee on Community Centers, and through them, to the Board. Many valuable suggestions should come from this Commission, which will, through its committees, study particular phases of community center work. 3. The Commission can greatly stimulate the participa- tion in community center work of agencies nv^w not actively co-operating. It should find new volunteer workers. It should suggest co-operation to civic and social organizations who are not now in active affiliation. It can tie up more closely the great educational resources of Chicago to the public schools. GENERAL PRINCIPLES The general principles underlying the furtherance of school extension are these: The Board of Education should not at the present time furnish new material, but should co-ordinate and make available for use, existing material. The community centers should not create new organizations 1. but should correlate existing organizations with the school house as their common home. AMERICANIZATION (a) Classes in English and Citizenship: The community centers afford a splendid field for Amer- icanization work, just as do the evening schools. Informal group study in the centers will attract some who find formal instruction forbidding, and who will therefore not attend the regular evening classes. Conversation groups in English and classes for the study of the elements of citizenship shoul 1 be a prominent feature of community center activities. Volunteer workers should be encouraged. The various civic organiza- tions would, if appealed to, furnish competent persons for Americanization work. Simple manuals for teaching English and citizenship could be furnished by the Board. Wherever possible, the worker should be able to speak the language of the locality as well as English. There has just been established in the U. S. Department of the Interior, a Division of Americanization which will have regional bureaus in different parts of the country. One will doubtless be located here, which will necessitate correlation between the federal authorities and the Chicago public schools. (b) Organizations of Foreign Born: Organizations of foreign born citizens must be accus- tomed to make use of the school facilities. It should be the duty of this Commission to compile a complete list of such organizations for the use of the Community Center Depart- ment which should co-operate with the local Community Center principal in persuading such organizations to use the school house and join in community activities. Only in this way will the process of Americanization make satisfactory progress. (c) Community Civics: Exhibits in ideal housing, child welfare, recreational opportunities, municipal government, etc., if set up in com- munity centers and evening schools, can do great good. Sev- 2. eral public and private agencies already have such exhib^s prepared. There is an excellent housing exhibit in a cottage rented for the purpose adjoining the Dan^e School in an Italian neighborhood. Mr. Reynolds, of this Commission, is President of the Central Council of Social Agenci. and with his colleagues can aid greatly in promoting a wider dev:lop- ment of this "preventive" type of educational social work. In school communities where there is a large foreign born population, exhibits, when held, should be lettered both in English and the language of the community. Programs should be printed in both languages. This scheme has been carried out successfully in a number of centers. (d) Library Co-operation: Mr. Carl Roden, public librarian, has suggested that at least once during the term, there be an excursion by evening school classes and by the organizations mating in a commun- ity center, to the nearest branch library where, at the library's expense, an Americanization program will be held and an effort made to set forth the library resources which the tax- payers maintain. This idea is thoroughly feasible. The library will make every effort to make its program attractive. It will correlate more closely the school and the library, and bring home particularly to those who have come here from European countries the effort that is being made by public agencies on every side to draw them into American com- munity life. The public library has available excellent travel- ing "book chests" on Americanization. These should be on hand at every evening school and in each community center. The Library Bulletins on Americanization should be in the hands of every teacher. These bulletins and the booklets to which they refer should be available in reasonable quantity at the community centers. The library board and the school board are both spending the people's money. There should be the closest possible cor- relation between them. The two boards should be in constant touch in regard to 1. Location of branch libraries; 2. Library rooms in school houses; 3. Use of library facilities by the schools. ^ ... Where branch libraries are now located m schools in 3. which there are evening classes or community centers, the branches should be kept open in the evening. EXHIBITS Greater use can easily be made of the exhibits available, without expense, for educational purposes. The Field Museum has a collection of over 150 splendid exhibits. These are having extensive use in day school class-rooms but are not being used in the community centers. The Chicago Art Institute has available a large number of art exhibits, together with lantern slides, and when desired, lecturers. These exhibits should, in the course of a year, appear in every community center. The exhibit need be for only a short time. The size and nature of the exhibit can be varied according to the space available. There is no expense except that of transporting the exhibits to and fro; at least a portion of this would be borne by these Institutions themselves. The Woman's City Club, Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, and many other organizations have exhibits of great merit, of which greater use can easily be made. When new schools are built, suitable arrangements should be considered for a room where traveling exhibits oi this nature may be housed. FILMS Instead of adding to the stock of films owned by the Board of Education, which quickly become broken or dead stock, the same money or a considerable portion thereof, should be used for renting "subjects." Programs should be planned by the Community Center Department and sent out to the schools, together with all details as to expense, where procurable, duration of program, etc. The work of making proper selections should not rest on the princij^al alone. Programs adapted to the needs of particular groups of schools should be made up by someone skilled in the organization of educational film programs in the Community Center Department. From these the principals should be allowed to make their selections. Differing types of schools would of course have divergent programs, but there should be a central authority and expert ability available for them all. The Department of Community Centers should notify the schools of this film service and be prepared to co-operate in arranging the details. A small charge of 2 to 5 cents per person will usually defray expenses. Some reserved seats at a higher price is a very great and appreciated accommodation. The janitor will generally stay an extra hour after school by paying him 75 cents or a dollar. These movies can be held between 3:45 and 4:45 in the afternoon, as well as in the evening. The use of the films could be greatly increased in the extension activities. It is often very difficult to get a licensed operator. One licensed union operator should be employed by the Board who should be subject to call and give his services wherever needed in the schools. Others could be added as the need developed. I» the Lane school there are four or five licensed operators, and the principal states these operators are in constant demand by other schools. Mr. L. A. Calvin, of the Patriotic Community Council, informs the writer he is able to secure over 1,000,000 feet of films on industrial subjects, which will le supplied free. The writer is advised that in cases where the school building does not now meet with the provisions of the fire ordinance, with some inexpensive alterations a film machine can be installed which will meet with the sanction of the building authorities. At the present time thirty schools have film machines with booth, complying with the regulations. Three hundred schools have no booth. This matter should be taken up at once with the architect to see if all the schools cannot make use of film machines, which are a tremendous aid in education. Films can be used to greater advantage by community centers as well as by day and evening schools. LANTERN SLIDES. The same methods of management apply to lantern slides. There are literally thousands of sets available, which are not now used for educational purposes. The Board owns several hundred sets. COMMUNITY MUSIC. Good music should be available in every center. The various singing and music organizations will gladly furnish music either free or at small cost, for the community centers. In addition, they will furnish leaders of community singing. SPEAKERS' BUREAUS. A well organized speakers' bureau, run by the Com- munity Center Department, should be at the disposal of each school neighborhood. The war workers' organizations already have well developed bureaus of this character. The University of Chicago Lecture Association has a splendid list of speakers. Professor Nathaniel Butler, Director, has proffered his aid. The Daily News Lecture Bureau is already making excellent use of the schools. The News Bureau has demon- strated the possibilities. Where a private agency has thus shown the way, we should not be slow to follow. In many instances, the speaker will contribute his services free. When this is not the case, a small admission fee will defray expenses. — "*. COMMUNITY CENTER DEPARTMENT A CLEARING HOUSE. How can all these resources above referred to, which are offered almost entirely free of charge (exhibits, films, slides, music, speakers, book-chests, etc.), be made available in a practical way? There must be a scientific, systematic scheme of administration. One of the principal functions of the Community Center Department is to act as a clearmg house for all this valuable material. The depart- ment must first list all the available resources of an educa- tional character owned and controlled by the various civic and social agencies. Then it must organize complete pro- grams with economical scheduling and circuiting of materials and programs from one center to another i'==r i-.— ^' ^ The principals of the schools must, of course, have jurisdiction in the management of their local centers They understand best the needs of their school communities The director of community centers is continuously in close touch with the principals; he must ascertain their needs and see that these needs are adequately and promptly met. A weekly bulletin should be sent out advising what is avail- able and asking what is wanted for immediate use. Placards should be posted in every school at least once a month, giving the programs planned in the nearby centers. EVENING SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY CENTERS. At the present time the activities of evening schools and community centers are rather sharply divided. Many cities have an assistant superintendent who is in charge of all school extension work. The two activities should go hand in hand. Men who attend evening school will find it more attractive if they can bring thsir families, for whom some recreational activities are provided. In such case more will come. Class instruction is not necessarily interfered with by having recreational activities going on in other rooms in the building. Just as it is easier for the families of those who attend evening classes to come on evening school nights, so, conversely, on center nights, it is easier to get the presence of the men for instruction. Informal classes in English, in the elements of citizenship, in city geography, in dress- making, etc., should be held on Community Center nights and made a part of the activities. The Community Center can include instruction. The evening school need not pre- clude recreational activities and informal instruction. It should be noted that by combining evening school and community center activities, janitor service is cut down instead of increased, while there is no additional expense for light and heat. PAID WORKERS. When a worker is required who can talk both English and the language of the particular locality, and it is necessary to offer compensation to get the right person, 7. the director should have the right to issue a special certifi- cate after, of course, satisfying himself that the person to be employed is properly qualified. The same is true of classes in dressmaking, millinery and the like, which can be carried on in the centers. Volunteer workers alone, important as they are, cannot make a successful community center. Compensation, no mat- ter how modest, means responsibility and efficiency. The suc- cessful community center requires a number of paid workers. This system involves great elasticity in "hiring and firing." It means an authority in the Community Center Depart- ment possessing discretionary power to hire persons for temporary purposes; it presupposes the existence of the necessary discretion, so that no abuses may creep in. The centers then can expand or contract according to the com- munity's needs. The pay of these temporary workers ranges from $1.50 to $5.00 a night. In one successful community center system there is at the larger centers a paid door tender, a voucher who sees that only persons vouched for are admitted to the dances, an athletic director, a natatorium director, a director of the billiard room, orchestra leader, glee club director, library attendant, teacher of sewing, mil- linery, citizenship, etc. The centers are open four or five evenings a week. The janitors are paid 50 to 75 cents additional for each extra room used. The principals are given a minimum with a bonus system for increase in attendance. The teachers in special subjects receive a fixed sum per person. When a class gets down tu ten it auto- matically closes. As a result the teachers do their best to make the classes attractive. The principal is allowed to employ and discharge, but every person who gets on the payroll must be approved by the central office. No certifi- cate is required for these temporary workers. A beginning should be made in the direction of greater elasticity here. The Director of Community Centers should have a special fund, out of which he should be allowed to hire temporary employes and experiment with this system in two or three centers. If found successful, the amount set aside should be increased and the system extended. 8. SECRETARIES Can the principal do the work necessary to a successful community center? Should he be allowed a clerk or secre- tary for two or three evenings a week to do this work? This is a very difficult point and a fundamental one: in order to have the schoolhouse function properly as the center of the neighborhood, someone must do the mechanical work and do it well, sending out notices, making telephone calls, taking care of the printing of programs, etc Cadets (Nor- mal School graduates who are awaiting assignments) often will do this work Their present compensation is $1.00 an evening. This should be increased. In the larger centers, covering wider districts, it may be necessary to employ a highly specialized community assistant. SECRETARY OF THE COMMISSION. Should this Commission have a secretary? The writer believes that it should. The amount of work necessary to be done requires the services of one who has a thorough working knowledge of community center activities, and who knows and is in touch with city and national agencies. There will be many committees. Without continuous secre- tarial assistance they cannot be satisfactorily maintained or kept in working touch with each other. The secretary should keep in close touch with the representatives of the various participating organizations, and see that the correlation between them and the Com- munity Center Department, the Committee on Community Centers and this Commission is continuously maintained. The Committee and this Commission should be the mediat- ing agent between the various civic organizations of the community and the Community Center Department. This, however, is not to replace the necessary super- visory relation between the Community Center Department, the Superintendent's office and the principals of schools having centers. . , , .- The secretary should make reports to this body ot activities which are meeting with speciil success and deserve extension; likewise of activities which are not successful and need to be curtailed. Many of the members of this Commission are closely identified with particular organiza- tions. The Secretary's services should be at the disposal of any member who desires a study made and report prepared on any particular phase of the correlation of existing agencies which we are endeavoring to establish. DURATION OF COMMUNITY CENTER WORK. The gardening activities go hand in hand with com- munity center work. The schoolhouse is the best agency for the exhibits and for talks on the subject. Work in gardening, outside games and athletics, dances, pa^ iotic con- certs and assemblies should bridge over the period between the close of the schools in the spring and their opening in the fall. There is no reason why the community center activity should be entirely discontinued throughout the sum- mer if there is a demand for the centers remaining open. NUMBER OF EVENINGS A WEEK. The question of the number of evenings a week on which the schools should be open should be left to the discretion of the Department of Community Centers co-oper- ating with the local principals. There should be no limitation. If a community demands that the schoolhouse be open six evenings a week and there are sufficient activities for each evening, it should remain open. (In the estimates in the Budget for 1919, now being made up, $100,000 is included for community center purposes, so that this expense can be met.) On the other hand, it is better to have a school open twice a week and used intensively, than have it used in casual fashion six evenings a week. HEALTH AND SANITATION. The education of the local community in public health by exhibitions, lectures and entertainments, should have a place in the community center program. RECREATIONAL CO-OPERATION. There is at present a correlation existing between the park recreational centers and the schools. The City Parks and Playgrounds Bureau furnishes attendants for a number 10. of playgrounds adjoining schools. The school gymnasium, if kept open after 3:30 would undoubtedly be greatly used by the patrons of adjoining playgrounds. This, however, involves considerable expense. A committee has been formed, consisting of the Secretary of the City Bureau of Parks and Playgrounds, the City Superintendent of Play- grounds and Beaches, and representatives of the West Chicago Park Commissioners, the South Park Commi ..ioners and the Lincoln Park Commissioners, which will make a report to this Commission on better correlation of parks, playgrounds and schv^ols. This correlation is in reality a part of school extension and is therefore dealt with herein. COMMUNITY COUNCILS. % The ending of the war leaves a large number of neigh- borhood organizations in existence which, during the war, did excellent work in unifying and cementing the interests of the community. These organizations, which are really educational in character, should be continued with the center, of their activities in the schoolhouse. Mr. L. A. Calvin. Secretary of the Patriotic Council of Cook County, advises that there are some sixty men's organizations. Miss Alice Thompson, of the State Council of Defense, Women's Committee,- advises that there are some forty women's organizations. All of these organizations have officers and are going concerns, and are eager to continue community activity. The Parent-Teachers' Association and other bodies are doing important community work. These various organizations should be co-ordinated with the school as their common home. Just how this co-ordination is to be accom- plished remains to be worked out. The war organizations, however, have tremendously lightened the difficulties in the way of doing this. Mr. Eugene Lies, of the War Camp Community Service, Mrs William Hefferan, of the Parent-Teachers' Association and Mr. Calvin and Miss Thompson are members of this Com- mission and can make suggestions. 11. None of the above is given dogmatically. It is designed as material for discussion by the Commission. Those pro- posals which are approved, however, it is planned to push vigorously and without delay. MAX LOEB, Chairman, Committee on Community Centers, Board of Education. ^ 020 773 13b J