HOUSING LEGISLATION OF 1966 209 NYC ENROLLEE. I think the Neighborhood Youth Corps is a very helpful pro-gram because it has helped me in many ways. It has given me the opportunity to help finance my education in high school and it has eliminated some problems my parents were having in getting me the money I needed. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. You mentioned some of the problems your parents were having in helping finance your school education. What does your father do? NYC ENROLLEE. My father is a janitor in Bobby James blouse factory in Ramsey. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Does your mother work or is she unemployed or what does she do? NYC ENROLLEE. She is a housewife. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. I think you graduate in May; is that correct? NYC ENROLLEE. That is correct. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. What do you intend to do after high school? NYC ENROLLEE. My true ambition is to further my education, but due to my family's financial status I believe I will try to find a job with as high pay as I can possibly find. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Well, after this do you plan to try to save some money and go on to college or do you plan to just end your education at high school? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, if I become financially able I plan to further my education. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Well, Gladys, thank you, and I certainly wish you well in this endeavor. As a closing thought, do you have anything you would like to say in relationship to the Neighborhood Youth Corps, or anything at all that you would like to say at all? NYC ENROLLEE. Yes, I would like to say that I have enjoyed working on the neighborhood youth program and it has helped me greatly. I am glad I had the opportunity to work with this program and I will never forget what it has done for me. Shirley Rowland, senior, Carnes Easom High School JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Shirley, when did you start work with the Neighborhood Youth Corps program-approximately? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, as I remember it was the latter part of February 1965. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. And at this time what did you do? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, I did typing and as Shirley said I worked as a secretarial assistant, doing most of the same work she did, filing, and helping around the office. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. And you are still working with the Carnes Urban Renewal Agency; is that correct? And what do you do there? NYC ENROLLEE. I am employed there as an IBM operator. Such as-an example of doing what? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, I worked the key-punching machine and every week we punch, or rather we process, enrollee timecards. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. In other words you are a key-punch operator in a data processing setup? NYC ENROLLEE. That is correct. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. When you went to work there, did you know the key-punch machine and what it was? NYC ENROLLEE. No; I didn't know what it was when I first started to work. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. And how did you learn how to use this machine? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, I received on-the-job training. The young lady that was working there when I first started working, her name was Gloria, and she along with the head of the department, Mr. McArthur, taught me while I was working. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. They taught you how to operate the machine? NYC ENROLLEE. Yes. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Do you feel that you gained anything from this experience; you can operate the machine now and do you feel that you gained anything from this? NYC ENROLLEE. Yes; I definitely feel that I gained from this, because it is working with the key-punch machine and with IBM machines. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Data processing machines? NYC ENROLLEE. Data processing machines. I feel that I have gained something that will forever remain with me and I want to go into this field after 1 have gone to college. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. You are graduating this year; is that correct? NYC ENROLLEE. Yes. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. What are your plans after graduation? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, during the summer I anticipate on worl save some money toward financing my college education. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. You do plan to go on to college? NYC ENROLLEE. Yes; I plan on going to college in September. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Do you know where you are going or do along this line? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, presently I don't know but I want to Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. What do you plan to take? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, as a major I plan to take up mathematics JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Do you like math; are you very good at NYC ENROLLEE. Well, I always have liked math. From my fr until my junior year-well, I made pretty good grades; I had an JAMES BILLINGSLEY. A-? Well getting back to your Neighborh job, what do you think of Neighborhood Youth Corps? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, in my opinion, I think the Neighborho program is very helpful and that it should be continued from n helps the enrollees that work on this program in such a way tha it. It is needed very much. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Do you feel that, well, you have already s that you have gotten a great deal of training out of this programyou probably would have never gotten. Is this true? NYC ENROLLEE. Yes, it's true. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Do you feel that it has been a rewarding e NYC ENROLLEE. It has been very rewarding. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Shirley, how other than let's say your on your job experience, and other things, is there any way in which being benefited other than the training which you received? NYC ENROLLEE. Yes, there are other ways. When you are in always have senior expenses and the money I made on this job w own expenses and my mother didn't have to pay for it. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. You said that you had expenses which yo not have to pay for; let's say your mother would have to pay fo they normally go about doing this? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, I don't know how they would have go had I not been working. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. What does your father do Shirley? JAMES BILLINGSLEY. So you feel that you have received from Youth Corps income which has helped you greatly with rec other normal expenses and so forth, incurred by students atten Shirley, are there any other general comments which you wo about the Neighborhood Youth Corps? NYC ENROLLEE. Well, I think that everything is pretty well say that I have enjoyed very much working with this program a me and I know if it is continued it will continue to benefit th comes in contact. JAMES BILLINGSLEY. Thank you very much Shirley, and I luck in going with Southern Illinois and we will be seeing you so NYC ENROLLEE. Thank you. (A report on the Corinth, Miss., urban renewal proje ten in comprehensive form to be completed in July 1 ductory summary of this report follows:) CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI: CITY IN TRANSITION INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY In 1964, in a booklet prepared by the City of Corinth, M community renewal program, the city school superintenden wrote: "In spite of, or even in the face of, some of the best pl sists in developing. The blight pattern may easily be repeated HOUSING LEGISLATION OF 1966 211 people are relocated from a renewal project and no concern is given toward 'upgrading' the people relocated." Prince's statement had far-reaching effects. Two years before, the Corinth Urban Renewal Agency had applied for its first urban renewal grant. The application was received during a tense period of political animosity between the State of Mississippi and the Federal government resulting from racial strife in the State. Because Corinth offered some unique qualities as a community, the city was singled out as an outstanding city; the objective was to prove that a city in Mississippi could carry ont urban renewal and related federal programs and still meet the spirit and word of the government's anti-discriminatory regulations. In the two years from 1964 to 1966, Corinth more than acquitted itself. It developed a concept for coordinating a vast number of federal programs so that they not only removed slums and blighted areas through renewal projects, but attacked the very causes of blight and poverty. It employed federal aids from almost every department in Washington, coordinating and administering them through the Corinth Urban Renewal Board. The objective of this report is to show how Corinth achieved this broad concept in human relations. It will describe how the city overcame problems relating to the State and Federal governments through strong local citizen participation; how its broad concept developed; how its leadership was "drawn out" during times of crisis; how the socio-economic factors related to the city affected the overall program; how it found and trained its staff; how its board and the Citizens Advisory Committee prepared themselves for the programs; and how, through its recently completed community renewal program, it hopes to continue its fight to upgrade the entire city. It details the methods taken by legal advisors to remove or bypass statutory barriers; how it dealt with the more "touchy" aspects of urban renewal through a carefully planned public relations program; how, through exhaustive surveys, Corinth uncovered some universal truths about blight and poverty and how it related these truths to federal programs which were available. As a result of this sweeping concept, the Corinthians in the past two years, working with and through the Corinth Urban Renewal Agency, have achieved the following: It contracted for, and has begun to execute, a broad urban renewal slum clearance project; built sixteen units of 221(d) (3) housing; received approval for thirty units of public housing; completed a 487-acre General Neighborhood Renewal Plan to do away with substandard housing in South Corinth, and a 167-acre General Neighborhood Renewal Plan in West Corinth; has recently completed the first phase of a two-year Community Renewal Program; successfully executed a half-million dollar Headstart Program and an elevenCounty Neighborhood Youth Corps Program credited with reducing high school drop-outs on a broad scale; instituted manpower training, vocational training, and worked with local industry to set up on-the-job training; built a new Municipal Building and a million dollar hospital. Working with the Office of Economic Opportunity and the war on poverty, it completed a $48.089 Community Action Redevelopment Program and processed thirty-two Small Business Administration poverty loans. One of the greatest problems experienced by the Corinthians in achieving this record of community action was coordinating this broad range of programs across different departmental lines in Washington. At a recent State Housing Subcommittee meeting, Corinth Urban Renewal Agency Chairman, Troy Norris, testified in favor of proposed Demonstration Cities legislation as a possible method for overcoming some of these problems. But the report will also show that in the end, any program requires strong local citizen participation, local political support, tenacity, strong public relations, and an informed and sympathetic press, dedicated local leadership which is willing to take risks and devote time and effort to these programs. Time, effort, awareness, understanding and optimism are the keys to Corinth's success. Senator DoUGLAS. The subcommittee will recess until 10 o'clock tomorrow. (Whereupon, at 11:53 a.m., the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Thursday, April 21, 1966.) HOUSING LEGISLATION OF 1966 THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1966 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING, The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:07 a.m., in room 5302, New Senate Office Building, Senator John Sparkman, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Sparkman, Douglas, Proxmire, and Williams. Senator SPARKMAN. Let the subcommittee come to order, please. We have several other Senators that have indicated they will be here, but I think we better get started. We have a very heavy schedule. Our first witness today is Hon. Neal S. Blaisdell, president, U.S. Conference of Mayors, mayor of Honolulu. Come around, Mayor Blaisdell. We are glad to have you with us. We have copies of your prepared statement. That will be printed in full in the record. You may proceed as you wish. You may read it, discuss it, summarize it, just as you wish. STATEMENT OF NEAL S. BLAISDELL, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS; ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN J. GUNTHER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AND HUGH MIELDS, JR., ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Mr. BLAISDELL. Mr. Chairman Senator SPARKMAN. I understand you have an appendix to it also. Mr. BLAISDELL. Yes. Senator SPARKMAN. That will be printed in the record. Mr. BLAISDELL. I should like, Mr. Chairman, for the record to read this statement. Senator SPARKMAN. Go right ahead. Mr. BLAISDELL. My name is Neal S. Blaisdell. I am the mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, and the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, both of which I represent in appearing here to comment on housing and urban development legislation now before Congress. Thank you for the privilege. I have with me Mr. John J. Gunther, the executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and Mr. Hugh Mields, Jr., associate director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. These gentlemen will be |