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As a matter of fact, part of the responsibility of our agency is to try to seek out ways and means of providing additional opportunity for employment and training, to raise the skill level of some of these young fellows.

Senator NELSON. It is between the ages of 16 and 25?

Mr. BANKS. That is the range of the age group which is particularly hard hit by unemployment and underemployment in the central city.

Senator NELSON. Have you or your organization given any thought to the usefulness of the kind of proposal that is made here for work in your parks, and so forth?

Mr. BANKS. Yes, we have Senator. As a matter of fact, we are working now on the development of proposals to be presented to the Department of Labor and also to the Office of Economic Opportunity to inaugurate training programs which would assist in the development of skills necessary for maintenance of our open spaces. We feel strongly, as this statement indicates, open space in the National Capital area can be improved considerably and that this improvement could come about as a result of the development of skills among these young men and the employment of them by public and private agencies. Now all of this is part of a total program for an attack on poverty in the National Capital area which will be ready probably by the end of August.

Senator NELSON. Do you have, at this time, any estimate of the number of employees that could be usefully used in a program like this in this district?

Mr. BANKS. Not a firm estimate, but we think that a thousand employees could easily be trained and used for this particular kind of employment in the next year or two. Ultimately this would depend on how much we were able to do in the way of raising the standards acceptable both to the public and private sector as far as the maintenance of public spaces is concerned, but I think this is a problem also. We have been in conference with members of the landscape industry from all over the country in the last couple of months in an attempt to see if there is potential for growth in this industry which in turn will provide additional job opportunities for the young men I spoke about. The consensus is that there is room for growth but the growth depends in large measure on the acceptance of certain higher standards of maintenance and design by the public and private users.

So, we are trying to inaugurate a study in this connection which we hope will also be ready by the end of August.

Senator NELSON. In the 10 percent unemployment among the 16-to-25 age group do you have a breakdown of the skills? Is this mostly unskilled?

Mr. BANKS. These are mainly unskilled. Many of them are school dropouts. Most of them who have worked have worked in unskilled job situations. The men with skills generally can find openings in this area.

Senator CLARK. Mr. Banks, I wonder if you would submit for the record a list of your board of trustees? I note you are a duly established organization. We are happy to have you here. We would just like to know your background.

Mr. BANKS. I will be glad to, Senator. I don't think I have them with me but we can send them down to you.

Senator CLARK. If you will send it to the staff of the subcommittee we will place it in the record.

Mr. BANKS. Yes, sir.

Senator CLARK. Our next witness is Dr. Spencer M. Smith, Jr., executive secretary of the Citizens Committee on Natural Resources. Is Dr. Smith here? Dr. Smith, I guess, is not here.

Our final witness is Randolph E. Wise, public welfare commissioner of the city of Philadelphia, representing Mayor James J. Tate. It is a pleasure to have an associate of mine with us. I see your testimony is in written form. We will have it printed in the record. Will you amplify any way you see fit.

(The prepared statement of Mayor Tate follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MAYOR JAMES H. J. TATE, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, I am pleased to accept your invitation to present my views in support of the Human and Resource Conservation Act introduced by the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin. I speak today both as mayor of the city of Philadelphia and also as a duly appointed representative of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

There is nothing more deplorable than unemployment, at any time, in any place. In a country like ours, unemployment is more than deplorable. It is shocking, it is shameful, and it is wrong. Those of us who shoulder the responsibility of government-government on all levels-must utilize our energies and our talents to devise measures to eliminate these frightful conditions. We in Philadelphia have spent considerable time on programs to eradicate human misery, poverty, and unemployment. At the same time, we have been keeping abreast of Federal attempts to eliminate these unwholesome conditions, and I am encouraged by the two measures aimed in this direction, which issue from the national level; the Economic Opportunities Act and the Human and Resource Conservation Act.

At this time, I wish to express my wholehearted support for the Human and Resource Conservation Act which Senator Gaylord Nelson, of Wisconsin, has introduced. I concur with his evaluation of the two crises facing the Nationthe wasting of our irreplaceable natural resources, and the idleness of millions of men who cannot find gainful employment.

I speak as an American who regrets the paradox of unemployment in the midst of plenty, and also as the mayor of a city that has made enormous strides in recent years but still finds substantial numbers of its able-bodied men unemployed. I believe that Senate bill 2958 promises vital assistance to the Nation and also contains elements that pertain to my city, in particular. I speak for the mayors of dozens of cities, large and small, who are confronted with the same problem. It is not inaccurate to say that what affects Philadelphia also affects other cities-and what benefits the cities will benefit the Nation.

Let me call your attention to pertinent facts that shed considerable light on the Philadelphia situation. Although we are considered a manufacturing center, a city of homes, and a key industrial area, Philadelphia also contains the world's largest municipal park, Fairmount Park, with 4,500 acres. It is owned by the city and maintained as a recreation area for our people. It is one of 140 different park areas in the city, some of them small, others rather sizable. addition, we have six municipal golf courses and several hundred playgrounds, recreation centers, and play lots. We feel that the carefully planned geographic distribution of our parks and recreation centers certainly would make them extremely useful in providing employment for possibly 2,000 people under the provisions of this bill.

In

Let me give you a prime example. In 1959 our department of public welfare established a youth conservation corps. It was set up to help boys 14 to 17 years of age who had problems of adjustment. Work projects were initiated in public parks and institutions, and the boys were under careful supervision and guidance from group leaders. It was felt from the outset that the work assignments might produce useful skills while developing character and good working habits.

This program is still in operation, and the type of work they perform is indicative of what we might provide for unemployed men under the provisions of the bill now before you.

The boys in the corps clean up debris left in the park after thunderstorms and windstorms. They remove honeysuckle vines and obnoxious clusters of weeds. They police the bridle paths and picnic areas, and in general improve the appearance of all park areas, including the Fairmount Park Police Pistol Range.

In foul weather they clean the tile in the subway concourse, dust and clean Convention Hall, clean the tile at the Spring Garden Street underpass, fill water containers for civilian defense, and remove debris from vacant lots under the direction of the department of licenses and inspections. This operation represents an expenditure of $200,000 annually.

In June 1961 a survey was made to determine the success of this program. The results showed that a majority of boys had benefited from their work experiences and suggestions were made for modifying and improving the program. We are proud of the fact that the overall effect on the 1,700 boys who passed through this program since its inception has been overwhelmingly successful. Statistics show that they have improved both academically and in behavior at school. Even their attendance record is better. Many who had a high average of police contacts before the program had a much lower incidence of police contacts after it.

But most of all, these youths have known the discipline of employment and the satisfaction of holding a job. They learned to respect their supervisors, to show respect and care for tools and equipment. They developed the strength of interpersonal relationships so that they could demonstrate regard and respect for their fellow workers. They have earned an income, regained their self-respect, and gained an opportunity to apply native skills, if not acquired skills.

Although the program I have just described is designed primarily for youths, there are many elements which could be incorporated into a similar program geared to adults. There is every reason to believe that the results would be equally beneficial.

There is another feature of the conservation bill that is important to urban communities, and that is the increasing labor market created by school dropouts. Many teenagers leave school before graduation but are unable to find jobs. They have no skills, their education is cut short, and, as years go by, they continue to be unemployed. In due time, they are adults—still unemployed, and now a part of the massive unemployment problem. We would like to say that the situation will reverse itself, but statistics do not bear this out.

The Philadelphia school system has reported a dropout rate of 47 percent. Attention should be directed to the fact that there are three Negro dropouts for every two white dropouts and in the next few years we anticipate an even larger Negro dropout rate. The ranks of the unemployed will continue to swell. We must not let this happen.

Our resident labor force in Philadelphia is 865,000, and approximately 1 million people are currently employed in the city. We have an unemployment rate of 82 percent, or about 75,000 persons. Of this, we estimate that about 41,000 are adult males. This, incidentally, is a higher ratio than the national figures.

Unemployment is a blight. It robs the individual of more than his income. It robs him of his dignity. One of the intangibles of the conservation bill is that those who are given employment are also spared the ignominy of going on relief rolls. And relief rolls themselves are a financial and administrative headache to a community. Providing public assistance requires tremendous sums of money, money that could produce important results if it were put back into the economy. Let me also point out that the bill provides training for jobs that automation cannot replace. These are jobs that can be filled by men for years to come, providing employment as well as improving the community and its facilities.

It is obvious that something must be done about unemployment. than obvious-it is imperative.

It is more

The challenge is clearly before us. We must give every able-bodied man the right to become self-sustaining, not only for himself but for the family which is dependent upon him. We can restore and preserve the dignity of the individual while removing the stigma of unemployment and creating a healthier economic climate for everyone.

I therefore call upon the members of this honorable body to give every consideration to the passage of the Human and Resource Conservation Act, and urge its early passage. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH E. WISE, PUBLIC WELFARE COMMISSIONER, CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, FOR MAYOR JAMES H. J. TATE

Mr. WISE. Thank you, I am happy to be here in behalf of Mayor Tate who regrets because of prior commitments he is unable to be here in person. Were he here, he would support enthusiastically this bill. He would indicate also that as a duly appointed representative of the U.S. Conference of Mayors he would speak in behalf of that body, also.

Senator CLARK. What is the American Municipal Association's position in all this. Do you remember?

Mr. WISE. I attended the AMA conference last week in Miami Beach with Mayor Tate. I have no knowledge of the association having taken action in reference to this bill.

Senator CLARK. You might tell the mayor the subcommittee is interested to know whether the American Municipal Association is taking a position with the Conference of Mayors, if not, why not?

Mr. WISE. Certainly we will do that. We have more than a causal interest in S. 2958, Senator Clark, as you well know, by virtue of the rather allied experience we have had in Philadelphia since 1959. We would have no difficulty in creating the jobs or finding the personnel who would fit into this program.

Senator CLARK. Mr. Wise, have you discussed Mayor Tate's testimony with Mr. Crawford?

Mr. WISE. Yes, sir.

Senator CLARK. So you represent his thinking as well as your own. Mr. WISE. Yes, I do. I was familiar with the communication he sent to Senator Nelson.

Senator CLARK. Who runs those camps in Fairmount Park?

Mr. WISE. We do. If I may give a description, we started off with this experience assigning male youth 14 to 17 years of age in the city's parks. Incidentally Philadelphia is most fortuniate in having such a large park.

Senator NELSON. What age group, sir?

Mr. WISE. Fourteen to seventeen. These are young men referred to us by school counselors, by social agencies, and from our own staff who work with hard-core families, not confirmed delinquents but showing promise of becoming serious deliquents if their course were not diverted. Each brings an average of 42 police contacts, not court appearance but police contacts.

The program has worked very cooperatively with the board of education. We have the strong support of labor. Labor is represented on our steering committee. The boys are assigned to the park to rout out honeysuckle, obnoxious weeds, to clear away debris caused by severe storms, to police bridle paths, and picnic areas. In foul weather they clean the tile on the concourse, dust and clean convention hall. They presently are filling the civil defense cans of water for storage, work which, if they were not doing, it would not be done at all.

Senator NELSON. What is your working experience with them? How well do they perform?

Mr. WISE. We have certain aspects that are measurable. Their school adjustment is infinitely improved, both academically and in terms of attendance behavior. They earn money, they spend it wisely.

The program is so designed that there is 1 supervisor, a college young man, for every 10 boys. The work is broken up so that there is an opportunity during the day for group discussion to consider any current events topics that are intiated by the young men themselves.

One of the things that is not measurable, but to me is extremely gratifying, is the development of interpersonal relationships. It is not unusual for the boy from North Philadelphia to invite his friend from West Philadelphia to visit him over the weekend and vice versa.

We have an illustration of a young man who missed his bus one morning. The board of education provides the transportation from a given meeting place to the park area where they work. He missed the bus. He walked the 8 miles to that park where they worked. We pay them on the basis of 30, 40, or 60 cents an hour depending on the evaluation given weekly by the supervisor.

These police contacts have been reduced in 80 percent of these cases to two or less. We keep the young men in the program 9 months to involve as many as possible.

Senator NELSON. Excuse me, this is not a summer program?

Mr. WISE. No, it is a work study program during the school year. The boys are released at 12:30. The bus picks them up and they are taken out to the park. Lunches for them are made by our prisoners and delivered to them.

Senator NELSON. So these would be boys in school?

Mr. WISE. Most are in school, yes. We have others who are dropouts.

Senator NELSON. During what hours is their work program during the school year?

Mr. WISE. About 4 hours in the afternoon. It is a full 40-hour week during the summer months.

Senator NELSON. How many boys are you employing?

Mr. WISE. We involve 100 during the school year and 300 during the summer period.

Senator NELSON. How long has your city been doing this?

Mr. WISE. Since 1959. We have involved in excess of 1,700 young men. I take the time, sir, to tell you this because this experience is rather closely related to what is contemplated in the bill.

We would anticipate no great problem at all in getting this kind

of program to accommodate the older young men or adults.

Senator CLARK. Mr. Wise, do you have any followthrough to determine what happens to the young people after they are through with this program?

Mr. WISE. No, we do not. That is one of our weaknesses. It is a weakness since we don't have built-in research. We have a weakness in that after having given them this kind of training we drop them. We have no device whereby we bridge them from this kind of employment into more full-time employment.

Senator CLARK. I would just comment that I would hope in some areas where these work camps are being established such as we have heard about in Wisconsin and Philadelphia and to my recollection there are a couple in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, aren't there? Mr. WISE. Pretty closely related to the correctional system.

Senator CLARK. Yes. Those of use who advocate this sort of program are always going to be charged with the criticism and some mem

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