FUNCTIONS NCNW represents before governmental and private bodies the concerns of women and girls on matters affecting the general welfare of the nation and the particular welfare of the black community.

NCNW sends representatives to major national and international conferences and maintains an Official Observer at the United Nations. It is affiliated with the National Council of Women in the United States, International Council of Women, the Pan Pacific & South East Asia Women's Association, the American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa, the National Assembly for Social Policy and Development and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

METHODS & PROGRAMS NCNW takes the role of advocacy in a wide range of economic and social violations of human rights, such as helping women in Mississippi secure school breakfasts where school lunches were not provided, in upgrading household employment North and South, and in encouraging cooperative businesses which provide jobs.

The Council builds bridges of understanding between civic and government agencies, private business and the people who suffer the corroding conditions of racism. In its work

shops, NCNW has given emphasis to welfare rights, to civil rights and to consumer protection.

Better schooling and the teaching of Negro heritage is a concern of NCNW in many states. The giving of scholarships to civil rights workers has resulted in a unique educational experiment in cooperation with Franconia College both at its New Hampshire campus and in a special pilot research-demonstration project now under way in Albany, Ga., the home base of a group of students.

AS CATALYST With NCNW as catalyst, problems are identified and faced up to, resources are examined and decisions for corrective action taken.

NCNW has carried on action research and volunteer training in Minnesota, Virginia and Florida in the prevention of juvenile delinquency among disadvantaged girls. In "Volunteers Unlimited," new insights and patterns for the involvement of women in the black community have emerged.

NCNW is credited by the Department of Housing and Urban Development with initiating in "Project Homes" a method whereby the poor can secure and own their own homes, first step in human dignity. Ground was broken for the first 200 in Gulfport, Miss., in April 1968,

and numerous other localities in other states are working on like projects.

AGENTS OF SOCIAL CHANGE In recruiting and training for community action 6,000 Negro women heretofore ignored, NCNW through "Project Womanpower" is providing effective leaders who will involve still more Negro women besides themselves to become agents of social change.

NCNW is working for something more than band-aid treatment of social ills. In workshops, women isolated from the mainstream are brought together, oriented to the changing times and prepared for community participation, both paid and volunteer. Recent workshops in Newark and Paterson, N.J., brought enthusiastic response from women now committed to local action.

Cooperating with the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Council of Catholic Women and Church Women United, NCNW has helped establish Women in Community Service, Inc. WICS has helped recruit girls 16-21 from homes of poverty and screen them for Job Corps training. Those girls who go away from home, as well as those who prove ineligible, are given supportive services. The girls themselves say it is the personal interest that has helped them so much.

Alpha Kappa Alpha

Chi Eta Phi

CME Church Women's Connectional Missionary Council
Daughters of IBPO of Elks of the World

Zeta Phi Beta