Conference paper prepared by Bessie Smith regarding “maximum feasible participation” of the poor in War on Poverty efforts in Newark. In the paper, Mrs. Smith describes the struggles for community control of the United Community Corporation, Newark’s Community Action Agency for War on Poverty funding. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Summary of the 78-page report issued by the United Community Corporation (UCC) in response to the 1965 report of the City Council Committee to Study the Anti-Poverty Program for the City of Newark, NJ. The document summarizes the charges made against the UCC by the Council Committee and provides a detailed rebuttal to each charge. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Minority report of Councilman Irvine Turner on the City Council Committee’s investigation of the United Community Corporation (UCC) in 1965. Turner disassociated himself from the Committee’s report on the ground that he disagreed with many of the assumptions and recommendations of the report. In his report, Turner refutes the claim that ‘the UCC has taken many of the aspects of a political-action pressure group,” citing the policy of the Board of Trustees that required any member of the UCC running for political office to take a leave of absence during the candidacy. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Report of the City Council Committee’s investigation of the United Community Corporation in 1965. The Committee charged that the UCC misappropriated funds and utilized federal money to fund and organize political campaigns. The Committee concluded that the City of Newark “should immediately undertake its own Anti-Poverty Programs and…that it should not combine with or participate in or contribute to any provate groups or non-profit agencies.” Community members like George Richardson and Hilda Hidalgo, however, argued that the Committee’s investigation was an attempt to “bring the anti-poverty program under the control of the Mayor and the City Council.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
A printed collection of statements presented by members of the Newark Community Union Project (NCUP) to Adam Clayton Powell’s Congressional Committee investigating the War on Poverty in April, 1965. In their statements, these Newark residents describe a lack of community representation and involvement in the United Community Corporation (UCC) in Newark. As federal funding arrived in Newark, city officials and politicians jockeyed for control of the money for their own purposes, while the city’s poor communities sought access to the antipoverty programs. Mrs. Louise Patterson explains that “the Area Boards are being taken over by Ward Leaders and speeches by politicians and candidates for political office.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
This manual of procedure, published by the United Community Corporation, explains the establishment, structure, and organizational ideologies of local Area Boards within the UCC. The Area Boards were established as Community Action Programs to allow “maximum feasible participation” in the UCC from city residents in their neighborhoods. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Press release from the United Community Corporation (UCC) announcing its official launch and plans for establishing Area Boards throughout the city. The Area Boards were established as Community Action Programs to allow “maximum feasible participation” in the UCC from city residents in their neighborhoods. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Memo to the Executive Committee of the United Community Corporation (UCC) from Executive Director Cyril Tyson, regarding the establishment, structure, and ideologies of local Area Boards. The Area Boards were established as Community Action Programs to allow “maximum feasible participation” in the UCC from city residents in their neighborhoods. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Program Report of the United Community Corporation (UCC) for the 1965-1966 year. The report provides an overview of the UCC’s community action programs, several of which focused on job training for Newark’s poor Black and Puerto Rican communities. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Registration form for the National Conference on Black Power, held in Newark from July 20-23, 1967. The conference was held just days after the 1967 Newark rebellion and attracted dozens of national figures to the city. Although highly criticized for being held immediately after the rebellion, the conference had been planned nearly a year before. — Credit: Newark Public Library
