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
Letter from United Community Corporation (UCC) members George Richardson and Hilda Hidalgo, to Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., seeking assistance in response to the City Council Committee’s investigation of the UCC in 1965. Many Black and Puerto Rican ommunity members, like Richardson and Hidalgo, 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
Roster of the United Community Corporation’s (UCC) Board of Trustees for the 1965-1966 program year. Under the UCC’s bylaws, “members shall not represent but hsould be representative of government, social agencies, business and labor, religious and ethnic groups, as well as those in the community who are to benefit most from the work of the Corporation.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
Emergency resolution signed by City Council President Ralph Villani, appropriating $15,000 of city funding to enable the United Community Corporation (UCC) to establish a local anti-poverty program. Mayor Addonizio requested the funding to ensure that Newark met the eligibility requirements of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which authorized the establishment of Community Action Agencies, like the UCC in Newark. — Credit: Junius Williams Papers
