PBH Routs Cambridge Destruction With Youth Social Service Project

Teen-age vandalism--once the headache of University professors and their families living near Divinity Place--has become a scourge of the past, Douglas Hunt '54, Chairman of the Phillips Brooks Social Service Committee, reported last night.

Under Hunt's direction, over 40 Somerville and Cambridge youths, ranging in age from seven to 14, whose chief sport had been breaking window's and trampling flower beds, today swim in the I.A.B. pool and hike through the Blue Hills.

Bi-weekly, as part of the program, these local boys meet in small groups with a P.B.H. undergraduate who acts as combined "coach" and friend. He teaches them crafts and plays basketball with them.

Hunt's committees started last spring after local parents demanded police protection from teen-age bands. When the protection never came, they appealed to Brooks House for help. Hunt organized a trial group of ten boys, picked out a natural leader from the ranks, and started weekend hikes. By this fall there were 40 members, divided into five groups, with two more planned.