PBH Begins Roxbury Social-Center Program

Phillips Brooks House has begun a "high-powered" settlement-house project as a model for its entire social service program. The new project is designed to make the fullest possible use of volunteers.

Eight students--including three 'Cliffies--are being oriented by Noel Day, executive director of St. Mark's social center in Roxbury. They will begin work there early in March.

Robert M. Kargman '64, co-ordinator of the St. Mark's project, described it as unique in Boston. He said that it had already proved a success, in terms of the intense interest it has developed in the participants.

"One volunteer," he reported, "said she was getting a better education at our orientation sessions than she was at Radcliffe." The students meet once a week at St. Mark's, one of the key social agencies in the Washington Park area of Roxbury. Serving an area with a population of approximately 20,000 people, it has 420 members.

In three-hour sessions, the volunteers learn the role of the center, and acquire a sociological and psychological education similar to that received by professional social workers. Soon they will begin a historical survey and analysis of Roxbury over the past 20 years.

"Street-Corner" Social Work

On March 6 or 7, the volunteers will start detached, or "street-corner, social work. Their job will be to create a more positive image for the agency among the street image for the agency among the street gangs in the area. They will also try to organize recreational activities for the six-to-twelve age group.

Another facet of the PBH work will be getting in touch with families living in the slums. The volunteers hope to get an idea of substandard living conditions while alerting residents to the urban renewal going on in the area.

Because the volunteers hope to establish close working relations with the paid staff of the center, all of them expect to serve a second year.

"Truly High-Powered Work"

Richard L. Levine '63, vice president of PBH, called the project "an example of the type of program at which PBH has been aiming in the last few years." "Thirty years ago, it might have been acceptable for volunteers to teach basketball and do little else. But since then PBH has proved that the role of a volunteer can be much different, and much more complex, Levine said.

PBH has recently been cited by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy '48 for the level of its mental hospitals program, and has been praised in a recent series of articles in the Boston press.