Save CDGM

One of the most laudable projects under the War on Poverty has fallen victim to Mississippi. And the shame of it is that the project was not only attacking the psychological and social bondage of the state's poor Negroes, but it was also substantiating the argument that the beneficiaries of anti-poverty programs should help run them.

The project was the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM), a community action program that operated Head Start centers throughout the state to prepare children -- mostly Negro -- for elementary school. The most novel feature of the project was that the children's parents played a large part in deciding its direction and methods. A non-government group, the Citizens Crusade Against Poverty, found that CDGM fostered more "meaningful" participation of adults and children than almost any other Head Start program.

But on Oct. 3, the Office of Economic Opportunity announced that it had cut off funds to CDGM. The agency alleged that CDGM was fatally afflicted with administrative irregularities, including some mishandled bookkeeping.

The OEO failed to mention that the project had had political enemies in a state that President Johnson is anxious to see solidly Democratic again. Segregationist Sen. John Stennis had attacked CDGM consistently since its inception in 1965, and even moderates who backed the Administration had complained that the project was controlled by excivil rights workers preaching "black power" and separatism. Apparently, part of the price of a Democratic Mississippi was CDGM's demise.

But the importance of preserving an excellent community action project far outweighs minor organizational faults or the convenience of pleasing political allies. The Administration should take the advice of a large number of clergymen and civil rights lawyers who have formed an ad hoc pressure group to support CDGM and restore the project the funds it deserves.