PBH, Afro Create Cultural Program

Phillips Brooks House and the Association of African and Afro-American Students are teaming up in a program to teach Afro-American culture to black youngsters in Cambridge. But a federal grant for the program, expected to be between $6000 and $8000, has been cancelled.

Wesley E. Profit '69, president of PBH, said yesterday that the program would begin this summer as planned, although some cutbacks might be necessary.

The PBH-Afro program aims to teach youngsters between the ages of 6 and 14 about Afro-American history, according to Octavia Hudson '71, a member of Afro and co-chairman of the project.

"It will not be strict classroom teaching," Miss Hudson added. "We will use movies, field trips, and arts and crafts."

25 Expected

About 25 Harvard and Radcliffe students are expected to be involved in the program, teaching about 60 children. In addition, the project co-chairmen hope to hire six community teenagers this summer for 10 hours a week of work and eight teenagers during the winter for five hours a week of work.

The other co-chairman, Richard Wolfe '70, described the program as a "threeway alliance of community, Afro, and PBH to serve a black community."

The program is being overseen by a board of five students and five community residents--a 19 year-old, a 21 year-old, and three parents.

Profit said that he learned this week that the expected grant from the Labor Department's Coalition for Youth Action was cancelled, because the Coalition had overspent its limit, and had dim prospects of being refunded for next year.

This leaves PBH and Afro with a program with an estimated budget of $6600 and no money. Profit said the PBH executive committee would vote the program some discretionary funds, and that an effort is being made to raise money for the program through a special mailing.

Profit said that it is probably too late to approach foundations or other government sources for funds for this year's program, but he will try anyway.

The PBH-Afro program will be conducted in Cambridge Community Center on Callandar St., just off Putnam Ave. During the summer, which will serve as the pilot program, students will be invited two or three days a week for a wide mix of activities. During the winter, Wolfe said, each student will probably come one afternoon a week, between 3:30 and 5 p.m.