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Show Cultural Aweacesness For Vearious Community Agemeoes The reactions of the by Kirk Terry The Special Services branch of the United Fund of Salt Lake City conducted three staff workshops last week on cultural awareness, cultures of poverty and the stereotype participants were "very good," said Mrs. Van Diggelen, and plans are being drawn up to have encounter sessions with community residents and agency staff members. experience." Mrs. Van Diggelen feels very optimisticaboutthe outcome of the workshops. She says the staff labeling of minorities. These workshops were held at members who participated have had a chance to see exactly what a disadvantaged person faces in the community. Even though the the Northwest Center; the first and second Multi-purpos- was discussed in the workshops. One participant said the discussions were, "an enlightening and enriching e workshop on February 11, and the third on February 18. Participants included the staffs of those agencies funded by United Fund in the Salt Lake area. The lectures were presented by Dr. Robert 0. Ulibarri, the director of Ethnic Studies at Weber'State College. relations was the theme of the workshops. The director of Special Services, Mrs. Rose Van Diggelen, said that most of the 25 to 30 agencies concerned ate staffed by individuals. This situation, she says, often leads to misunderstandings when these staffs are confronted with the problems of non-minorit- y minorities. audiences were sometimes "d ispondent," said Mrs. Van relationships between society indeed, agency staffs, minorities and disadvantaged groups. In his lectures. Dr. Ulibari identified these stereotypes by giving a historical account of minority cultures and the i problems in these cultures. All too often society views the Indian or Mexican-America- as a n lowly laborer capable only in "brawn not brain." He stressed to the agencies staff that only by realizing that stereotypes are founded in ignorance and myth, can meaningful services be rendered to the "total Diggelen, she feels the workshops were successful and should increase service quality for the minorities and disadvantaged groups in the Salt Lake area. community." Not all agencies sent their staff to the workshops, said Mrs. Van Diggelen. Some of our agencies do have problems in community relations of these kind, she said. We wanted lectures and discussions to stimulate the thinking of staff members on how they can better deliver the services they offer, Mrs. Van Diggelen The Special Services branch is a Mason between community and agencies, insuring that the needs of the community are met with the best service the agencies can deliver. By putting the agency staff on the side of the minority, and showing what it feels like to be a minority, the being taken to correct misunderstandings ooooooooooo "Normal society sees these disadvantaged minorities as inadequacies of the disadvantaged, she said. "Society has deflated the minorities ego." Stereotypes, said Mrs. Van devious," economic problems, social riiis Problems that center around agency staff and community , Diggelen, a appear as deterrents to honest Mexican-American- ir IT rriznfi ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Q. Why are Model Cities funds limited to only certain parts of town? Q. What is the difference between Model Cities and Urban Citizen Participation On Way Out? "The Senate bill Renewal? federal guidelines provided that cities wishing to receive Model Cities funds had to identify the area of town having the largest concentration of social and physical problems. This area could contain no more than 20 of the population of the city. (Reprinted from Minneapolis A. Original ? t ? 5 Q. Why is this program called Model Cities? r A. The program was originally , i. I ' called Demonstration Cities however, after demonstations began throughout the nation, the government began referring to it as S Model Cities. Model is appropriate, I since Model Cities is a progtam on a f which deals with pioblems smaller scale than on the entire city. Demonstration is also appropriate ' because Model Cities is an ft experimental program. F if Q. Is Model Cities a Federal f program? I A. The Model Cities program is g primarily financed by federal funds g but it is an effort of local ft government and individual citizens to identify and solve their own problems. Local government and i i citizen participants determine the actions that the Model Cities program will undertake. A A A Cities A. The Model Department does not implement projects. Model Cities is a coordinating agency. It is the defined responsibility of the Model Cities Department to coordinate the planning and implementation of improvement activities within the Model Cities Area. Through Model Cities, citizen participants and agencies meet together to plan projects. Agenices such as Urban Renewal are then responsible to carry out the project activities. Model Cities paper.) by Conrad deFiebre Federal support of citizen participation in local government is on the way out, says Minneapolis Model City Project Director Mike Roan. That, at least, is the conclusion to be drawn from three Community Development bills now being studied in the United States Congress. metropolitan government. "Inner-ctiresidents should be jumping into the things that the Metro Council is doing," he says, "so that the inner city can share in the rich suburban tax base." He foresees metrolpolitan instead of municipal community development funding, saying, "We've got to challenge the feds with our ideas on taxation instead of the other way aiound." Development (HUD) physical-improvemen- t. Many persons are forced to accept welfare due to lack of education, job training and opportunity. That is why several Model Cities projects deal with those people. All residents of the community must realize they cannot ignore or escape the problems of certain areas of the city. We must all work together to make our commmunity a "Model" for other cities in the nation. Ai A ift n nA nuftmnftini ifbirfftii - government similar to the one that has existed between themselves and the federal government." Roan sees the best hope for that of the program? to make persons local kind of development is Q. Why should people outside the area support the Model Cities alone with paving streets or cleaning up the area. It deals with people and the problems of people. Salt Lake City through Model Cities is working little more humane," says Roan. "It's more responsive to citizen participation, the human element of the Model City process." Still, he adds, "It's pretty clear that the thrust is away from citizen participation. Citizen groups are going to have to forge an alliance is a between themselves and revenue-sharin- g t programs into single, simplified block grants to localities, will be passed into law sometime this year. In contrast to the 1966 Model City legislation which calls for "widespread citizen participation" in planning, implementation and evaluation of programs, the strongest community-contro- l component of any of the three bill? is a requirement for public hearings. That is in a bill that originated in Similiar a Senate House and Nixon Administration bills make no clear mention of e. citizen participation hearings. iA or public fas t emei gi ng -- in Urgent Need For j lx Housing Reported An urgent need for housing was determined by a study conducted by Al Blair, Salt Lake City Planning office and presented to the Model Cities Housing Task Force. The certain, Capitol Hill observers agree that one Although nothing measures, which would consolidate Model City and up to 15 Housing and Urban A. Model Cities does not deal and promote efficiency. workshops have attempted to dissolve the misconceptions of minority actions. Understanding background, and educational continued. Examinations in the agencies are locating problem area and steps are the importance of report indicated that the average age homes in Salt Lake City is 44 years. Thirty-twpercent of the i houses require ehabil itation and seven percent should be demolished, the report continued. of most o Blair said that from I960 to 1970 there was a net loss of 49 single family dwellings and a net loss of 49 duplexes, but an increase of 23,000 multiple unit dwellings. At present, these dwellings provide housing for single people and couples without children. Families find it difficult to locate adequate housing. Average rents have increased from SCO to S80 between 1960 and 1970, he said. y As for the Model City piogram, Roan says it is "almost sure" that funding will continue for a full five years, whatever Community Development bill becomes law. But new HUD guidelines may change the face of the piogram drastically, he wains, "The language of the bill doesn't mean much. It's how they write the guidelines after they get the money that counts." THIS IS YOUR PAPER WRITE TO THE EDITOR TODAY! |