,oge Eight .L Qh O case's @i‘ 'War on Paveri’y' in Chicago Seehs Awareness. Sensitiviiy The Federal War on Poverty is ' irected in Chicago by the Chicago ommittee on Urban Opportunity, the CCUO. Like all Federal pro- grams involving the amounts or money that this one does, it is sur- rounded by controversy The biggest claim is that it is a litical organization. The public lotions man for CCUO, Peter buel, claims, naturally, that it is not. Duel asserts that “in the last live or six years government has changed from insensitive bureau- oracy to socially aware" and that those who charge the CCUO with being “political" are just mad be cause they don't have control‘ ,The CCUO operates 33 different PETER DUEL programs and, as a general rule, subcontracts these programs ra— ther than doing them itself, For ex- ample, insiezitl of operating a school in house keeping they sub- contract that job to another or ganizatlon. Tile ccuo also operates 16 naighr borliood centers which is CCUO’S way ot (lecenlralizing and estab- lishing Closer contact with the peo- ple, they are Working with. The director of one of the Cen- ters, the Lawndaie Center, Clar- enoe Cash, told us that his area is five and one half miles square with a population oi 175.000. His center has fifty representatives who are selected irom the people of the area and who Works With them, ”Heretolore,” said Cash, “these people had not been reached by anyone on a dayrto-day-baSIS,” Cash said the CCUO through the project centers is trying to find employment, strengthen the fam- Ily life, improve the education, and Improve the housing. The project center, said Cash, acts as a clearing house for jobs imd training programs. “We're try- ing to get them into job training and trying to find out why they're memployer,” said Cash. l .Cash also said that while there is still much racial discrimination in employment, there has been a “broad expansion of job oppor- tunities in the last rive years.” “We work on two levels,” Cash pointed out, “We open opportuni- ties and prepare the people for the opportunities." . . Most of the Negroes in the ghetto have come north from the South and have no skills other than those required for work in the fields. Even when a Negro can find an employer who Will hire him he often doesn’t have the background for the job. “After three or tour attempts a day with nothing but failure you give up," saiol Cash. One of the primary reasons that employment is so important, Cash said, was to "get the male eme playable so he can assume the role of head of the household.” “This is a matriarchal society. Forty per cent of the families are wtthollt males,” Cash saidr ‘llllillillllllilllllllillltlliilllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllltlllllllllllllllllll Family Units Breaking Down ‘lIIlllllllllllllillllllillllllllIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll This breaking down of family lite is fairly deep rooted in the North. Common law marriages, desertion, and falling off of church participation are among many of the symptoms. Along with employment, educa- tion is the biggest area of govern. ment activity. In Cash’s area A FORMER TEACHER and new director oi the Lawndale Urban Progress center [one or lb such centers operated by the Chicago Commiifee on Urban Opportuniiyi Cler- ence Cash feels ihere is no iension among the Chicago Negroes. SCARLET AND BLACK MRS. BEASLY AND SEVEN OF HER CHILDREN in their West Side aporimeni. Her riory there are 29 elementary schools with a total enrollment of 40,000. “the kids have given up, The kids, the teachers, the administrators are frustrated," said Cash, him— self an educator, Another concern of the CCUO is housing, A representative at the downtown office said that slum clearance involving the actual tearing down of buildings has gone about as far as it is needed to in Chicago. The buildings left, he can tended, need rehabilitation not re- movai. lllIIlllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllll tireless to Sell Home to Pietro IlllllilillllllllillllllllllllllllllllltlltlllllllillllllllllllUllllllllllllllllliiilllllllllll He also illdlcated that ol the 75 communities ln Chicago, 24 have housing problems. These 24 com- munities have a population or 545,- 009 and an annual family income of $3,000. Cash indicated that the real estate people are the biggest prob- lem to the establishment of fair housing because they refuse to sell a negro a house in a white neigh- borllood. it was also pointed out by ale most everyone that the public housing projects were invariably built in Negro neighborhoods thus maintaining the segregated hous- ing patterns. The ills of this pattern of housing are obvious — the schools remaln segregated, whites and Negroes re- main ignorant of one another, and owners of the homes tend to lose interest in maintaining the homes when there are Negroes liVlng in them, Friday. November 5 is on [”99