Series 3: Program files, 1946-1957, bulk

Correspondence, minutes, and reports of annual meetings, lectures, forums and conferences sponsored by BCSP, and correspondence of committees charged with program activities (Program Committee, Needs and Resources Committee, and Plan and Scope Committee), are found in these files.

Adoption, foster care, day care, and child welfare issues are well-documented in these files of committee and general correspondence, press clippings, and related material. Among the more interesting material is documentation of Brooklyn Day Care Week, and of the Little White House Conference on Children and Youth, an important event organized by BCSP in 1951 to address the social welfare needs of children in Brooklyn; this was a local follow-up to a national conference at the White House in Washington.

These files clarify how instrumental BCSP was in the development, improvement and maintenance of recreational facilities in Brooklyn, and describe in detail the need for new and improved community recreational facilities and centers, public school gyms, and public programs such as summer camps and swimming pools. Included here is the correspondence of the Fort Greene-Farragut Coordinating committee, which organized recreation programs in the new Fort Greene-Farragut housing project, and correspondence of the sub-committee on the establishment of St. John's Park, at Schenectady Avenue and Bergen Street. (Also see Series 5, Brooklyn neighborhood welfare and health councils, for related material.)

This subseries provides a thorough overall review of BCSP's health care committees, including Mental Health, Family Service, Nutrition, and Medical Social Work. Correspondence with the Health Council Division, a large umbrella organization which reviewed and assessed social health and welfare committees, is some of the more significant material located here, as is committee correspondence on the need for fluoridation of drinking water and the need for a community hospital in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

These files address Brooklyn's acute public housing situation and BCSP's role in enforcing and promoting housing legislation, including support of large housing projects. The files contain primarily committee correspondence and some press clippings.

Substantial documentation on social problems and community needs is provided here. Of particular interest is the correspondence of the South-Brooklyn Coordinating Committee, which organized a neighborhood council to assess local needs, and the Williamsburg-Tompkins Park Group Leadership Project, which was active in starting a youth center in response to neighborhood gang activity. (See also Series 5 for related organizations and activities).

Included here are files on seminars, workshops, and a Spanish language class sponsored by BCSP to aid social workers in their professional duties, as well as on the production of "Welcome to Brooklyn: Handbook for New Workers." This publication, and its subsequent editions, is found in Series 8, publications.

This subseries includes files on various BCSP programs including: "Our Expanding Negro Population," a 1940 BCSP conference; a 1954 survey and statement on proposed cuts to mass transportation; World War II era veterans' services; volunteerism; and youth activities. Files include committee correspondence, reports, and pamphlets.