Series 4: Related welfare and health councils, 1946-1957, bulk

BCSP was a member of the city-wide Welfare and Health Council of New York; it acted as the Brooklyn borough representative agency. Formed by the merger of the Welfare Council of New York City and the Health Council of New York City in 1952, the organization disbanded itself in February 1956 and formed the Greater New York Community Council, Inc. This was done in an effort to appeal to the Catholic agencies which withdrew from the Welfare and Health Council in 1953 in protest over the admission to the Council of an arm of Planned Parenthood; the Welfare and Health Council experienced financial difficulties after this withdrawal. The Councils' primary functions were the overall planning and coordination of health and welfare services, and providing central services required by the community and the agencies city-wide to produce these services. This subseries includes committee correspondence, reports, minutes of meetings, press clippings, and related material addressing topics such as housing, services to adolescent children, mental health, services to the aged, and population. The department and committee structure of this organization corresponded closely with that of BCSP, and BCSP participated in its committee work. BCSP was dependent on the Welfare and Health Council, and its successor, the Greater New York Community Council, for the bulk of its funding. As of December 31, 1956, the Council stopped funding BCSP and the other borough councils, and they disbanded. (See Series 2, financial files for funding; see subseries 4.2 for other borough councils.)

This subseries includes correspondence with and information about BCSP's sister agencies in other boroughs, including: Bronx Welfare and Health Council; Community Welfare Council of Staten Island; Queensboro Council for Social Welfare; and several Manhattan neighborhood community councils. This decentralization through regional councils helped to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of health and welfare planning in New York City. Files include some correspondence with these agencies about mutual concerns, as well as newsletters, reports, and related material.

This very miscellaneous grouping of files contains general information on similar organizations in other American cities including: Boston, United Community Services of Metropolitan Boston; Cincinnati, Council of Social Agencies; Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks; Philadelphia, Health and Welfare Council and the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work; and Pittsburgh, Health and Welfare Federation of Allegheny County. Files contain primarily pamphlets issued by these organizations.