City, State, and Federal Social Welfare Programs

This series contains materials from Gorelick's tenure with the City of New York. It primarily consists of City of New York documents, but also contains information and instructions from state and federal social welfare departments. The series contains materials from the 1940s-1980s, but the bulk are from the 1960s-1970s.

The City of New York was an extremely bureaucratic entity, an attribute that fundamentally shaped its labor relations with social service employees and the relationship between welfare clients and city employees. The memorandums, directives, and correspondence found here illustrate working conditions of social service employees and processes for administering welfare (also termed income maintenance). Because the need for welfare was connected with many other social issues, these records illustrate social conditions in mid-20th century New York City, including poverty, health, housing, employment, and crime.

The Fulton Center, on Willoughby Street in Brooklyn, and the Boro Hall Center on Jay Street in Brooklyn are particularly well-represented. Gorelick held several positions at Boro Hall and was director at Fulton during the 1970s. The Brownsville Center is also represented to a lesser extent. These local centers were where clients interacted with the city's policies.

Departments are arranged alphabetically, but due to the evolution of the city government, similar functions are represented by content generated by different departments. The functions of the Department of Welfare would gradually be moved into the Department of Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services, which was created in 1966 and fully consolidated in 1970. The local centers, such as Fulton, Boro Hall, or Brownsville, were at times under the auspices of the Department of Welfare, the Department of Social Services, or the Human Resources Administration.

Advocacy and professional organizations for government employees are also included in this series. These include the Department of Welfare's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Association of Supervisor's of the Department of Welfare. This group, formed "to advance professional growth and to protect the Civil Service rights of members," illustrates the often fine line between professional organization and union activities.