and Welfare, Council on Leaders and Specialist (State Department Contract Agency), and the International Recreation Association. Some of the countries which requested such service were Liberia, Afghanistan, Thailand, Japan, Tunisia, Ecuador, Somaliland, Republic of Argentina, Laos, West Ceylon, Denmark, and Germany. The program was cited by the National Education Association and Parade (the Sunday magazine section) at their National Convention in Miami with the 1966 "Pacemaker Award." This marks the first time in the 109-year history of the organization that a recreation department has been cited. GIRLS AND WOMEN ROVING LEADERS The first female Leader was appointed in 1959. Special emphasis at the time was placed on "girl school dropouts" and girl gang groups. In as much as girl groups consist of, on an average, of seven to ten girls per group, our Leader has worked with a very hostile group that consisted of forty-three members. Among the many problems of working with girls, our Leader extended her role to guidance and counseling girls with their tasks of adolescence. Especially needed was great emphasis in guidance on the tasks of independence, the achievement of a firm sense of self, and choosing a career. To accomplish these and other tasks the leader had to provide services for the entire family. ROVING LEADER RECREATION AIDES Through a grant from the Juvenile Delinquency Control Act funded through the United Planning Organization, the Roving Leader Program has on its staff six Recreation Aides. These aides have been trained by the Institute of Youth Studies of Howard University and the Recreation Department. The service of the aide program has broadened the Roving Leader Program by assigning these aides on various play lots throughout the City of Washington. They provide activities for children of the community where previously there were no meaningful activities. Programs for children in age range from six to thirteen years of age is the main focus of the aides service. On May 1, 1966 through July 22, 1966 the aides started their training. The content of the training program consisted of: 1. Code of conduct. 2. Supervision. 3. Recordings. 4. Client contacts. 5. Agency contacts. 6. The Negro family. 7. Human Development. 8. Group and group dynamics. 9. Perspectives on poverty. 10. In-service training in recreation skills to enable the aides to design and implement programs for children ages six through thirteen who regularly and frequently come to the aides assigned play lots. These aides were former gang leaders, whom the Roving Leaders had worked with and were able to identify the leadership potential of each one, thus recommending them to this program. Since they have been in the program, we can testify to their successful contribution to the community and the children they serve. During the summer 1966 they took children on nature hikes, provided various low-organized games on the lots; participated in youth and police softball league; directs and carries out the arts and craft programs; took youths on sightseeing tours; planned and carried out picnics. Presently some of the aides are working closely with school principals at Morgan, Bruce, Bancroft, Kenilworth, Shadd, and Burville Elementary Schools, providing recreational and youth fitness programs for elementary children. They also work in our night centers where children participate in arts and craft, drama, basketball leagues, etc. During the fall and winter when the weather is favorable they provide activities on their lots. Since touch football and the permanent play apparatus on the play lots are so popular, the aides spent their time supervising these activities. ROVING LEADER STAFF TRAINING AND COMMUNITY CONTACT The D.C. Recreation Department has provided a continuing on-the-job training program for the Roving Leaders and related staff. Six Roving Leaders have had parttime courses at Catholic University School of Social Services in the group work sequence. Seventeen members of the Roving Leader staff have completed four years of college. One is currently completing his undergraduate training. One man has completed his education in Social Group Work. The Director is completing his graduate study in the School of Social Work at Howard University. Periodically, in-service training programs are conducted for the Roving Leaders namely, (1) Use of group work techniques in working with groups, (2) Orientation in the operation of the Recreation Department, (3) Orientation of all new Roving Leaders. Nine workers have attended the Youth Workers Training Center in Chicago, sponsored by the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime. Two of the principal Administrators have taken the Administrators' Course also sponsored by the President's Committee. One worker has attended the "World of Work" Conference in Chicago. One of the women Roving Leaders and the Psychological Consultant to the Division participated in the “Girls in Crisis" Conference conducted by the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crimes. This Leader also attended; consultation sessions on adolescent girls at Boston University Training Center in youth development, conference on the Role of Agencies Serving Low-Income Girls, Minneapolis, Minnesota, training center of National Federation of Settlement and Neighborhood Centers and Boston University. Many of the Leaders have participated in conferences sponsored by local and national agencies. Through the process of providing professional services to other agencies, in 1965 the Director was guest lecturer at the International Youth Leadership Training Course held at Camp Guajatuca, Puerto Rico, and later at Continental Divide, New Mexico. In their efforts to help the youths the Roving Leaders meet regularly with representatives of many community agencies, such as the schools, United Planning Organization, Welfare Department, Police Department, Health Department, Employment Services, civic groups, individual citizens and Health and Welfare Council. Another vital part of the training is our service of a Psychological Consultant. She has been able to help the Roving Leaders examine deep emotional behavior problems of the youths they serve. Leaders are equipped with a variety of clues or alternatives to handle stressful situations, thus aiding them to arrive at a solution. Many Leaders have been able to link youths with the services of their neighborhood Mental Health Clinics. The end goal of this service is to get more services in the total structure of youth development, and help youths grow and mature in our society. FOR DETACHED WORKER, CASE BOOK FROM RECORDS OF ROVING LEADER PROGRAM, D.C. RECREATION DEPARTMENT Case #1-Relations with Police. Agency: D.C. Recreation Department, Roving Leader Program. Experience with law breaking adolescents prior to incident.-For nearly two years prior to assignment as Roving Leader, he worked as recreation leader on a playground adjacent to a low income Public Housing Project. He was familiar with adolescents who were "on the run from the police." Kids in trouble often onfided in him because they knew he would not "blab it to the police." He found that the youths tended to be very ignorant about the laws that might affect them. The Leader had been assigned to detached service as Roving Leader two months prior to the incident reported below. He had had an orientation to the Roving Leader Program and was participating in a weekly seminar for new workers that met with the Recreation Department's psychological consultant. Incident: In October, 1963, a news story in the Washington Post, the morning daily newspaper, reported the apprehension of a runaway, from the National Training School, the local reformatory. Details in the article implied that the Leader was guilty of deliberately harboring a known law violator. Following the publication of the news story, there were inquiries from the Police Department to the Superintendent of the Recreation Department. A memorandum was sent to the police. Mimeographed copies of the memorandum were distributed to all Roving Leader staff members and others who inquired about the incident. The memorandum follows: Memorandum To: Youth Aid Division. Attention: Officers of Youth Aid Division. From: Roving Leader, D.C. Recreation Department. Subject: Article concerning roving leader in Washington Post. The 17 year old youth mentioned in the article as an escapee from National Training School, was one of a group of youths who was employed at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory through the Washington Action for Youth Summer Job Project. This group was assigned to me for counseling as part of my duties as a Roving Leader. Near the end of the Summer Project, the youth expressed to me a desire to return to school. The Leader offered to help the youth in any way he could. Later in the week, the boy told me that he was an escapee from the National Training School. The Leader then told the boy that he could not help him unless he got his record cleared at National Training School. The youth then told the Leader that if he stayed out of National Training School until he became eighteen years old, the charge against him would be dropped automatically. The Leader informed the youth that he thought the information was false. The youth told the Leader the name of his probation officer at National Training School. On September 6, 1963, the Leader visited the National Training School and talked with the officer about the youth's disposition as far as his record was concerned. The officer told the Leader that no matter how old the boy was, his record would not be clear until he came back and completed his sentence. He said that as far as records were concerned the boy would be declared a fugitive. Armed with this information, the Leader told the youth and his grandmother that the boy should return to National Training School at his own accord. The Leader counseled the boy in this direction on two more occasions, the last being September 11, 1963. The Leader went away on vacation on September 13, and when he returned two weeks later, the youth's grandmother called and told him that the boy had been picked up by the authorities and that she had arranged it. As a recently appointed Roving Leader, the worker discussed all of his actions with the youth, with his supervisor, and with others more experienced in the Roving Leader Program. The Leader wishes to state that the newspaper article distorts the true facts. The Leader was guided in his work with this youth by the general policy of the Roving Leader Program, which is as follows: Any capital offenses like murder, rape, grand larceny, or possession of a deadly weapon are reported immediately. Crimes of less serious nature-the boys are encouraged and told to give themselves up. Roving Leaders do not in any way coddle or protect law offenders. Leaders' jobs are to enable the boys to make the right decisions for themselves. Roving Leaders counsel individuals to make them realize the seriousness of their mistakes and to be aware of their problems, so that they may give themselves up and hopefully, when they have served their terms, be able to live decent and constructive lives. Roving Leaders are not "con men" or informers, but they do cooperate with the police, and will continue to do so. (S) Approved. (S) Roving Leader. Director, Roving Leader Program. NOTE.-During the court hearings connected with returning the boy to the National Training School, the relationship between the youth and the Roving Leader became known. It was at this point that a police officer unjustly accused the Roving Leader of harboring a fugitive. Our memo effectively clarified the situation and there were no repercussions. The boy did complete his sentence at the National Training School and is now making a good adjustment in a regular high school. The fact that the Juvenile Court Judge, the Roving Leader, and others were concerned that he got a fair deal, made a deep impression on him. It gave him increased confidence in himself and apparently enough motivation to make the effort to "go straight." A SUMMARY OF "A FOLLOW-UP STUDY OF A FORMER STREET Corner GANG" This study represents a follow-up of a group of former delinquents from the Adams-Morgan area who were organized into a club known as the "Double H" Club by a Roving Leader from the D.C. Recreation Department during the year 1960. The purpose of this study is to investigate a group of former members of a street corner gang, with regard to their life, employment, school, and leisure time activities. The study is based on personal interviews with the boys supplemented by data from group case records on file in the D.C. Recreation Department Roving Leader Program. An interview schedule was constructed by the writer, and a person was selected to administer the interview schedule. The interviewing schedule consisted of open-ended questions under eight categories: 1) identifying data; 2) marital and family status; 3) present life and contact with former group members; 4) school; 5) job; 6) opinions and attitudes about the gang; and 7) plans for future, and advice for teenagers. The former group members were contacted by the Roving Leader and were asked if they would volunteer information to a person connected with the Catholic University of America making a follow-up study on the members of the "Double H" Club. Twenty-two former group members were found and interviewed. The interviews were held in different places and at different times whenever the subjects were available. A Rehabilitative Index was designed, based on present employment and behavior, dividing the twenty-two subjects into three categories. Cases 1-7 showed those subjects who had improved the most. Cases 8-14 depicted those subjects who had improved moderately, and Cases 15-22 were those subjects who had improved least. Four questions were formulated for this research investigation, and the extent to which they were answered by the twenty-two subjects was indicated by the analysis of the findings of the study. In the first question 1 regarding the effects of the Roving Leader upon the gang members' outlooks it was found that in the area of academic attainment, the youths who achieved most academically were in the high rehabilitative category. One subject completed one year of college, and three subjects completed high school. In the medium category, two subjects completed high school, while in the low rehabilitative category, no subjects completed high school. These data seem to indicate a positive correlation between academic attainment and rehabilitative status. Looking at the employment status of these youths from the Rehabilitative Index, all seven boys in the high rehabilitative category were employed permanently. Six boys were employed permanently in the medium category, and one was employed off and on. In the low category, none of the boys were employed permanently, four were employed off and on, and four were unemployed. Included among the four unemployed were two boys who are incarcerated. With regard to the subjects' opinions about the gang before it became the "Double H" Club, eleven members had a low opinion about the gang, eight members had medium opinions about the gang, while three members had a high opinion of the gang. These three members were boys who were grouped in the low rehabilitative status. Two of these members are incarcerated. The attitude about the gang showed that eleven members had an unfavorable attitude, seven members had an average attitude and four members had a good attitude. These four members all belonged to the low rehabilitative status. The members' attitude about the "Double H" Club was very positive. All twenty-two subjects said that they would joint the club again. With regard to the plans for the future, thirteen members had constructive plans, five members were undecided and four members had no plans. Those who had no plans fell in the "low rehabilitative status." In giving advice to teenagers who want to join gangs, thirteen members had constructive advice, six members had moderate advice, and three members had negative or no advice. It is significant to note that were there no plans, negative or no advice, this response came from members grouped in the low rehabilitative status category. 1 Supra, p. 16. The question dealing with what kind of activities gang members are now engaged in, revealed that in the area of leisure time activities, boys in the "High" and "Medium" rehabilitative status gave responses such as basketball, football parties or playing cards. Practically all of the boys in the low rehabilitative category gave pool as their chief leisure time activity. Boys in the "High" and "Medium" category found new friends and associated less with former gang members, while boys in the low rehabilitative category hardly make new friends and associated with the gang members. The question was asked of the twenty-two subjects whether they had joined or belonged to any social or community groups. The responses showed that half of the members of the "High" and "Medium" rehabilitative category had joined social or community groups. While not one single member in the low rehabilitative category belonged to any social or community groups. The four questions posed at the outset of this study are all related to each other. Another question sought to determine whether the new activities introduced by the Roving Leader were satisfying to the extent that the socially unacceptable activities ceased, or diminished to a minimum. Responses made to the item regarding what they remembered best about the club revealed that many of the boys recalled with pleasure, the sports activities, movies, meetings, and outings. They admitted to the interviewer that they got much more fun out of these activities because these activities kept them out of trouble and gave them something to do. A comparison was made of the present rehabilitative status of the former group members with that of the initial delinquency status of these members in 1960. In the low rehabilitative status, one member was medium delinquent and seven were high delinquents in 1960. In the medium rehabilitative status category, two medium delinquents remained in this comparable category, and five members were high delinquents in 1960. While in the high rehabilitative status category, it was found that three members were initially classified as low delinquents, three as medium delinquents, and one as high delinquent. The final question was concerned with whether the guidance and direction given by the Roving Leader to the group helped them to become law abiding citizens. All of the members in the high and medium rehabilitative category responded in a positive manner about the Roving Leader's help and guidance. Three of the members in the low rehabilitative category were uncertain or indecisive about the Roving Leader's influence. The evidence compiled from the questions asked show indications that this group basically has improved. The Roving Leader was able to affect many of the members in the group in a positive way through his relationships with members and the various programs offered. Some of the members did not improve to the extent that they became good law-abiding citizens. This is reflected in the members of the low rehabilitative status whose attendance at the Roving Leader's meetings was poor, and who because of unstable family background, lacked inner strength and resourcefulness to do anything for themselves. Five of these boys in the low rehabilitative status were eighteen years of age or over when the Roving Leader started working with them. These boys had fixed ideas about life in general. All the boys in the low rehabilitative status except two, were able to function without getting into further trouble. The other boys in the high and medium rehabilitative status were influenced to cease their illicit activity, while the three boys who in the beginning had no police records were helped to stay out of trouble. It must be recalled that nineteen of these youths were in trouble with the law before the group was organized by the Roving Leader. Conclusions The evidence seems to point out that the influence of the Roving Leader made a significant contribution in the lives of these youths. However, it was also recognized that boys in the "low" rehabilitative catagory required more intensive treatment for full rehabilitation. The results of the findings of this study agree with the findings of other related studies. Whyte's study showed that the corner boys nearly always retain their allegiance to their original corner. The present study shows that the strength of the allegiance to the former gang after the group was terminated, was positively related to the degree of rehabilitation. Boys who were considered rehabilitated most did not frequent the pool room often. Boys who were poorly rehabilitated met in the pool room everyday. 1 Whyte, op. cit., p. 355. |