The fears you might have should certainly be alleviated after listening to the testimony of the Rebels this morning. Their achievements and accomplishments should certainly make the adult "do-gooders" realize that these young men and women have performed in 1 short year-with limited finances-that which was not achieved by these same people who might object to turning over some of the duties of planning, rehabilitation, and prevention of juvenile delinquents and juvenile delinquency to those who understand it and are living it.

It is obvious that the teenager of today is intellectually, emotionally, and physically far above the teenager of our generation. In today's world, youthful men and women are becoming increasingly more influential in our political, financial, and religious lives.

It is like in my field, for instance, where people build hotels and night clubs expecting great performances, but they neglect to ask the artist the necessary ingredients in which to fulfill that performance, such as proper acoustics, proper lighting system, proper seating arrangements, and even the proper atmosphere.

Perhaps the finest example of this point is the fact that Time magazine, in 1967, shows as its "Man of the Year" youth 25 years of age and under. My observations have been that parents not only in ghettos, but in the suburban areas of this country, are finding it more and more difficult to communicate with their own children. Perhaps the reason for this is the lack of the parents trying to understand the youth "movement."

We parents rebel against the teenager as we feel they rebel against us. We constantly build a road of misunderstanding, being so opinionated in our beliefs that we have lost all communication with our youth. We forget to ask them what their needs and beliefs are. Rather, we point a finger at them and demand what we want of them, rather than what they want of us. In most cases we want of our young what we ourselves very often cannot produce.

The answer would seem to be a willingness on the part of all American parents, social leaders, and political leaders to listen to the youth of America today.

Although last year I personally believed that the Rebels With a Cause could fulfill the programs they set out for themselves, I found it very difficult to convince others of this. When I spoke to these young people last year, they cited to me the disadvantages society had fostered upon them as far as preparing them to take their proper place.

One young man with a high school education, who supposedly prepared himself to be a tailor, upon application for his first job, learned that his diploma meant nothing since what he was taught was not what was required for him to attain a position and make a living as a tailor within the Washington, D.C., area. The young man, who explained this to me, is presently the youth organizer of the Rebels With a Cause and has presented testimony to you this morning. Besides Mr. Williams, another boy told me the story of taking a vocational course, spending 4 years in a local high school, in order to prepare himself to take his place in the economic society.

I wish you gentlemen could have been with me last year, since you might have watched the growth of the personalities of the young

people who have appeared before you here this morning. From young boys and girls who were unable to communicate their ideas, by getting involved in Rebels With a Cause, and talking with the various agencies to cajole benefits which were rightfully theirs, they have grown to the point where they are perhaps some of the youngest people in our history presenting testimony before a congressional subcommittee, which in and of itself is proof to you gentlemen of their growth.

I would like to direct your attention to the testimony of Joseph H. Cole, Superintendent of the Recreation Department in Washington, D.C. Mr. Cole points out with respect to the recreation program of these young people in Anacostia who, by the way, I might add, were never graced with the basic facilities, were able to present to him architectural drawings and plans for a 5.5-acre recreation center in their local community. The Douglass Recreation Center will have an olympic-size swimming pool, a new type of recreation building, a sports field and hard-surface game areas, including night lights for late evening play.

I would like to quote Mr. Cole, who states:

Through the tireless efforts and positive actions on the part of the Rebels with a Cause, I can factually say that a healthy climate for fuller recreation programs in Anacostia now exists and a sound esprit de corps exists between my staff and the members of Rebels with a Cause.

Mr. Cole thereafter points out that being the champions for the youth in the Anacostia area, the Rebels have led the way for action for other youth groups in Washington. I would like to add that in my opinion the Rebels could act as a model for all urban areas throughout the United States with similar problems. Obviously one of the finest attractions as a model would be the fact that this group was created and planned by young people of similar age with like problems. The day-to-day decisions being made by people with day-to-day interests will foster a successful venture.

The Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act of 1967 should take up the slack of the expiration of the Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control Act of 1961 by providing the atmosphere conducive to success and by also providing an alternative to these youth rather than going to jail.

As I have discussed before, the Rebels were first formed in 1966. There are many other groups throughout the country who have similar causes and who have not had an opportunity to finally prove themselves. As we all know, youth lives on hope and it is old age that lives on remembrances. The fact that these young people, products of a ghetto, were able to fulfill at least a part of their hopes through the 1961 legislation should be in and of itself the incentive for Congress to pass this bill.

The fact that H.R. 6162 deals not only with rehabilitation of the already condemned, but looks to the prevention of children in similar circumstances who might fall in the future into the category of juvenile delinquency, added to the participation granted to the youth themselves, shows the foresight of the authors of this bill in seeing their duty to the present and future young men and women who shall only have hope to guide them.

I would strongly urge and request that appropriations be made to the Rebels With a Cause in order that their proven program might

continue so that they might act as the moving force and model for all youth groups throughout the United States.

Lest you might not be misled, ladies and gentlemen, it is the uninhibited imagination of youth in partnership with the experience of parents and social leaders which will be the means to bridge the gap between success or failure, and with this start maybe we can all develop an understanding which would help us correct this, adults and teenagers together, to a level of communication and participation worthy of our dream.

Of course, that last part is an extra ism of mine.

Thank you.

Mr. PUCINSKI. Thank you very much, Miss Kitt.
Mr. Brademas?

Mr. BRADEMAS. Miss Kitt and ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank all of you for your excellent statements. They are most impressive indeed and I am most impressed by the degree of participation of young people in shaping and carrying out your programs.

I have two or three quick questions.

Is it your plan to seek to encourage similar projects elsewhere in the District of Columbia?

Miss KITT. Mr. Scott?

Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Brademas, it is my thought and my coworkers' thoughts that hopefully in the future many other youths that have not been reached, that are still on the back streets, will have a chance to start programs, design programs, and run programs the way they see fit, through the help of the different agencies and with the full maximum participation of the adults.

Mr. BRADEMAS Would you be able to tell me in what why the funds from the Juvenile Delinquency Act have supported your program? I am not sure that I understand that.

Mr. Scorr. Well, it has supported our program. Funds helped us design programs within the organization; they have also helped us to go out into the communities and be able to find those youths that were on the back streets. Funds have also made us aware of the various agencies that exist in the District of Columbia.

Mr. PUCINSKI. I might say in several instances young people have become very much involved with the work of the Rebels and have remained with the organization as neighborhood workers and various other participants simply because of the funds that were made available to tide them over. None of them got the excessive salaries or anything. I marvel at the kind of people who would stay on with the kind of salaries they received. But they became mortar in that community, leading young people from despair and less meaningful programs.

Mr. BRADEMAS. Let me ask one other question following what the chairman just said: How much money have you received from the existing legislation, from that act? Do you know offhand?

Mr. HAMPTON. I can give you a rundown from the time it was first started and how far we have gotten so far.

The program was funded through a special appropriation fund through UPO for $17,000 for a 90-day period. This was just to the Rebels organization, through July 18 of 1966 when the Department

of Health, Education, and Welfare picked up the tab for our $442,000 and added seven centers over the city, such as the ones Rebels With a Cause had done, and this ran through to December 16, and as of December 16 all centers had not gotten underway, and we carried it through March 4. Until that time we had members on the board from Health, Education, and Welfare who came down and presented the program to them and we were refunded for a million and a quarter dollars with two more centers added over the city.

So now there are 10 centers over the city such as the Rebels With a Cause.

Mr. BRADEMAS. I think that the statement in the hearings from Mr. Cole, the Superintendent of the District of Columbia Recreation Department, which is here in full and from which Miss Kitt quoted in her own testimony, is a great tribute to the effectiveness of your efforts.

I have one other question, Mr. Chairman.

I notice that one of the witnesses made some reference in testimony to work with gangs in the District. This young lady, I believe, spoke of that problem on page 6 of her statement, at which she says, "We brought gangs togther immediately to neutralize them so they could participate in programs together."

I remember when members of our committee in 1961 went to New York to Medford-Stuyvesant and other New York City areas in connection with writing the 1961 legislation. We talked with a number of gang leaders in New York City.

I must say I have not been as aware of the existence of gangs of a troublesome nature here in the District as much as they evidenced themselves in New York City.

Can you make any comment generally on that problem? Maybe they are quieter in the District of Columbia, I don't know.

Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, in the District of Columbia in the area, the Anacostia area, it was timed-there were times when there wasn't any gangs, but there were groups of youth getting together for a particular purpose and then organizing in a way they really would have been large gangs and were fighting over a recreation center which was in one area and the other area had none. The groups of boys from the "not" area were coming over to the Woodland area, breaking up the dances.

The groups were growing larger, so we moved in and discussed the matter with the groups and brought about a close knitted situation. We worked out a way where they could use the same recreation center and not break up the dances and throw stones through windows. This was going on for a period of 2 weeks before we heard anything about it.

Miss POTTER. I would like to add that I believe Congressman Pucinski was at one of the meetings when we were neutralizing these two gangs. Am I right?

Mr. PUCINSKI. I might point out that these young people to a great extent and in various ways had filled in the leadership, political, governmental vacuum that is created in many parts of the District because they don't really have any significant local governmental control.

They have the Commissioners, but down at the various neighborhood levels where in other cities are aldermen and councilmen and various other men, these young men have had to go in there and provide the leadership and fill that vacuum on many occasions, and bring people together and perform many of the duties that normally would be done by elected officials if the District had some home rule or some other form of effective local government.

Mr. BRADEMAS. Once again I want to thank Miss Kitt and her colleagues for their testimony.

Mr. PUCINSKI. Mr. Scherle?

Mr. SCHERLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Miss Kitt, ladies and gentlemen, I want to commend you on a very fine bit of testimony this morning. I would also like to commend you for the sincerity in your presentation and I think this is one of the finest pieces of testimony we have had, particularly in the age group which you represent.

Miss Kitt, I would like to confine my questions, perhaps, to your testimony this morning, or to any one of the other folks at the table. I am intrigued by the name Rebels With a Cause. Now, will you explain the reason for settling on that?

Mr. PUCINSKI. I think it was Scottie who was pretty much interested in that.

Mr. SCOTT. Yes, Mr. Scherle, we had decided upon the name Rebels With a Cause, because at that time we were the young group that really had a cause. Our cause was to better our environment, ours and our community.

The word "rebels" came up because at that time we felt that the various departmental agencies and the heads would really give us a hard time, so the name "rebels" came out of the word "rebel." And it was not a fixed name; it was just something that was decided within, I believe, 60 or 90 seconds.

Mr. SCHERLE. Thank you.

Mr. PUCINSKI. If my colleague will yield.

When Jim Banks and I first discussed giving these young people some seed money, I must say that both of us were very deeply concerned on how anybody would accept the fact that the Government was helping an organization with a name like Rebels With a Cause, but I think the record that these young people have written in the last year more than justifies the long-shot risk that we took a year and a half ago.

Mr. SCHERLE. Miss Kitt, I quote on page 2:

My observations have been that parents not only in ghettoes but in the suburban areas of this country are finding it more and more difficult to communicate with their own children. Perhaps the reason for this is the lack of parents trying to understand the youth "movement."

Will you explain to me what you mean by the "youth movement"?

Miss KITT. This particular group represents the youth movement and also, I think, across the Nation you will find that teenagers are grouping together because they have this tremendous force to grow and get out of the ghettoes in which they happen to be environed in at the moment.