proposals from these industries, to program a computer to teach reading, drew wide attention from the press.

Much of the adult basic education instruction will be dispersed in a variety of small classes; that is, a 100-man job camp here, a barroom basic class there. Decentralizing classes is one of the better recruiting techniques for that large submerged group of poor people who are vaguely aware that an effort is underway to help them.

An example of the new developments using these guidelines is a practice reader which Holt, Rinehart & Winston will publish in early autumn, "The Thomases Live Here." It was written by Jocelyn Goss.

To provide the needed psychological pull described above, "The Thomases" take the newly minted adult reader into that wonderful world of rural and smalltown life which is real for 90 million Americans and a very, very large number of the undereducated. This, too, is pure nostalgia for many more of the latter who live in the big cities, but who are just a recent moving van (or bus trip) removed from this life.

"The Thomases" speak the double first-name vocabulary (Ruthie Mae and Jimmie Lee) of rural and smalltown people. This milieu might well be the world of spring plowing, fresh air, country fairs, consolidated schools, and snakebites that Mrs. Goss knew as a girl in Smithfield, Va.

The book has joy and a strong source of psychological identification for the new reader in its emphasis on the growth and development of children, and in the vital concern for individuals in the family circle. It has sadness and authenticity in describing a funeral where neighbors bring cakes and meats; realistic challenges are described in documenting a family's displacement by a new highway.

Further bellwether efforts by other publishers in this vein, include readers designed for big city young adults, which feature pizza parlors and handball courts. Books on Negro achievers fill a need for boosting self-esteem. Indeed, the Negro has finally made his long-delayed entrance into new books in this area, as well as in regular public school textbooks. He is appearing in an authentic and matter-of-fact way as the 10 or 15 percent which he constitutes in the contemporary social scene. Excavators of our scrolls years from now will not be led to believe after all that we were 200 or 300 million homogenous people named Jones.

Most of the new efforts have some form of self-teaching similar to the vocabulary review of "The Thomases," and most present good object lessons of home and family life, civic responsibility, and general uplift.

Our next decade may be the most historic in education since the people of Massachusetts first said: "Let's have school." The efforts for the adult undereducated will surely have a rightful place in the future histories of education. If, at that time, hereditary poverty in our country has been conquered, and if high and universal literacy and economic opportunity prevails, the adult education publishers will gain satisfaction for the role they played in "the struggle.”

CHAPTER VII

EXAMPLES OF EXTENSION PROGRAMS IN URBAN

AREAS

A. HOME ECONOMICS EXTENSION WORK IN URBAN AREAS

Margaret C. Browne, Director, Division of Home Economics, Federal Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS

The Smith-Lever Act passed in 1914 made Federal funds available for "out of school education in agriculture, home economics, and related subjects." It did not limit clientele to rural residents but rather states, "for all the people." However, interpretation based on the hearings when the act was debated has implied in some instances this limitation. Federal funds are, for the most part, divided among the States on a formula based on rural population. This further leaves the implication that the rural residents are our primary clientele. In some instances where the Cooperative Extension Service has a long history in urban centers, the State has more broadly interpreted the law and, in some instances, a high percentage of the funds used are provided by the county; for example, in Nassau County, N. Y., 90 percent of the funds are local funds.

For further expansion into urban areas, further funds need to be made available to permit staffing somewhat in relation to the population. Methods and procedures may need to be developed in order to reach millions of people rather than thousands.

The Extension Service has not been equipped in the past with adequate publication money to use mass media as effectively as it might. For example, some States who use radio and television rather extensively never mention publications since their funds will not permit enough copies to reach the demand generated by such contact. The Extension Service is interested in serving the needs of families with home economics information regardless of place of residence or income level.

AUDIENCES

Over

Home economics extension work in urban areas is not new. the years, extension has trial tested and proven many methods of doing homemaking education with segments of city populations, or cross sections of economic and cultural groups in metropolitan and suburban sections. Experimentation is continuing.

City population segments are reached by some 4,000 county extension home economists who are backed up and supported by the landgrant college specialists, departments of Agricultural Extension Service, and research.

The people we teach may be in low-income, high-rise apartments, in public housing, or may be new suburban development homeowners; they may be white-collared or factory union workers, lay leaders in church or civic organizations or just members in these organizations. They may be young homemakers, retired professionals, or laborers, or the teenage boys and girls. They may be "Mrs. Consumer," or a TV watcher, or a radio listener, or a reader of the daily newspaper.

In the last few years, more emphasis and attention have deliberately been directed toward those in the lower socioeconomic levels. By these efforts, we have proven that tax moneys can be saved through extension home economics education programs conducted with the low socioeconomic groups; that dependent families can be oriented to become self-supporting; that new urban redevelopment neighborhoods can be held at a good level of maintenance; and that less advantaged children (the citizens of the future) can be given greater hope, health, aspirations, and opportunities through improving the mental and physical environment of homemakers, homes, and neighborhoods.

LOW INCOME

We know the potential and need for extension work is unlimited among low-income families in city areas. One proof has been our many experiences across the Nation in teaching preparation and use of donated foods, through special classes in low-income housing areas or at distribution centers. Extension home economists have taught hundreds of classes and have trained hundreds of lay leaders to teach other classes, so that these foods become acceptable dishes instead of being wasted. Dry milk, eggs, and cornmeal have taken much education on use. Other lessons included how to plan nutritious meals around commodity foods, the importance of good nutrition, and good eating habits.

Such work has led to requests for other subject matter. These same homemakers are learning to fit and remodel clothing, repair and alter garments, manage money, use child psychology, and further improve homes. Examples of such work spread throughout cities across the Nation.

Sometimes small groups of ADC mothers or neighborhood groups in public housing authorities are formed. Here group participation itself is often a vital step forward for these homemakers for it is here they regain self-esteem, a sense of belonging, and hope, and sometimes become family supporters.

In one class of 45 ADC mothers in Grand Rapids, Mich., one-fourth secured work after gaining self-confidence from these homemaking lessons. Caseworkers say, as a result of these classes, homes were better kept, better meals were prepared, and the attitude toward caseworkers or public health nurses showed marked improvement.

Missouri has successfully trained lay leaders to teach others in classes in YWCA's, mission houses, and urban renewal areas. Leaders most dubious about their potential, after such training have developed self-confidence, and trained over 100 families per leader in areas such as the Kingdom Mission House (90 percent colored).

Considerable study and experimentation on how to best reach and teach large segments of the city's population have been carried out

in such cities as Dayton, Ohio; metropolitan areas of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Indiana, Connecticut, and Missouri. A special extension home economist has been hired to work with 507 families in a high-rise, low-income housing development in the south end of Boston. This past year's work has been experimental in an effort. to find other ways of successfully teaching low-income and less advantaged city populations.

Many examples of effective extension work in the over 500,000 public housing authority units can be found in Cleveland, Ohio; Hartford. Conn.; Milwaukee and other Wisconsin cities; St. Louis and many Missouri cities. Our low-income can be reached and taught, and homes and outlook improved. (See Ella Stackhouse's own report.)

In Pontiac, Mich., urban renewal area caseworkers and nurses found a better acceptance of their own help and a greatly improved home upkeep after extension agents and specialists held meetings on home remodeling, landscaping, home repairs, and do-it-yourself workshops. They noted people had gained a better view of their relationship to neighbors and environment.

Many State specialists in extension have revamped much educational materials to meet low educational levels.

LARGE GROUPS OF CONSUMERS

Audiences numbering 300 to 1,000 turn out in cities across the Nation, from Boston to Los Angeles, for extension's organized Consumer Days. Mrs. Homemaker (whether in New England, Detroit, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, or Hawaii) is concerned with how well she is spending the family income and the quality of goods and services she is receiving. She is finding the answers at these meetings. Consumer Days provide an exchange of views between customers and merchants, and prove popular and educational with retailers and service shop operators, also.

A wide cross section (of race and economic levels) makes up the audiences of affluently and shabbily dressed, of Caucasian, Negro, and oriental races. These consumer retail panel days have been held repeatedly since 1961 in cities, such as San Francisco, and continue to draw crowds whether they deal with buying of children's or adult clothing, drycleaning, appliance services, or other subjects.

The homemaker's questions and gripes are collected via question boxes, radio, TV stations, or by presurveys through women's organizations. Panels of retailers and extension workers then base their discussion on these questions, and explain some of the retailing, buying, and labor problems of merchants, too. Answers to questions received were continued through women's pages of newspapers, via radio or TV programs, and through bulletins and leaflets prepared and distributed jointly by the Extension Service and trade. Merchant-customer goodwill and understanding developed. One merchant said, "The results were the greatest boom to consumer-merchant relations in my 25 years in the retail field."

Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and El Paso are just a few of the cities where these have been done successfully.

CITY LECTURES, WORKSHOPS, CLASSES (LARGE GROUPS) No saturation point has yet been found to the demand for good illustrated lectures or classes on homemaking dealing with home decorating, color, wardrobe management, or money management.

Over the past 4 years, repetition of the same extension classes continues to bring out crowds of 300 to 800 each time in the San Francisco

area.

In Honolulu, young homemakers' groups have been formed through the efforts of two extension home economists. They have worked with many agencies and have laid the groundwork this year for programing that can snowball in the future. They have concentrated on presenting workshops consisting of six sessions on "Stretching the food dollar." The group work so far has been in the low-income housing and the military clinics where the women gather for periodic maternity checkups. The Honolulu organized group of university extension clubs realized by their survey in 1961 that they do not have the young homemakers enrolled in their clubs. Therefore, each group is organizing and sponsoring a young homemakers' group. With the councils backing this, we can look forward to larger numbers being reached.

LABOR UNION MEMBERS AND WIVES BENEFIT

In Detroit and Dearborn, extension consumer classes with an average attendance of 300 were advertised by local press, credit unions, and labor unions. Topics included: "Why did I buy this?" "Who protects the consumer?" "My responsibilities as a consumer."

Grand Rapids, Mich., Extension Service prepares a retiree's economics column which appears in a labor tribune sent to 130,000.

In the St. Louis area, 750 firms duplicated and used an extension prepared article on retirement living costs. This was also used by YMCA's and YWCA's.

Marketing columns in trade journals such as Steel News were started by the Colorado consumer specialist in the Denver area in 1959. Shortly thereafter a strike put several thousand in the Pueblo steel mills out of work. Their families later received commodity foods and extension supplied through daily and weekly newspapers, such timely information as how to use these foods, low-cost food buying tips, clothing buying tips. Weeklywise buys and recipes were distributed through such outlets as the local health center, radio, and TV. Extension-prepared bulletins and leaflets on budget stretchers were distributed through union halls and extension offices in strike areas. Recent events show 4,000 steelworkers are out of work in the Pueblo, Colo., area alone, so this education work is continuing.

Many city organizations, to which union members belong, are now calling on extension for homemaking education as a result of work with unions.

In other cities, union members and their wives have benefited by classes on style trends, wardrobe planning for different needs, new fabrics and their care.