on Aging and to stimulate development of action programs. Both organizations, through meetings and publications, strove to keep associated groups informed of Conference plans as they emerged.

Other organizations developed tools for study and achievement of deeper understanding. The National Council of Jewish Women held a national institute on the subject of the family relationships of older persons with "Spanning the Generations" as its theme. A report on this meeting, together with a guide on how to conduct local institutes of this kind, was prepared by the Council and furnished to its 240 local affiliates. The local councils were asked to sponsor community meetings and many of them did so.

The American Library Association conducted a week-long training course for librarians and distributed copies of a four-page brochure titled "A Guide to Library Cooperation" to hundreds of libraries, to the library and education press, and to national organizations in the field of adult education. This booklet pointed out how libraries and librarians could contribute to the Conference and to programs in the field of aging.

The Association also distributed copies of the Conference's twenty Background Papers to all of the larger public libraries in the United States, to university libraries, and to State library extension services. Just prior to the Conference, the Association furnished all librarian delegates with a specially-prepared kit of materials to aid their participation.

Interviewing, assembling data, and compiling reports occupied scores if not hundreds of members of the American Association of University Women in several midwestern State surveys and in other parts of the country. During the White House Conference itself, upward of a thousand members of the National Secretarial Association, and the National Association of Retired Civil Employees, along with several organizations previously mentioned, served as secretaries, monitors, ushers, and administrative aides. Scores of national organizations saw members of State and local units serve as chairmen, discussion leaders, recorders, and researchers in community meetings, State conferences, and in committees threshing out facts and recommendations.

Basic Objectives and Issues

As indicated in the preface of this report, one of the basic objectives of the White House Conference on Aging was to determine how the national voluntary organizations of this country can make their maximum contribution to improving the situation of the Nation's older citizens.

This was the basic problem to which the Section addressed itself, and which formed the underlying basis of all its discussions. A reasoned approach to this problem, with ultimate hope of arriving at some specific answers to it, required that all members of the Section understand the position of national organizations in relation to the problem, the strengths and limitations of national organizations in dealing with the problem, and the relationships among national organizations, as these affect the problem.

In an address to the first or "orientation" meeting of the Section on January 9, 1961, Mrs. Geneva Mathiasen, Executive Secretary of the National Council on the Aging, set forth seven principles to help provide this understanding:

(1) By dealing with the particular and the personal (rather than the general) when they provide services to older people, voluntary organizations help to preserve the individuality and even the identity of the older person;

(2) Because of their diversity, voluntary organizations (as a group) are in a position to meet many needs of the older person; (3) To meet such needs without omissions or duplications, however, requires that voluntary organizations work together closely with each other, at both the national and local level;

(4) For the same reason, voluntary organizations must also work closely with the concerned agencies of government, at every level;

(5) To maintain this close and effective relationship with governmental agencies, voluntary organizations must keep fully informed on matters of public policy, and must keep their affiliates and members informed;

(6) Voluntary organizations at every level should make sure that older persons are getting their fair share of voluntary social services, taking all relevant factors into consideration;

(7) At the same time, voluntary organizations should keep the needs of older persons in proper relationship to the needs of all groups.

During the preconference period, each of the 20 Planning Committees of the Conference prepared a "Background Paper" concerning its area of interest. The primary purpose of each paper was to set forth the nature and scope of the problem. These papers were published and distributed to the States, and were used extensively by the States in collecting their information and submitting their State recommendations to the Conference. The Background Paper prepared by the Planning Committee on National Organizations spelled out these six principal goals for national organizations to strive for in their efforts to aid the older citizens of the Nation:

(1) To motivate their members and affiliates to increase their

efforts in the field of aging;

(2) To study their own membership, determine members' needs as they grow older, and determine how to help meet those needs;

(3) To correlate and expand their own services to the aging; (4) To stimulate legislation (at all levels) that will aid the aging, and to work cooperatively with governmental and other groups;

(5) To examine public programs in the aging field, and support or oppose legislation;

(6) To become familiar with actions being taken in other countries to aid the aging.

State Recommendations

By early fall of 1960, all States and jurisdictions had submitted to Washington their "State facts and recommendations", which were to serve as the basis of discussion in the twenty Sections of the Conference itself. The Special Staff on Aging arranged these State recommendations into twenty groups, corresponding to the 20 Conference Sections, and then prepared a verbatim report and a summary of all the recommendations in each category. The summary of State recommendations pertaining to national voluntary services and service organizations set forth the activities and programs that the States believed should be undertaken by voluntary organizations, and thus further delineated the work to be done by the Section during the four days of the Conference. This summary is reproduced below, in abbreviated form.

The recommendations of the States with respect to responsibility and function of national organizations recognize that such organizations have continuing programs but expansion and change to keep abreast of new developments are necessary. Several specific action programs were recommended, services which might be rendered were recommended and national organizations as agents of change were recognized with respect to their contributing to a new image of the aging.

The recommendations have been divided into six categories. In summarizing it was recognized that some over-lap occurs; therefore, there has been no attempt made to cross-refer.

Each of the six categories opens with a General Recommendation which represents a summary or synthesis of the principal Recommendations within the particular subject-matter area. Recommendations which introduce deviations from the generalized statements are summarized separately and listed as variations.

New Ventures Through Services

General: Opportunities for services to the aging are many and varied. Recommendations include the establishment of programs where none exist, cooperation and coordination with other interested agencies, sponsoring home care and nursing homes, friendly visiting services, and recreational services. In general, also, the recommendations recognized that even though an organization has a program on aging, opportunities for expansion exist. (8 States)

Variation: One State recommended that service clubs review their programs to consider what specific possibilities are open to them for aiding senior citizens.

New Roles for the Aging

General: Voluntary organizations should recognize that resources for participation in services performed include the aging themselves and every effort should be made to keep them active if already participating; if not, they should be invited to participate. (2 States)

New Patterns of Communication

General: It is recommended that national organizations, such as the National Advertising Council, promote and develop programs utilizing the mass media which will create a more attractive image of the older person than is now projected.

New Programs for Action

General: Recommendations included the establishment of a national voluntary service organization concerned with all phases of life of the senior citizen, emphasis on the "people to people" approach to aging problems, and assumption of responsibility for programs for the aging until taken over by governmental units. (3 States)

Variations: One State recommended that national organizations based in the State coordinate and continue their cooperative efforts with the official State or legislative organizations on aging.

New Image of the Aging

General: The recommendations indicate an awareness that while there may be special needs of senior citizens efforts should be made to educate the public that aging is not unique; a better public understanding of the aging and their problems is needed. Research and demonstration projects are needed, correction of the misconceptions which project the age barrier into hiring practices is needed and those who are leaders should have a better understanding of aging. (6 States)

Variations: One State recommended that families be educated as to their responsibility in caring for aged members. All news media, churches and organizations should be involved.

The most specific definition of the objectives and issues to be considered by this Section of the Conference was contained in a memorandum prepared by the Planning Committee and furnished to all members of the Section just before the Conference began. It consisted of seven questions, which formed the basis of discussion in each of the five Workgroups that comprised the Section. These seven questions were:

(1) How can the projects and services of voluntary organizations be extended to give greater assistance to the aging?

(2) What avenues of participation are open or should be made available to aging persons, in the programs of voluntary organizations?

(3) What are the relative responsibilities and relationships between governmental agencies and voluntary organizations in the field of aging?

(4) How can voluntary organizations communicate and work more effectively with their local constituency and with local, State, and Federal agencies in areas of concern for the aging?

(5) How can voluntary organizations initiate and support programs of legislation in relation to the aging?

(6) What can voluntary organizations do to help create more positive attitudes of and for the aging?

(7) What kind of follow-up organization would be most effective (after the Conference) in correlating the efforts of voluntary organizations in the field of aging? How do you perceive that such correlation can be carried out?

The Workgroup discussion on these seven questions are described later in this report, under "The Substance of the Section and Workgroup Discussions."