Mr. BURNETTE. The National Congress of American Indians in the first place is an organization made up of all Indian people, Indian leadership, and individuals, from all over the country. We represent some 350,000 people of the different reservations. We are quite concerned with the legislation that you have before you. We are very much in favor of it, and we hope that it is enacted very soon, because there is a great need for it. We are quite concerned, because of the Nation's problems that they have with youth and with its resources, that we believe are being wasted a great deal. And being Indian people, we are probably the greatest conservationists there ever were. We never waste anything. So we are concerned with the resources of this country, we have watched it deteriorate to a certain extent, and we hope it will be brought back to its full bloom again. The national congress, in all of its tribes, wish that you would consider putting into this legislation a clause that would make the tribes a part of this program. We feel that we should be made a part of this matter because of factors which we have been facing since the 1930's, when the old CCCID program, as we called it, Civilian Conservation Corps Indian Department, was put into force, which was slightly different than the CCC idea as it was known throughout the rest of the country, and operated in a different manner, in that it was not restricted to any age limit and took in a lot of our people. I would like to assert at this time that 30 percent of those people who were employed and trained under the CCCID program as we knew it are now citizens across the Nation in most of your States, I would imagine, from California to New York, are self-sufficient, and are taxpaying citizens; while on the reservations is where we have experienced a long period of chronic unemployment, we have the situation there where many of the reservations are in the condition of having 90-percent unemployment rates. And the average unemployment rate on the Indian reservation is today 44 percent. We are very much concerned, because we read the papers once in a while, those of us who can, and we find that the Nation gets quite disturbed when it reaches up near 7 percent. So we have had a 44-percent unemployment rate for a number of years. And at this point I would like to say to you gentlemen that we want to thank Congress for what they have been doing for the Indian people, especially during the last 2 years, in putting in the President's accelerated public works bill and the ARA bill and making the Indian people a part of that. And we have new hopes again that maybe the Indian people will be given some attention. I could cite for you a list of names, probably for the next 2 hours, of people who are examples of the trainee type of training that they were given in the CCCID programs on the reservations, but I will defer from that due to the time limitation here. But I have personal relations myself all the way from Ohio to California in my family alone, which will give you some idea of how widespread this is. The consideration of making Indian tribes a part and parcel of this act would be a great advantage to this Nation, because we, too, are beginning to have the same problems that you are having throughout the Nation, or we are having, I should say, because we are a great part of this Nation. And I believe much of this is due to the great news media that we have today, TV, radio, newspapers, of all types, and everybody has a newspaper of some kind going, and the kids pick this up very fast, and they follow the leadership. And much of this leadership is being wasted in our estimation. All of the children or youth today who are leaders of these gangs in these cities, and we have them on our reservations now today, using bicycle chains and what have you they pick this up from TV, eventually, or someplace these are potential leaders that we are losing. We are losing much of our youth to the bad element. And I may state for the record here, that 34 percent of the South Dakota State Penitentiary population is Indian-and a terrible, terrible percentage, when only 5 percent of the total population of South Dakota is Indian. So you can see what it is to go to our young people. And these range from ages about 18 to 25, as a general trend in South Dakota, where I am from. So we have a great deal of interest in this bill, and the Indian tribes all over the country have insisted that I appear before the committee on behalf of this bill and in hopes that it would become a national law, where it would help all of our youth, conserve our great resources, while at the same time it helps our youth of this Nation, who are in great trouble at this time. Mr. PERKINS. Mr. Gibbons. Mr. GIBBONS. I am sorry. I do not know too much about Indiansmost of them we have in Florida inhabit the Everglades, and nobody wants to disturb them too much-but do you, or does your organization want Indians included just as everyone else in the bill, or should we set up separate Indian units, or what do you suggest? Mr. BURNETTE. No, we would not suggest a complete separation of Indian units. We believe that it would be very good for everyone, even if they took some Florida youth out of Miami and took them into the Black Hills of South Dakota and mix them with some of our Indian people we think this would be good both for the Indian people and the youth of Miami. So we are not asking for separate projects in themselves. We are asking that we be made a part of this bill-because in normal legislation we are left out. And because we don't number too greatly in voting population, we are generally left out completely-and lately we have been asking to be a part of legislation, because of that. Mr. GIBBONS. I want to ask the chairman, are they left out of this bill? Mr. PERKINS. No, they are included in this bill. You are included in this bill. Mr. GIBBONS. We are glad to have you aboard. Mr. BURNETTE. Is this the inclusion of the ARA areas, the distressed areas? Mr. PERKINS. Mr. Brown. Mr. BROWN. I was going to inquire. You made reference here to an amendment to this. I am trying to find the reference in your statement. Was it the Burdick amendment? Mr. BURNETTE. Yes; Senator Burdick. Mr. BROWN. Do you recall what that amendment did? Mr. BURNETTE. It would make the tribes an official part Mr. BROWN. Does it set up a quota or something of that sort? Mr. BROWN. It just makes specific the fact that they can be included? Mr. BURNETTE. Yes. Mr. BROWN. Well, I am very much interested in insuring that this is true in the bill, and if amendment is necessary, I would certainly be glad to support it. The chairman has said that they are included, and I feel sure that we would all want to make sure that this happens. I will certainly do what I can to make sure that it does. Mr. BURNETTE. Yes, sir. Mr. PERKINS. I would like to put in the record at this point statements from the Honorable Jerome Cavanagh, mayor of Detroit, Hon. Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago, Marydale School, conducted by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd of Indianapolis, Ind., endorsing the legislation, a statement from Paul Apple, supporting the legislation, a statement from Mrs. Sara Alyce Wright, consultant, teenage program, YWCA, supporting the legislation. If there is no objection, these statements will be inserted in the record at this point. (The information follows:) STATEMENT BY HON. JEROME P. CAVANAGH, MAYOR OF DETROIT On February 14 President Kennedy focused the Nation's attention on the problems of youth growing up in the United States. He brought home to all of us the fact that these young people will someday inherit this country that we are now defending and building for them. He pointed out that millions of these youth are not being adequately prepared to step into their future roles as citizens. A shocking 7.5 million youth will drop out of school in the 1960's if present trends continue. This means that almost one-third of our youth will lack even the minimum education necessary to qualify for any job more demanding than semiskilled or unskilled labor; categories that will continue to shrink in the 1960's. If this Nation is to continue as the world's leader in prosperity and growth we cannot neglect to educate and train the youth who will run our country in the years to come. In Detroit we are acutely aware of problems of youth unprepared for future employment. We recognize the need for the programs embodied in S. 1 and H.R. 1890, the Youth Employment Opportunities Act of 1963. We welcome the opportunity to work in cooperation with the Federal Government in putting these programs into effect for the mutual benefit of Detroit and the Nation. Starting in 1965 and continuing until 1975 population statistics show that there will be a dramatic rise in the number of young people entering the national job market each and every year. During the 1960's, we will have 40 percent more persons under 25 years of age entering the labor force than in the 1950's. In 1965, 2.7 million young people will be entering the job market, 600,000 more than in 1960. In the single year of 1968 almost 3 million young people are expected to enter the job market. The problems we are facing in 1963, and have been facing since 1958, are only a preamble to the serious problems that Detroit and the Nation will be facing in 1965 and thereafter. In Detroit there are more than 20,000 unemployed high school dropouts under the age of 21. Another 20,000, or approximately 30 percent of the high school graduates of the last 4 years are unemployed. Let me illustrate the growth of the problem in the city of Detroit with these figures from the Detroit Board of Education. Only 10 years ago, in 1953, over 31,000 work permits were issued to 16- and 17-year-old young people in the city of Detroit. Almost 10,000 of these permits were issued to high school dropouts who had found employment. During 1962, less than 7,500 work permits were issued in the city of Detroit, a decrease of more than 75 percent. Less than 500 of these permits were issued to dropouts, a decrease of 95 percent. In 1953, approximately 7,800 high school graduates in the city of Detroit did not go on to further education and immediately entered the civilian job market. Of this number, 6,600, or approximately 85 percent, obtained employment immediately following their high school graduation. In 1962, approximately 8,500 high school graduates entered the civilian labor market. Of the 1962 graduates, less than 1,500, or approximately 20 percent obtained jobs on their graduation. While the employment situation for the high school graduate is discouraging, the lack of opportunities for the dropout has become critical. Although a start has been made to help the 3 percent of our young people who will become delinquent and a start has been made to help the 10 percent who will be emotionally disturbed during their lifetime, we can no longer overlook the fact that in the next decade about 30 percent of our young people will not have a high school education. Detroit, because of its lead in developing automation techniques and the resulting technical nature of the majority of its job opportunities, is now experiencing a youth unemployment problem that other less technologically advanced areas will experience in coming years. As Dr. Conant states in "Slums and Suburbs,": "In the rural areas, towns and small cities, one might say that solving the unemployment problem of adults has the top priority, but in the slums of the larger cities, I would say the drastic unemployment of male youth under age 21 is the greater need." Detroit's problem is not an isolated one. In the slum section of one major city, Dr. Conant found 50 percent of all male youth were out of school and unemployed. In another major city, in a slum area of 125,000 people, it was found that roughly 70 percent of the boys and girls from 16 to 21 were out of school and unemployed. While Detroit supports the work of the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962, designed to assist our adult unemployed, we must also be aware of the great need for job training for the out-of-school, out-of-work youth that Dr. Conant refers to as social dynamite. Because of the acuteness of the problem of youth unemployment in large urban centers, we are especially enthusiastic about proposals establishing onthe-job training programs and public service employment in the urban setting. The city of Detroit would welcome a wide variety of programs under the sponsorship of Federal, State, and local and community agencies, public and private employers, labor unions, and the assortment of experimental programs which could be established under their auspices. The city of Detroit has always enjoyed the close cooperation and concerted efforts of these agencies for any program promoting the welfare of its citizens. The concern of the Detroit community with its youth unemployment problem can be shown through the long established and successful job upgrading program, under the direction of the Detroit public schools. This program, combining broad community participation and sound principles of training and job placement along with an emphasis on continuing education, has given us great insight into the needs and potential benefits for training the out-of-school, outof-work youth. The city of Detroit sees particular strength in S. 1 and H.R. 1890 insofar as they 1. Place emphasis on training and education. We believe that any public work program for young people should be planned with special regard to its educational quality. We believe that these programs must be organized with the full awareness that they are intimately related to and involve, either specifically in their organization or in close working cooperation, all parts of the school program. Pupils can succeed or fail in their occupations because of their competence in communication, their quantitative thinking, their care of self, their understanding and use of their environment, and their habits and attitudes of citizenship, which can best be learned under the guidance of professional teachers in the school setting; 2. Recognize the need for identifying those programs which will prove most successful in preparing youth for eventual employment in the open competitive labor market. There are several older occupations which, it can be assumed, will continue to offer promising opportunities. However, we must be alert to the occupations which may be disappearing as well as new ones which may be developing; 3. Include high school graduates as well as school dropouts. We are convinced that the high school graduate with no specific skills is, and will remain, seriously handicapped in his employment opportunities; 4. Provide for testing, counseling, job development, placement and referral services which have been recognized as essential to a successful training program; 5. Emphasize setting up of experimental formal and informal training programs, including preapprenticeship programs which are particularly needed in Detroit. A clearly defined, nondiscriminatory selection procedure should be set up to assure Negro youth an avenue to the apprenticeship programs. This is an acute need owing to the present underrepresentation of Negro youth in existing apprenticeship programs. 6. Retain the voluntary nature of these programs although we do not favor the 16-year-old minimum age requirement for resident camp programs. We urge the 17-year-old minimum age requirement for the camp program to eliminate the possible temptation for 16 year olds to drop out of school and enroll in the camp program. We also believe that many 16-year-old youth are not sufficiently emotionally mature to be removed from their home environment. We would stress the fact that this is a program designed for out-of-school, outof-work youth of good character. We would like to see an eligibility provision as described in the Congressional Record, 86th Congress, 1st session, report 536, as stated in the original Humphrey bill, S. 404. This provision would permit youth who had committed minor indiscretions to be admitted, but would exclude those who had committed serious delinquencies unless there was evidence of rehabilitation. This is not a program to rehabilitate delinquents or youthful offenders. This provision is important in retaining the emphasis on the major problem of youth employment. The courts and schools must realize that these programs are not designed to accept their problem youngsters. Other programs designed for this purpose should be available for the disturbed and delinquent youth. This program is not a substitute for school attendance, but rather a supplement to assist youth in entering the world of work. Wherever possible, school completion should be encouraged, prior to the admission to this program. The enactment of S. 1 or H.R. 1890, the Youth Employment Opportunities Act of 1963, while not being a panacea, will be a great stride forward in the direction of solving one of our most crucial problems, that of youth unemployment. No bill affecting youth that will come before Congress this year will have a wider impact on the young people of our Nation than this one. We support S. 1 and H.R. 1890 with the utmost conviction. The human tragedies and economic waste represented by the many thousands of youth unprepared for productive lives can no longer be tolerated. STATEMENT OF MAYOR RICHARD J. DALEY, OF CHICAGO (The Youth Employment Act of 1963, Senate bill No. 1 and House of Representatives bill No. 1890, contains two major provisions-the first of which would establish a Youth Conservation Corps; the second, local area youth employment programs. Both programs will provide work opportunities for unempolyed youth, 16 to 21 years of age.) Many young people today are faced with two major problems which the passage of the Youth Employment Act of 1963 (S. 1; H.R. 1890) would help remedy. First, unemployment hits young people disproportionately hard. Second, many family incomes are not sufficient to maintain young men at home during that crucial period in their lives when they are encountering difficulty in finding the beginning employment which gives necessary work experience. The programs authorized under the Youth Employment Act of 1963 will provide youth with opportunities for training in vocational skills and work discipline and also a sound method for helping young men learn to maintain themselves. Chicago is interested in the passage of any sound legislation which would help youth. Recent studies have estimated that some 18,000 young people, or one-half of the State of Illinois' unemployed youth, are in Chicago. We face, during the next few years, a sharp increase in the number of young men entering the labor force. Projections of data from area high schools show that the number of graduates has increased from about 40,000 in 1950 to 61,000 in 1960, with esti |