Records of the Community Services Administration
(Record Group 381)
1963-81
Table of Contents
- 381.1 Administrative History
- 381.2 Records of the President's Task Force on the War Against Poverty
1964
- 381.3 Headquarters Records of the Office of Economic Opportunity
(OEO)
1963-81
- 381.3.1 Records of the Office of the Deputy Director
- 381.3.2 Records of the Office of the Executive Secretariat
- 381.3.3 Records of the Office of Civil Rights
- 381.3.4 Records of the Office of Public Affairs
- 381.3.5 Records of the Office of the Controller
- 381.3.6 Records of the General Counsel
- 381.3.7 Records of the Office of Private Groups
- 381.3.8 Records of the Office of Administration
- 381.3.8.1 Records of the Personnel Division
- 381.3.8.1 Records of the Personnel Division
- 381.3.9 Records of the Office of Congressional Affairs
- 381.3.9.1 Records of the Private Sector Division
- 381.3.9.1 Records of the Private Sector Division
- 381.3.10 Records of the Office of Operations
- 381.3.11 Records of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
- 381.3.12 Records of the Community Action Program Office
- 381.3.12.1 Records of the Office of the Director
- 381.3.12.1 Records of the Office of the Director
- 381.3.13 Records of the Job Corps
- 381.3.13.1 Records of the Office of the Director
- 381.3.13.2 Records of the Office of Recruitment, Support, and Placement
- 381.3.13.3 Records of the Office for Plans and Programs
- 381.3.13.4 Records of the Office of Civilian Conservation Centers
- 381.3.13.5 Records of the Office of Urban Centers
- 381.3.13.6 Records of the Office of Women's Centers
- 381.3.13.1 Records of the Office of the Director
- 381.3.14 Records of other OEO units
- 381.3.1 Records of the Office of the Deputy Director
- 381.4 Regional Office Records of the Office of Economic Opportunity
1964-80
- 381.5 Headquarters Records of the Community Services Administration
1965-81
- 381.5.1 Records of the Office of the Director
- 381.5.2 Records of the Program Development Office
- 381.5.3 Records of the Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation
- 381.5.4 Records of the Data Processing Division, Office of
Management
- 381.5.5 Records of the Office of Legal Affairs and General
Counsel
- 381.5.6 Records of other CSA units
- 381.5.7 Records relating to the liquidation of the Community
Services Administration
- 381.5.1 Records of the Office of the Director
- 381.6 Regional Office Records of the Community Services Administration
1965-81
- 381.7 Still Pictures (General)
1967-72
Established: As an independent agency by the Headstart, Economic Opportunity, and Community Partnership Act (88 Stat. 2310), January 4, 1975.
Predecessor Agencies:
- Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), Executive Office of the President (1964-75)
Functions: Coordinated and administered federal antipoverty programs.
Abolished: By repeal of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (except titles VIII and X) by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (95 Stat. 519), August 13, 1981.
Successor Agencies: Office of Community Services (OCS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, 1981-86); OCS, Family Support Administration, HHS (1986- ).
Finding Aids: Debra Newman, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Office of Economic Opportunity, PI 188 (1977). Preliminary inventory in National Archives microfiche edition of preliminary inventories.
Related Records: General Records of the Department of Labor, RG 174. General Records of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, RG 235.
381.2 Records of the President's Task Force on the War Against
Poverty
1964
History: Established February 1, 1964, by appointment of Peace Corps Director R. Sargent Shriver to head the task force. Disbanded following President Lyndon B. Johnson's address to Congress, March 16, 1964, calling for the establishment of the Office of Economic Opportunity.
Textual Records: Program suggestions file, 1964.
381.3 Headquarters Records of the Office of Economic Opportunity
(OEO)
1963-81
History: Established in the Executive Office of the President by the Economic Opportunity Act (78 Stat. 508), August 20, 1964. Coordinated the antipoverty programs mandated by the act. On July 6, 1973, Indian programs and comprehensive health services were transferred to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW); migrant and seasonal farm workers' programs were transferred to the Department of Labor; and certain research and development programs were transferred to the Departments of HEW, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development. OEO abolished by the Headstart, Economic Opportunity, and Community Partnership Act (88 Stat. 2310), January 4, 1975, creating the Community Services Administration. See 381.1.
OEO legal services program functions were temporarily vested in CSA until effective date of transfer to the independent Legal Services Corporation, pursuant to the Legal Services Corporation Act (88 Stat. 379), July 25, 1974.
381.3.1 Records of the Office of the Deputy Director
History: The Deputy Director was the principal assistant to the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity.
Textual Records: Reading files, 1966-73. Subject files, 1966-73. Project files, 1965-70.
381.3.2 Records of the Office of the Executive Secretariat
History: The Office of the Executive Secretariat was directed by the Executive Secretary. The Executive Secretary established administrative policies and procedures for the OEO director's office, performed special assignments not normally vested in any of the program offices or other staff offices, developed agenda for top level meetings, served as both liaison and representative for the director, collected and assembled executive information and data, and provided for receipt, control, proper preparation, review, and dispatch of the director's correspondence.
Textual Records: Correspondence, 1967-69.
381.3.3 Records of the Office of Civil Rights
History: From 1964 to 1967 there was a Special Assistant for Civil Rights within the Director's Office of OEO. In 1967 an Assistant Director for Civil Rights (later Human Rights) was appointed to advise the OEO Director on civil rights legislation, and the formulation and implementation of policy.
Textual Records: Alphabetical file of Special Assistant Samuel Yette, 1964-66. Program records, 1964-68. Records relating to OEO regional administration of the civil rights program, 1965-66. Local problem areas file, 1966. Memorandums to regional coordinators, 1965-67.
381.3.4 Records of the Office of Public Affairs
Textual Records: Resource files, 1965-71. General records relating to public reaction to OEO programs, 1965-71. Speeches, public remarks, and press releases, 1964-72. Press clippings, 1964-69. Published guide to OEO antipoverty programs, 1965. Published OEO program accomplishments report, 1967. Histories of OEO during the Johnson administration, 1969 (published), and the Nixon administration, 1973 (unpublished).
Motion Pictures (369 reels): Documentary and training motion pictures produced or acquired by OEO, 1965-72 (327 reels). Farmersville, CA, project, 1967-68 (33 reels). Model police precinct project, 1969-71 (9 reels).
Video Recordings (65 items): "Exercise in Democracy" project interviews, discussions, and summaries, 1969-70, with supporting documentation.
Sound Recordings (835 items): Addresses, interviews, press conferences, training seminars, media broadcasts, and radio programs relating to OEO programs, 1964-73 (517 items). Voices of VISTA radio series, 1965-71 (308 items). VISTA Viewpoint radio series, n.d. (10 items).
381.3.5 Records of the Office of the Controller
Machine-Readable Records (5 data sets): Master file of CAP grantee organizations, 1964-81 (1 data set), with supporting documentation. Account file for approved CAP grants, 1963-81 (4 data sets), with supporting documentation.
Subject Access Terms: Community action programs.
381.3.6 Records of the General Counsel
History: The Office of the General Counsel was responsible for providing legal advice to the director and other senior agency officials concerning the direction and management of the agency and its activities. In 1969 this office absorbed the functions of the Office of Inspection, which conducted investigations, surveys, and inspections of matters in the OEO director's area of responsibility.
Textual Records: Records relating to the President's Task Force in the War Against Poverty, 1963-66. Reports of the Office of Inspection evaluating Community Action, Head Start, Upward Bound, and Neighborhood Youth Corps programs, 1964-67. Inspection and investigative files, 1969-74. Subject and litigation files, 1967-74. Program records of the Legal Opinions Division, 1965-69.
381.3.7 Records of the Office of Private Groups
History: The Office of Private Groups planned and implemented a program to promote participation of national and local private groups in the war on poverty. The Office stimulated support from selected private groups for anti-poverty programs; received and considered suggestions, inquiries, referrals and complaints about operating programs from these groups; provided written material and speakers to groups on anti-poverty programs; maintained records on anti-poverty activities of private groups; provided assistance and advice to groups seeking to develop anti-poverty programs; coordinated activities of community relations staffs in VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), CAP (Community Action Program), and the Job Corps; and provided executive secretariat services to advisory councils such as the Business Advisory Council and the Labor Advisory Council.
Textual Records: Records relating to the Business Leaders Advisory Council, 1965-67.
381.3.8 Records of the Office of Administration
History: The Office of Management (renamed the Office of Administration in 1968) planned, directed, and provided staff support and services for: financial, administrative, and other centralized management functions; and the implementation of Office of Economic Opportunity programs and policies. In the early years, the office was comprised of a Budget and Finance Division, Audit Division, Contracts Division, Personnel Division, Management Analysis Division, and a Management Support Division.
Textual Records: Director's subject files, 1964-70. Expenditure reports, 1969. Office of Economic Opportunity publications, 1964-70. Management Analysis Division summaries of the anti-poverty program, 1965-67, and organizational manuals of each OEO administrative element. Internal affairs subject files of the Personnel Division, 1964-68.
381.3.9 Records of the Office of Congressional Affairs
History: The Office of Congressional Affairs (earlier the Office of Congressional Relations) served as the agency's principal liaison between OEO and Congress. It served as the contact point for OEO in relations with Congress; developed and recommended policies, and issued directives and procedures relative to congressional relationships; coordinated completion of all matters pertaining to existing and proposed legislation, executive orders and proclamations affecting OEO; coordinated proposed legislation, executive orders, proclamations and related reports concerning such matters with committees of Congress, the Bureau of the Budget, and other executive agencies; maintained control of congressional correspondence and cleared as appropriate; maintained liaison with committees and committee staffs in both houses of Congress; briefed OEO officials on strategies to be used in presenting testimony before congressional committees; and maintained legislative historical records.
381.3.9.1 Records of the Private Sector Division
History: The Private Sector Division planned and implemented a program to promote and coordinate the participation of national and local private groups in the war on poverty. It stimulated support from selected private groups for anti-poverty programs; received and considered suggestions, inquiries, referrals and complaints about operating programs from these groups; provided written material and speakers to groups on anti-poverty programs; maintained records on anti-poverty activities of private groups; provided assistance and advice to groups seeking to develop anti-poverty programs; coordinated activities of community relations staffs in the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) Program, the Community Action Program (CAP), and the Job Corps Program; and provided executive secretariat services to advisory councils such as Business Advisory Council and Labor Advisory Council.
Textual Records: Program records, 1970-71.
381.3.10 Records of the Office of Operations
History: In February 1969, supervision of the Community Action Programs was taken over by the Office of Operations, which gave executive direction, guidance, and support to the Office of Economic Opportunity regional offices in order to ensure that the programs were in compliance with the law and operated effectively and efficiently. The Office of Operations had relevant planning, analytical, budgeting, and fiscal control functions; coordinated relations between the regional offices and state and local governments; monitored regional operations; and evaluated regional programs. It also managed the Indian, migrant, and seasonal workers' programs.
Textual Records: Compilations from 1970 census fourth-count (socioeconomic) tapes (Putnam summary), 1970. "Dimensions of Poverty in 1964," Part II, 1965. "Preliminary Profile of the 1965 Poor by OEO Region and Nationally," 1968. Family income dynamics study, 1970-72. Tabulations of current population survey, 1970- 73, and low income neighborhoods in large cities, 1973. Director's subject files, 1969-72. Records of the director relating to Indian programs and to migrant workers' programs, 1965-72. Planning Systems Division press clippings file, 1968-69. Records of the Regional Operations Division, consisting of confidential evaluations of legal services offices, 1968-73. Records of the Indian Division, consisting of general correspondence, 1967-70; budget estimates, 1968-69; grant correspondence and evaluations, 1965-71; records relating to economic development, 1968-69; technical assistance and evaluation contract case files, 1969-71; and grant files, 1965-69. Migrant Division grant files, 1966-71. Field Coordination Division model cities progress reports, 1969-70. Policy Research Division grant profiles, 1965-72. Policy Development and Review Division correspondence, 1970-72, and program subject files, 1967-72.
Maps (199 items): Published maps showing major concentrations of urban poverty areas, 1966 (198 items). OEO regional offices and boundaries, ca. 1974 (1 item).
Machine-Readable Records (126 data sets): "Putnam File" and "Putnam Aggregate File," documenting racial and demographic characteristics of poverty, 1965 (2 data sets), with supporting documentation. Records of the State and Local Government Division, consisting of federal agency expenditures, 1968-74 (24 data sets), with supporting documentation. County and state poverty statistics from the 1970 census ("Ten Tables"), 1972-74 (53 data sets), with supporting documentation. Leadership and Education for the Advancement of Phoenix (LEAP): Poverty Neighborhoods in 105 Large Central Cities, a 1970 census special tabulation, 1970 (46 data sets), with supporting documentation. Older persons program survey ("TOPPS"), October 1971 (1 data set), with supporting documentation.
Subject Access Terms: Aged; community action agencies; employment; poverty; transfer programs.
381.3.11 Records of the Office of Planning, Research, and
Evaluation
Textual Records: Subject file, 1965-72. Chronological correspondence, 1964-71. Subject file of Director Thomas Glennan, 1969-70. Research papers, 1965-68. Research reports, 1966-72.
Machine-Readable Records (5 data sets): "Survey of Economic Opportunity," 1967 (1 data set), with supporting documentation. Experiment in performance contracting, 1970-72 (4 data sets), with supporting documentation.
Related Records: Beginning Teacher Evaluation Survey in RG 419, Records of the National Institute of Education. Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Survey in RG 235, General Records of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Sustaining Effects Study in RG 12, Records of the Office of Education.
Subject Access Terms: Educational testing; education; employment; income; minorities; poverty.
381.3.12 Records of the Community Action Program Office
History: The Community Action Program Office was responsible for the Community Action Program (CAP), which called for inviting local communities to establish new organizations or designate old ones as community action agencies, called CAAs. The CAAs were charged with mobilizing local resources for a comprehensive attack on poverty, by providing new services to the poor; coordinating all federal state, and local programs dealing with the poor; and promoting institutional change in the interests of the poor.
On October 3, 1964, Congress appropriated $800 million to launch the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), including $300 million for community action. By June 1965, 415 CAAs were in existence; a year later, more than 1,000. Although 80 percent of the CAAs were private nonprofit corporations, elected public officials took the initiative in forming more of them. The bulk of CAP's money went to the 100 or so biggest cities.
In February 1965, CAP issued its Community Action Program Guide which urged mayors not to pack CAA governing boards with political hacks and to accord the poor some measure of power in the new program. Later, CAP directives sought to assure the poor a voice by mandating decentralization of local poverty programs. CAAs were asked to identify target neighborhoods with heavy concentrations of poor people, to authorize residents in them to choose neighborhood advisory councils, and to empower the councils not only to influence programs in their own area, but also to choose the representatives of the poor for citywide CAA boards.
In March 1965 CAP published its Community Action Workbook which provided suggestions for involving the poor in the poverty programs, and called for communities to help the poor acquire political power. One way this could be done, the Workbook suggested, was by community organizing, that is, through using trained workers to help the poor form "autonomous and self-managed organizations which are competent to exert political influence on behalf of their own self-interest."
To assist the poor to empower themselves, research and demonstration projects--which could be initiated without the permission of local governments or their designated CAAs--were begun in 1965. The Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) permitted CAP to spend up to 15% of its appropriation for these projects.
The Office of Economic Opportunity's efforts to provide, as the EOA specified, "maximum feasible participation of the poor" sometimes led to open conflicts with control elements in the city governments. Local governments were often antagonized because the mayors had no veto of CAA projects, but also because, initially, the CAAs were not required to collaborate with city and county governments. Local governments' dissatisfaction with the independent CAAs ultimately led to the enactment of a 1967 amendment to the Office of Economic Opportunity Act that provided that the CAA be a state or local government, political subdivision of a state, or a combination of such subdivisions, or a public or private nonprofit organization designated by the state or local government, subject only to a provision that other public or private agencies could be designated as a CAA by the director if no CAA organization had been created pursuant to this provision or if the local government organization designated as a CAA was failing to meet its responsibilities. The amendment also required that one-third of the members of CAA board be public officials (Public Law 90-222, 81 Stat. 691-692).
Despite the Office of Economic Opportunity's formal commitment to localism, most CAP service programs were not originated by local CAAs to suit local circumstances, but were so-called "national emphasis programs," prepackaged by the Office of Economic Opportunity and administered according to federal guidelines. CAP sponsored 70 Comprehensive Community Health Centers--one-stop clinics--located in target areas. In 1971, these centers treated an estimated one million patients. CAP's Upward Bound program attempted to provide low-income teenagers with the skills and motivation they needed to attend college. Some 70,000 teenagers participated in this program during its first four years. CAP funded birth control programs for 320 CAAs, which dispensed information and supplies in 1970 to upwards of 400,000 women.
CAP also "conceived two national emphasis programs that ranked among the most imaginative and useful antipoverty programs of the decade-Head Start and Legal Services." Begun in the summer of 1965 as a crash program for preschoolers from poor families, Head Start became a year-round program eventually serving 400,000 children annually. CAP's Legal Service Program opened law offices staffed by 2,000 lawyers in slum communities throughout the nation. These lawyers were expected by the Office of Economic Opportunity to initiate class-action suits to compel equitable treatment of the poor by public and private institutions. Legal Services lawyers challenged public-housing authorities, urban-renewal agencies, welfare departments, the police, and slumlords. They forced the state of California to restore medical benefits to 1.5 million persons who were poor or old; won a case in a U.S. circuit court to allow tenants to withhold rent from landlords who refused to correct dangerous or unsanitary conditions; and persuaded the Supreme Court to throw out the "man-in-house" regulation that deprived 400,000 children of welfare benefits.
381.3.12.1 Records of the Office of the Director
History: The Director of the Community Action Program (CAP) planned and directed programs to assist communities in carrying out projects which mobilized and utilized public and private resources in efforts to eliminate poverty. The CAP director and deputy director collaborated with other OEO offices and government agencies in planning a coordinated attack on poverty at the community level; evaluated the effectiveness of community action programs; worked with state and local public and private groups to achieve effective community action; and reported to the OEO director on the status of community action programs.
Textual Records: Executive correspondence, 1964-69. State files, 1965-68. Subject files, 1965-69. Audit and evaluation files, 1965-67. Narrative progress reports, 1966-67. Research and demonstration project report files, 1966-71.
Maps (75 items): Community action agency atlas, 1971.
381.3.135 Records of the Job Corps
History: The Job Corps was authorized by the Economic Opportunity Act of August 20, 1964 (Public Law 88-452, 78 Stat. 508). It began, under the auspices of the Office of Economic Opportunity, to serve disadvantaged youth in January 1965. The broad objectives, general target population, and basic environmental structure were established by the Economic Opportunity Act, which said the Job Corps was "to prepare for the responsibilities of citizenship and to increase the employability of young men and young women, aged sixteen through twenty-one, by providing them in rural and urban residential centers with education, vocational training, useful work experience, including work directed toward the conservation of natural resources and other appropriate activities." (Title I, Part A, Section 101).
The initial goal of the program was to recruit 100,000 youth who either had little or no income or were members of a low-income family, who required additional education, training, or intensive counselling and related assistance in order to secure and hold meaningful employment, participate successfully in regular schoolwork, qualify for other training programs suitable for their needs, or satisfy armed forces requirements. Once recruited, Job Corps policymakers then proposed to remove these youth from slum environments and then place them in structured residential facilities where the Job Corps could prepare them for the responsibilities of citizenship and increase their employability by providing them with education, vocational training, and useful work experience. Training was to take place either in urban centers or in rural conservation camps where the least literate would receive basic education and work experience.
Office of Economic Opportunity Director Sargent Shriver launched the Job Corps with a major promotional drive to attract recruits. So successful was the effort that by mid-1965 the Job Corps had received 300,000 applications for the then available 10,000 positions. Although the number of positions climbed to over 40,000, the 100,000 goal was dropped because Congress in 1966 capped the program at 45,000 enrollees.
The men's and women's urban centers were located in or near metropolitan areas and were operated under contracts with private corporations, colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Often there were contractual relations among these various groups. The men's centers accommodated from 1,300 to 3,000 enrollees, while the women's centers accommodated from 170 to 700 enrollees. These urban centers offered specialized vocational training, educational and citizenship training, and trained corpswomen in family responsibilities. They also attempted to offer a wide range of enrichment experiences designed to develop self-confidence and intellectual curiosity.
Demonstration centers were established in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C. and several other locations. In those centers attempts were made to test a wide range of education, vocational training, and residential living ideas under carefully controlled conditions.
In an effort to ensure enactment of the Economic Opportunity Act, Sargent Shriver met with conservationists and assured them that at least 40% of the Job Corps workers would be used on conservation projects, drawing on the practice of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the Depression era. These Job Corps youth conservation centers (later termed Job Corps civilian conservation centers) accommodated from 100 to 250 corpsmen, were located on public land, and were operated by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Land Reclamation, the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wild Life, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A few of the centers were operated by state conservation agencies. Between 1965 and 1968, these centers performed conservation work worth $56 million to the nation. Corpsmen built and maintained 4,900 miles of roads, thousands of picnic tables, fireplaces, and parking spaces. They developed and improved 76 miles of fishing streams and 16,500 acres of fish and wildlife habitat. They planted 15,900 acres of trees and shrubs, and improved and reforested 12,800 acres of timber.
In June 1967 there were 10 men's centers (16,500 capacity), 17 women's centers (9,300 capacity), 83 federal Conservation centers (14,500 capacity), 9 state conservation centers (1,200 capacity), and 8 demonstration centers (1,000 capacity). At the time there were 31,570 men and 9,430 women enrolled.
Nearly two-thirds of the enrollees quit before completing the typical six-to-nine month course, and nearly half of the enrollees left during the first three months because of homesickness and failure to adjust. By the spring of 1969, 223,000 young people had joined the Job Corps. Of that number 103,000 had been placed in jobs, 13,000 had gone back to school, and 17,000 had joined the armed forces. Studies indicate that six months after leaving the Job Corps, 28 percent of the graduates were unemployed and only one-third had jobs related to their training.
During the 1968 Presidential election campaign, Richard Nixon attacked the Job Corps as a failure. A congressionally-ordered General Accounting Office survey ("Review of Economic Opportunity Programs") reported in 1969 that the billion dollars spent on the program since 1964 had been largely wasted, and questioned the usefulness of the Job Corps training.
When the Nixon Administration took office in 1969, it set about to change the Job Corps by reducing its size and de-emphasizing its visibility. The latter was accomplished by shifting the program authority from the Office of Economic Opportunity to the Department of Labor on July 1, 1969. On that day, the Job Corps was placed in the Department of Labor's Manpower Administration, and the new Secretary of Labor began phasing out more than half of the 113 Job Corps training centers and integrating the Job Corps more thoroughly into a comprehensive manpower system. But despite the cutbacks, the Department of Labor recognized the validity of Job Corps residential training for underprivileged youth. Unlike other manpower programs, the Job Corps provided round-the-clock training and supervision that could help young people who came from severely deprived backgrounds. Thus, the Job Corps survived during the Nixon Administration, mainly by working through new residential manpower centers and residential support centers that recruited, trained, supported, and placed youth in their home area (thereby abandoning the away-from-home community assignment policy), and also by utilizing training resources from existing manpower programs. Thus, the work programs at the conservation centers were redirected in 1970 to be fully supportive of the vocational training programs. All work projects were to provide appropriate skills training while accomplishing conservation work.
Textual Records: Policy, planning, and program records, 1963-66.
381.3.13.1 Records of the Office of the Director
History: The Director of the Job Corps provided broad direction and supervision for all aspects of the Job Corps program. The immediate Office of the Director consisted of the Director, Deputy Director, Special Assistants, a Labor Liaison Specialist, an Administrative Office, and a Congressional Liaison Staff.
Textual Records: Subject, decimal, reading, and correspondence files of Director Otis A. Singletary, 1964-65. Subject, correspondence, and Job Corps Center files of Director Franklyn A. Johnson, 1965-66. Subject and reading files of Deputy Director David Squire, 1965-66. College and university file, 1964. OEO inspection reports, 1965-69. Budget records, 1965-71. Records of the Special Assistants to the Director, 1965-69. Records of the Labor Liaison Specialist, 1965-69. Records of the Administrative Office, consisting of staffing and personnel records, descriptions of Job Corps centers, and publications and directives files, 1964-1971. Records of the Congressional Liaison Staff, 1963-69. Records of the Health Office, 1966-72.
381.3.13.2 Records of the Office for Recruitment, Support, and Placement
History: The Office for Recruitment, Support, and Placement was responsible for establishing policy and procedures for recruitment, screening, selection, assignment, support services, facilities, materials, transportation, and placement activities as they related to the overall Job Corps program and the individual enrollee.
Textual Records: Associate Director's reading file, 1968-69, and subject file, 1965-70. Correspondence, memorandums, studies, reports, and other records relating to surveys conducted by contractor Louis Harris and Associates to determine the effectiveness of the Job Corps in placing its enrollees once they had left the program, and to evaluate the successes and problems of the Job Corps, 1967-69. Records of the Enrolle Support Division, 1965-71. Records of the Enrolle Placement Division, 1965-67.
381.3.13.3 Records of the Office for Plans and Programs
History: The Office For Plans and Programs provided overall direction and supervision of Job Corps activities relating to long-range planning, budget requirements, financial management, and computer programming. The office also assisted in the development and implementation of programs and training courses for Job Corps centers and their staffs.
Textual Records: Associate Director's subject file, 1965-68. Job Corps publications, 1964-69. Records of the Program Development Division, 1964-69. Records of the Plans and Evaluation Division, 1963-73. Records of the Financial Management Division, 1964-70.
381.3.13.4 Records of the Office of Civilian Conservation Centers
History: The Office of Civilian Conservation Centers planned, managed, and developed policies and procedures covering the operation of Job Corps conservation centers and their programs; developed and reviewed proposals for establishing new centers; implemented existing agreements with federal and state conservation agencies, and then provided continuing liaison with these agencies; and evaluated the civilian conservation centers program performance by the measure of its own policies, objectives, standards, requirements, and overall program design. The Office also supervised the planning and operations of state-related and demonstration conservation centers.
Textual Records: Conservation centers case files, 1965-69. Records of the Program Development and Evaluation Division, 1964-66. Records of the Staff Development and Training Division, 1965-66.
381.3.13.5 Records of the Office of Urban Centers
History: The Office of Urban Centers planned, directed, supervised, and evaluated Job Corps programs and activities carried on in contractor operated residential urban centers for men and women enrollees. Specifically, the office oversaw center activations, center administration, educational and vocational training, counseling, enrollee housing, subsistence and control, and residential living. It developed policy recommendations and, when necessary, modified the urban centers program to meet changing objectives and requirements of the Job Corps as a whole. The office was abolished in 1966, and its Men's Centers Division and Women's Centers Division became the Job Corps' Office of Men's Centers and Office of Women's Centers, respectively.
Textual Records: Correspondence, 1965-66. Policy memorandums, 1965-67. Subject files, 1964-66. Records of the Program Services Division, including correspondence, subject files, center inspection files, and records of the Proposal Review Board, 1964-66.
381.3.13.6 Records of the Office of Women's Centers
History: The Office of Women's Centers (which was a division within the Office of Urban Centers until 1966) planned, monitored, and supervised the operations and programs of the contractor-operated Job Corps training centers for women. The Office analyzed, reviewed, and evaluated contractor proposals for operational feasibility and practicality; directed the overall implementation of the approved contract work statements for each women's training center, and made recommendations for changes as necessary. It also developed operations policy and formulated budget requirements for the centers.
Textual Records: Associate Director's subject file, 1966-68. Center liaison files, 1965-67. Records of the Program Management Division, consisting of women's training centers instructions, 1965-66; and budget and financial operations files, 1964-67. Records of the Field Operations Division, consisting of statistical reports, 1967-70; project managers' subject files, 1966-68; and center case files, 1966-68.
381.3.14 Records of other OEO units
Textual Records: Subject files of the Office of Government Relations, 1969-73. Records of the Information Center, consisting of tabulations of poverty characteristics in Appalachia, 1960, and "Community Profile" compilations, 1967.
Related Records: Reference copies of "Community Profiles" are filed with the appropriate regional archives of the National Archives.
381.4 Regional Office Records of the Office of Economic
Opportunity
1964-80
381.4.1 Records of Region IV, Atlanta, GA
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Records of the Community Action Program, including program correspondence, 1966-71; Anti-Poverty Program evaluations, 1967-71; impact evaluations, 1978-80; and Head Start evaluation reports, 1965-66.
381.4.2 Records of Region V, Chicago, IL
Textual Records (in Chicago): Administrative correspondence files of the regional director and deputy director, 1970-71.
381.4.3 Records of Region VII, Kansas City, MO
Textual Records (in Kansas City): Correspondence and other records of the regional director, 1964-75. Records of the Office of Public Affairs, 1965-70. Records of the Office of Legal Services, 1968-73.
381.4.4 Records of Region IX, San Francisco, CA
Textual Records (in San Francisco): Records of the Management and Financial Services Branch, consisting of CAP management files, 1968-69; CAP grantee operations files, 1968-69; grants monitoring section files, 1967-69; and community management improvement program reports, 1968-69.
381.5 Headquarters Records of the Community Services
Administration
1965-81
History: The Community Services Administration was established by the Headstart, Economic Opportunity, and Community Partnership Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 2291) as the successor to the Office of Economic Opportunity. The agency's purpose was to assist low and near-low income families and individuals, including persons of limited English speaking ability to attain the skills, knowledge, and motivations, and opportunities needed to become fully self-sufficient. The agency's programs were available to the poor in both urban and rural areas. The basic technique of the Community Services Administration's antipoverty programs was the combined use of federal, state, and local funds in the organization and operation of community action type programs which were directed and overseen by locally selected boards.
381.5.1 Records of the Office of the Director
Textual Records: Subject File, 1976-81. Correspondence, 1975-80. Correspondence of CSA Director Graciela Olivarez and Deputy Director William W. Allison, 1977-81. Reports, 1978-79.
381.5.2 Records of the Program Development Office
Textual Records: Instructions, 1965-80. Records of the Energy Team, 1974-78.
381.5.3 Records of the Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation
Textual Records: Central files, chronological correspondence, and memorandums, 1977-81. Records relating to agency objectives and operational plans, 1978-81. Records of Assistant Director Robert Landmann, 1978-79. Subject files, reports, and other records of the Evaluation Research Division, 1977-81. Correspondence and other records of the Policy Analysis Division, 1977-81.
381.5.4 Records of the Data Processing Division, Office of
Management
Machine-Readable Records (40 data sets): Federal agency outlays at the state and county level, 1974-80 (32 data sets), with supporting documentation. Federal assistance award data system (FAADS), 1980-81 (8 data sets), with supporting documentation.
381.5.5 Records of the Office of Legal Affairs and General
Counsel
Textual Records: Central files, 1973-81. Records of Assistant Director Frank Jones, 1976-80. Records of the General Law Division, 1976-81. Records of the Litigation Division relating to a grant to the Hahnemann Hospital, Philadelphia, 1973-81, and to charges against James H. Cossingham, 1978-79.
381.5.6 Records of other CSA units
Textual Records: Records and memorandums of Diane Elliott, Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, 1977-81. Newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, speeches, and other records of the Office of Public Affairs, 1975-81.
Machine-Readable Records (1 data set): Index to 1964-81 CSA library materials, n.d., with supporting documentation.
381.5.7 Records relating to the liquidation of the Community
Services Administration
Textual Records: Records of CSA transition/termination task forces, 1981. Reports on CSA transition plans and closeout of CSA, 1981. Subject files relating to transition and closeout, 1981. Records relating to grants and to the CSA block grant transition plan, 1981.
381.6 Regional Office Records of the Community Services
Administration
1965-81
381.6.1 Records of Region I, Boston, MA
Textual Records (in Boston): Chronological (reading) files of the regional director, the regional counsel, and the Boston regional office, 1976-81. Regional director's correspondence relating to associations of community action program directors, 1976-77. Correspondence of the Office of the Regional Counsel relating to approval of agency bylaws and articles of incorporation, 1976-81.
381.6.2 Records of Region IV, Atlanta, GA
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Records of the Regional Director, 1977.
381.6.3 Records of Region VII, Kansas City, MO
Textual Records (in Kansas City): Record set of OEO/CSA regional publications, 1965-81.
381.6.4 Records of Region VIII, Denver, CO
Textual Records (in Denver): Regional Director's correspondence, 1977-81, and records relating to program planning and evaluation, 1977-81.
381.6.5 Records of Region X, Seattle, WA
Textual Records (in Seattle): Correspondence of the regional director with Multnomah County, OR, School District No. 1 regarding application for Project Head Start, 1965. Correspondence and reports of the Seattle-King County, WA, Economic Opportunity Board, 1965-69.
381.7 Still Pictures (General)
1967-72
Posters: Advertising or recruiting for programs sponsored by the OEO, including VISTA, Job Corps, CAP, Headstart, and Foster Grandparents, 1967-72 (PX, 69 images).
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.
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