Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Special Service for Groups records
- Dates:
- 1948-1983
- Creators:
- Special Service for Groups, Inc.
- Abstract:
- This small collection of reports, correspondence, and studies, documents the activities of Special Service for Groups, 1948-1983. Included are documents describing the history of the organization, independent evaluations of the work of the agency's social workers, documentation for an agency study, and various reports and research papers.
- Extent:
- 0.21 linear ft. 1 box
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder# or item name], Special Service for Groups records, Collection no. 0457, California Social Welfare Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This small collection of reports, correspondence, and studies, documents the activities of Special Service for Groups, 1948-1983. Included are documents describing the history of the organization, independent evaluations of the work of the agency's social workers, documentation for an agency study, and various reports and research papers.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Originally founded in 1945 as the Special Service Unit of the Los Angeles Youth Project, Special Service for Groups was incorporated in March 1952 on the recommendation of the Welfare Planning Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles. Its purpose was to provide direct leadership of professional social workers working with teenage gangs and delinquent youth.
In 1943, the Los Angeles "Zoot Suit Riots" called attention to the need for more adequate service to youth in the city's growing urban areas. Eleven agencies approached the Welfare Planning Council seeking funds that would allow for the hiring of additional workers to provide more adequate services to these areas, where teenage delinquency was rampant. Out of this initial request grew the Los Angeles Youth Project. Initial priorities were established, including intensified work with "pre-delinquents" and delinquent youth. Early efforts were not entirely successful, and in 1945 a special Delinquency Committee was appointed, with members coming from a wide variety of agencies. The Committee directed its attention to neighborhoods in which agencies were not making progress and in which they saw the greatest need for specialized social workers. The Commitee's first recommendation was the establishment of a Special Service Unit to be set up within the Youth Project. Its primary function would be the development of a group work program for gangs and delinquent youth, and to consult with agencies in the development of these programs. By 1952, it was recognized that the Unit had demonstrated its effectiveness and thus should become a separate agency. The name was changed to Special Service for Groups, and a board of Directors elected.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- 2011 May
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2011-08-05T03:37-0700
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Advance notice required for access.
- Terms of access:
-
The use of archival materials for on-site research does not constitute permission from the California Social Welfare Archives to publish them. Copyright has not been assigned to the California Social Welfare Archives, and the researcher is instructed to obtain permission from the copyright holder to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder# or item name], Special Service for Groups records, Collection no. 0457, California Social Welfare Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
- Location of this collection:
-
Special CollectionsDoheny Memorial Library, Room 209Los Angeles, CA 90089-0411, US
- Contact:
- (213) 740-5900