The Neighborhood Adult Participation Project (NAPP) records consist of correspondence, reports, and training materials, 1962-1976 and undated, that document the founding and activities of this Office of Economic Opportunity-funded project. Founded in April 1965, the project was initially funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity and originally overseen by the Los Angeles Economic and Youth Opportunities Agency; by 1976 it was the largest and oldest poverty program in Los Angeles County. NAPP began operations as a Community Action Program funded under Title II of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, with the primary purpose of providing training and employment opportunities for adults in ten poverty areas identified by the Los Angeles Welfare Planning Council. The bulk of the collection consists of booklets and manuals written by executive director Opal C. Jones that were used as orientation and training materials for NAPP employees. In addition to the training activities of NAPP, the records document some of the administrative and personnel difficulties that plagued the organization in its early years.

The Neighborhood Adult Participation Project (NAPP) was founded in April 1965 at the Avalon Center in Watts; Opal C. Jones was the project's first executive director. Initially funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity and originally overseen by the Los Angeles Economic and Youth Opportunities Agency, NAPP had become by 1976 the largest and oldest poverty program in Los Angeles County, delivering services to over 50,000 residents each year at 14 community centers. NAPP began operations as a Community Action Program funded under Title II of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, with the primary purpose of providing training and employment opportunities for adults in ten poverty areas identified by the Los Angeles Welfare Planning Council. The project was one of the first and most ambitious "War On Poverty" programs in Los Angeles County. Apart from its employment component, NAPP was designed to conform with the federal edict of "maximum feasible participation" of the poor themselves by using thousands of previously unemployed "indigenous neighborhood residents," called NAPP aides, as trainee community workers in an effort to bootstrap up from poverty both aides and the communities they served.

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