Finding aid for the Neighborhood Adult Participation Project records 0488

Finding aid prepared by Sue Luftschein
USC Libraries Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California, 90089-0189
213-740-5900
specol@usc.edu
2011 August


Title: Neighborhood Adult Participation Project records
Collection number: 0488
Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 1.25 Linear feet 4 boxes
Date: 1962-1976, undated
Abstract: 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.
creator: Jones, Opal C., (Opal Christopher)
creator: Neighborhood Adult Participation Project (Los Angeles, Calif.).

Related Archival Materials

Economic and Youth Opportunities Agency of Greater Los Angeles records, Collection no. 0473, California Social Welfare Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Scope and Content

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. 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, in forms, memorandums, and reports, some of the dissatisfaction felt by the NAPP communities with the past performance of professional social workers; the organizational problems that this project, dispersed over a dozen or more "outposts" across the county, experienced; and the personnel difficulties it encountered, including conflicts between Mexican American and African American groups. Of particular interest is the file of correspondence and memorandums that document the termination of the Boyle Heights Outpost director, Gabriel Yanez.

Historical note

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.

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder# or item name], Neighborhood Adult Participation Project records, Collection no. 0488, California Social Welfare Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

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 to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections from the copyright holder.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Jones, Opal C., (Opal Christopher) -- Archives
Neighborhood Adult Participation Project (Los Angeles, Calif.). -- Archives
Clippings
Correspondence
Employees--Training of--California--Los Angeles County--Archival resources
Los Angeles (Calif.)--Social conditions--Archival resources
Memorandums
Minutes
Nonprofit organizations--California--Los Angeles County--History--Archival resources
Social group work--California--Los Angeles County--Archival resources
Social workers--California--Los Angeles County--Archival resources

Box 1, Folder 1

Correspondence, anouncements 1965

Box 1, Folder 2

First progress report 1965

Scope and Content

Issued by the Youth Opportunities Board.
Box 1, Folder 3-4

Correspondence, progress reports, minutes 1966

Box 1, Folder 5

Correspondence re conflict between Hispanic/Latino and African American participants 1966

Scope and Content

Primarily concerning termination of Boyle Heights Outpost director, Gabriel Yanez.
Box 1, Folder 6

Correspondence, reports, minutes 1967-1968

Box 1, Folder 7

"The Politics of the War on Poverty in Los Angeles" by Francis M. Carney and John W. Reuss, UC Riverside 1967 June

Box 1, Folder 8

Training materials, reports 1967-1971

Box 1, Folder 9

Reports from other organizations 1960s-1970s

Scope and Content

Solomon Kobrin, Youth Studies Center, USC. "Patterns and Problems of Leadership in Neighborhood Action"; Harold H. Weissman and Henry Heifetz, "Changing Program Emphases of Settlement Houses".
Box 1, Folder 10

Application for funding, "College-School District Cooperative Program in Staff Training for Community Awareness and Problem_Solving: A Suburban Model," Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Claremont, CA 1971 January 29

Scope and Content

Edited draft.
Box 2, Folder 1

Reports, charts, agendas 1965-1974

Box 2, Folder 2

Participant/employee training materials 1960s-1970s

Box 2, Folder 3

Politically oriented materials 1970-1976

Box 3

Training materials, reports, proposals 1965-1970

Box 4

Budgets, reports, studies 1962-1968, undated

Scope and Content

Compilation of NAPP materials presented to Emita Armi, Los Angeles Area Federation of Settlement and Neighborhood Centers; draft of proposal for extension of project; compilation of NAPP materials; "The Mobility of NAPP Aides: A Research Study"; 1968 budget. Also includes "Study of Avalon-Slauson Area" produced by the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers and the Community Chest of Los Angeles Area (1962).