Program content in three groups of teenager girls: An analysis of records from special service unit of the Los Angeles Youth Project

92 Pages·05.151 MB·English

by  King, Ruby Lee

PROGRAM CONTENT IN THREE GROUPS OF TEENAGE GIRLS
AN ANALYSIS OF RECORDS FROM SPECIAL SERVICE UNIT
OF THE LOS ANGELES YOUTH PROJECT
A Thesis
Presented to
The Faculty of the School of Social Work
The U niversity of Southern C alifo rn ia
In P a rtia l F u lfillm en t
of the Requirements fo r the Degree
M aster of Social Work
by
Ruby Lee King
June, 1951
UMI Number: EP66435
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This thesis} written under the direction of the
candidate’s Faculty Committee and approved
by all its membersj has been presented to and
accepted by the Faculty of the School of Social
Work in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK
Dean
Date.
Thesis of Ru]&. Lee, King.
Faculty Committee
Chairman
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I . INTRODUCTION........................................ 1
Statem ent of P ro b lem .......................................... 1
Los Angeles Youth P ro je c t.......................... . . . 3
Special Service U nit ................................................... 5
I I . PROGRAM CONTENT IN SOCIAL GROUP WORK . . . . 13
Program Planning .............................................................. 13
D efin itio n of Program C ontent..................... 13
Role of Social Group Worker in Program
C o n t e n t ................................................................... 15
Developmental needs of Teenagers ................... 16
Program Content as R elated to the
Developmental needs of Teenagers . . . . 18
Social D an cin g ......................................................... 18
P a r t i e s .................................................. 19
P reparation of F o o d ................................... . 20
T rips . 20
P h o to g ra p h y .............................................................. 20
D isc u ss io n ................................................................... 20
G am es............................................................................... 21
I I I . ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM CONTENT IN THREEG ROUPS . 23
A. The Willow C l u b .......................... 23
B. Santa R o s i t a s .......................................................... *fl
C. Hoover Park G irls ........................................... 52
iii
CHAPTER PAGE
IV. SUMMARYA ND CONCLUSION ............................ 6b
BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . ............................................................................. 71
73
APPENDIX.....................................................................................................
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
During i t s early developm ent, so cial group work was
o ften a c tiv ity centered. The w orkers were concerned w ith !
keeping group members busy through r,p u ttin g over*1 or
"p u ttin g on" a program. Since th a t tim e program content
has been accepted and used as a means to an end and not an
end w ith in i ts e l f , j
W ithin rec en t years the so cial group w orkers and
o th ers have expressed concern and in te re s t in programming
as a process and have p a rtic ip a te d in more s c ie n tific
stu d ies to answer some of th e ir many questions.
1 i
i According to Miss W ilson and Miss Rylandt 1
There are three p rin c ip le elem ents in the programm- ;
ing process: the members, the so cial group worker and
the program content. Each of these elem ents, however, j
has many components. The members have th e ir in te re s ts
and th e ir special a b ilitie s , th e ir re la tio n sh ip w ith I
each o th er and w ith the w orker, th e ir p a rtic u la r norms |
and values as re la te d to th e ir fam ily and community i
lif e ; the worker has h is p ro fessio n al knowledge and 1
s k ill, h is sp ecial a b ilitie s , h is re la tio n sh ip w ith th e |
members, h is ro le as the rep re se n ta tiv e of the agency 1
and as the bearero f the values and norms of the agency ■
and of so ciety as a whole; the program content has i t s i
in h eren t p o te n tia litie s fo r m eeting the needs and in -
! te re s ts of the members and fo r m aintaining or changing
\ the norms and values of the groups, the community and
so ciety . . .
J
: 1 G ertrude W ilson and Gladys Ryland, Social Group
■ Work P ractice (New York: Houghton M ifflin Company, 19% ) ,
. $ :
p i b
In th is th e sis one elem ent of the p ro cess, program
content is analyzed. The reasons fo r th is are expressed
in the words of H arleigh Trecker when he said:
i . . . In actu al work a ll these are in te rre la te d and
! alm ost in d istin g u ish ab le. The group worker does n o t
say; now I am discovering in te re s ts ; now I am tra n s­
la tin g these in te re s ts in to needs; now I am going to
organize; now I am working in the realm of group d is­
cussion. Rather he recognizes th a t a ll these are sub­
p a rts of the whole and are in h eren t in the group work
process. We look a t them sep arately a t th is p o in t
. sim ply because by slowing down the process— even stop­
ping i t m om entarily—we see more deeply in to the Inner
| working of the group.
; Program content has been recognized as an im portant
!
Itool in so cial group work. As an in te rg ra tin g fa c to r i t
I
'has supplied a center fo r the organizatio n of youth agen-
jcies and groups.-^
i
The p ro fessio n al so cial group w orkers are eager to
;have more knowledge and understanding of program content
!and i t p o te n tia litie s . Such knowledge helps them d e te r-
imine the program content groups can b e st u tiliz e and how
i
!i;t m eets th e ir basic needs and in te re s ts . The groups
| served b e n e fit from the knowledge by receiving enriched
'group experiences.
j
1 I t is e sse n tia l th a t ad m in istrato rs, and o th ers
2 H arleigh B. T recker, Social Group Work (Hew York:
Woman’s P ress, 1948), p. 112.
3 W ilson and Hyland, op. c i t . . p. 157.
3
instrum ental in developing agency program s, also have ac­
cess to stu d ies on program content. This inform ation helps
them in te rp re t more adequately to agency hoards and the
\
j community, the values of various program media and how
these media can help to m eet the sp e cific needs of the
groups served.
In th is lim ited case study of program content three
groups records from the special Service U nit of the Los
Angeles Youth P ro je ct are analyzed. These records are t
selected fo r research purposes because th e ir d e ta ile d pro­
cess recording provides ric h m aterial on program content.
But in order to understand the emphases and reasons fo r
i
the existence of and the development of the Youth P ro je ct
and i t s Special. Service U n it, i t is necessary to review
j
b rie fly the h isto ry of both*
j The Los Angeles Youth P ro je ct (statem ent of the Los
|Angeles Youth P ro je ct included in the Appendixes) develop-
| ' t
jed out of the pressu res and ten sion s th a t had ex isted fo r |
ja long period of time* Many of the areas in which these j,
|youth liv e were la te r designated as ltl ess-chance” areas by j<
|the P ro je ct. They were areas of high delinquency ra te s , !'
I I
larg e m inority p o p u latio n s, low economic sta tu s of r e s i­
d en ts, poor housing and inadequate youth se rv ic e s.** j
j ** Statem ent of the Los Angeles Youth P ro je c t, p. 3 .
4
One w rite r summed i t up when he stated::
The harrassed c ity o f f ic ia ls and the community lead ­
ers only then could pause to re a liz e how the war and
so cial conditions in existence long before the w ar, to ­
gether w ith inadequate m easures to provide opportunity
; and guidance fo r the youth of the c ity ’s m inority
groups had re su lte d in an in cid en t short of catastro phe.
One of the early co n stru ctiv e r e s u lt of the riots^w as
the development of the Los Angeles Youth P ro ject.
Eleven youth serving agencies, public and p riv a te ,
banded together in a cooperative e ffo rt to provide more
| adequate serv ices to the youth of the flless-ch an ce” areas 1
[of Los Angeles. They were:: A ll N ations Foundation; the
i
j Los Angeles Council of the Boy Scouts of America; C atholic
jYouth O rganization; Church W elfare Bureau; the Los Angeles
I
I
jCouncil of G irl Scouts; In te rn a tio n a l In s titu te ; W oodcraft
; ■ j
Bangers of Los Angeles; Young M en's C h ristian A ssociation |
'of Lbs Angeles; Young Women's C h ristian A ssociatioruof Los
Angeles; and the Jewish Community C enters A ssociation.
L ater the number of p a rtic ip a tin g agencies expanded to
th irte e n when the Los Angeles Department of R ecreation and
P ark s, and the Los Angeles C ity Board of Education were in -
jeluded. |
i
; Each of the agencies involved in the planning of the j
[p ro ject reta in e d i t s in d iv id u al autonomyb ut worked co- I
i I
I o p erativ ely in thep lanning and development of theY outh r.
I
i
t
! 5 Duane Robinson, A Chance To Belong (New York:
[Woman1 s P re ss, 1949), p. 1 . ________________________________________
P ro ject.
The War Chest of 1943 in i t s $250,000 budget appro
p ria tio n to the Youth P ro ject stip u la te d the follow ing
p rio ritie s? ; one, the areas designated as wless-ch an cen
should receive in te n sifie d se rv ic e s, w ith special emphasis!
on m inority youth; two, a program should be developed to
work w ith the p re-d elin q u en t as w ell as the d elinquent
youth; th re e , a cooperative, coordinated b asis of service
should be developed by the P ro je c t agencies, pu b lic and
p riv a te , in planning and in program. A dditional p r io r itie s
which developed as a re s u lt of sp ecial stu d ies in 1945,
1946, and 1948 by the Youth P ro je ct were:; one, to bring
! about a more balanced service between the boys and g irls ;
two, to expand in te rra c ia l and in te rc u ltu ra l programs;
th re e , to develop coed programs and to work w ith o ld er teen-
6
age youth
I During the early days of the P ro ject the coordin ators
j(the so cial community o rg an izatio n w orkers of the Los
i
Angeles Youth P roject) re a liz e d th a t many of the youth in
the areas needed serv ices which ex istin g agencies could no t 1
provide.
The Delinquency Committee of the P ro ject Board Cap'
r-------------
— ----------------------------------
Statem ent of the Los Angeles Youth
(see Appendix C .).