McCarthy, Harry Gifford, Adam Giffard, Ellen

Description

Episode Number: 115The documentary focuses on the controversial Head Start program in Mississippi, which is under the auspices of the Child Development Group of Mississippi. There are scenes showing the operation of Project Head Start schools (which are open to pre-kindergarten youth), interviews with the Negroes who run them, and a detailed story - through interviews and meetings - of the controversy. Operation Head Start in Mississippi employs not the usual poverty program techniques, but rather an idealization of the war on poverty, in that it employs the people themselves as teachers and leaders. The beneficiaries, therefore, are not only the pre-school children who attend Head Start schools, but also their parents who gain a sense of identity. However, it is this very program that has become the subject of controversy, with the Office of Economic Opportunity stopping funds to the Child Development group of Mississippi as a result of "misuse of funds and some sloppiness in accounting." (The speaker is Jules Sugarman of the OEO.) As a result, an alternate plan has placed whites in charge, added a few Negroes to the board (disdainfully called "Toms" by the Mississippi Negroes who formerly led CDGM), cut funds in half, and directed the group to involve white children in Operation Head Start. Then, on December 17, OEO made a new grant of $8 million available to the Child Development Group. This figure contrasts with the $20 million needed for Head Start and will therefore limit its sphere of operation to certain...

Record Contributed By

Thirteen - New York Public Library

Record Harvested From

Digital Commonwealth