The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Hampshire Community Action Commission

Hampshire Community Action Commission Records

1965-1984
25 boxes 10.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 056

A private, non-profit corporation founded in 1965 in Northampton, Massachusetts to finance community action programs for eliminating poverty and assisting low income people. Programs included day care centers, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Summer Head Start, a drug addiction clinic at the jail, Legal Services, and the Foster Grandparent Program.

Records comprise bylaws and organizational charts, annual reports, board of directors minutes; administrative directors’ records, including correspondence with the federal agencies and state agencies granting funds, grant applications and awards, program plans, financial and legal documents, personnel records and staff training directives; the agency newsletter County Voice, Noticero Latina; and newsclippings about welfare programs.

Historical Note

Hampshire Community Action Commission, Inc. (HCAC), a private, non-profit corporation, was founded in 1965 in Northampton, Massachusetts, as a response to Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society aims and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 which offered cities and towns grants to finance community action programs for eliminating poverty and assisting low income people. The 1964 Act stipulated that there be maximum participation by the low-income recipients in the program’s administration.

The 1964 Act established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), a federal bureau which allocated monies and coordinated the programs with other governmental agencies. The OEO operated separate staffs for the Job Corps, VISTA, Head Start, and Community Action Programs. HCAC is a Community Action Program under this agency. In the 1970s the OEO ceased to exist, succeeded by the Communities Services Administration (CSA), which then became the federal bureau overseeing local Community Action Programs. Under federal auspices, there were also special programs, such as one for migrant workers. The federal agency also granted funds to existing agencies to administer programs funded by the 1964 Act. For example, work training programs were run by the Labor Department; rural antipoverty programs were under the Department of Agriculture.

The Hampshire Community Action Commission began in 1965-1966 with programs including day care centers, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Summer Head Start, and a drug addiction clinic at the jail. Soon they added a Legal Services program with neighborhood law offices primarily aimed at educating the poor in preventive law, and teaching them their legal rights and obligations. Another early program was the Foster Grandparent Program, which recruited low-income people over sixty to serve neglected and deprived children who had no close adult contacts.

With the 1970s and new presidential administrations, some funding sources were cut, while a few others appeared, causing the HCAC to drop some programs and to focus on new areas. Programs in after-school day care, family day care (where the child is taken care of in the home of the caregiver) and the energy/weatherization/fuel assistance programs are examples of newer HCAC programs.

A 1975 fact sheet stated the emphasis of HCAC: “To serve as an incubator for developing community-based and community supportive projects which will eventually stand on their own.” Measured effectiveness was said to be not just by the provided services, but by the changes the program achieved in the attitude of the community toward the poor, and the refocusing of public and private resources for anti-poverty purposes it effected.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The records comprise bylaws and organizational charts; annual reports (1974-1984); board of directors minutes (1969-1982); the Administrative Director’s records, including correspondence with the federal agencies and state agencies granting funds, grant applications and awards, program plans, financial and legal documents, personnel records and staff training directives; the agency newsletter County Voice, Noticero Latina; and newsclippings about welfare programs.

The records are inconsistently kept, depending on the staff, which had a rapid turnover rate. There are noticeable gaps; some programs are more represented than others. For example, the Hispanic Center is seen through a small lawsuit with the landlord of the center, and the Legal Services Program is only a list of lawyers. But, in the other series, such as the correspondence and the financial documents, the Hispanic Center and the Legal Services can be documented.

This collection, which could be updated periodically, should be a good source for historians interested in the 1960s and the promise of the Great Society legislation; for researchers in social service areas, such as early childhood education, programs for the elderly, preventive alcoholism programs; for researchers in Hispanic immigration; and for people studying the long range effects of federal programs on the poverty in Hampshire County.


Information on Use
Terms of Access and Use
Restrictions on access:

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Hampshire Community Action Commission Records (MS 56). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

History of the Collection

Acquired from Kerrie Clark, Executive Director of HCAC, 1985. Also, 1965 minutes and by laws from files of Harvey Finison.

Processing Information

Processed by Ruth Owen Jones, November 1985.


Additional Information

Sponsor
Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Language
English.


Series Descriptions

1965-1982

Includes the bylaws, fact sheets, history, organizational charts, and annual reports. In addition there are records of the Board of Directors: lists of board members, orientation materials from the federal agency or earlier boards, as well as minutes of meetings (1965-1982, with gaps).

1971-1981, n.d.

Comprised of the various director’s planning reports to the federal agency, grant proposals and awards, other fundraising material of a more local nature, correspondence with the federal agency, Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) and Office for Children material, job descriptions, employee union and health plan material, staff orientation and salary information, as well as program directors’ meeting minutes. There is also a section of legal documents related to the agency: legal correspondence, agreements, and lawsuits. Here (Box 11) are also some records of the Hampshire (County) Council of Social Agencies and HCAC’s part in that coordinating group, which evolved from a loose confederated to a more formal organization with a Hampshire County Coordinator of Human Services at the head.

1970-1981, n.d.
Arrangement:

In alphabetical order.

Scope and content:

Includes material related to the sub-agencies administering the programs, from the Alcohol Prevention Program through the Youth Employment Service Program. Within each program can be found correspondence, and financial and legal records.

1968-1980

Contains the agency newspaper, County Voice, Noticiero Latino, 1971-1980, as well as a set of mounted newspaper clippings from Massachusetts newspapers in 1968-1969. These clippings reflect the 1968-1969 public welfare program statewide including strikes by recipients for more aid, and letters to the editors criticizing public welfare programs.

Contents List
Series I. Agency Administrative Records
1965-1982
Bylaws, fact sheets, history, organizational charts
1965-1980
Box 1:1
Annual Reports
1974-1978
Box 1:2
Board of Directors’ Orientation and Procedural Material
1966-1977
Box 1:3
Board of Directors’ Minutes
1965-1969
Box 1:4a-c
Minutes
1970
Box 1:5
Minutes
1973-1982
Box 2:6-10

Series 2. Administrative Directors’ Records
1971-1981, n.d.
Job Descriptions
n.d.
Box 3:11
Salary Policy and Review Committee
1975
Box 3:12
Personnel Practices and Orientation of New Employees
n.d.
Box 3:13
Blue Cross Blue Shield
1977
Box 3:14
Valley Health Plan
1977
Box 3:15
Union Contract
1977
Box 3:16
Employees Eligible to Join Union
1978-1979
Box 3:17
Union Correspondence
1977-1979
Box 3:18
Overhead Task Force
1980
Box 3:19
Office Equipment Purchases or Leased
1972-1978
Box 3:20
Northampton Cable television.
1978
Box 3:21
Project Directors, Minutes of Meetings
1977-1978
Box 3:22
Memos to Staff
1975-1978
Box 3:23
Making Effective Use of an Interview in a Community Action Program
n.d.
Box 3:24
Law for Reporting Child Abuse
1973, 1977
Box 3:25
Bilingual Information
Box 3:26
Affirmative Action Manual
1977
Box 3:27
Affirmative Action Plan
1977
Box 3:28
Affirmative Action Material
1978-1980
Box 4:29
Conference on Aging
1980
Box 4:30
Correspondence with Community Services Admin.
1977-1980
Box 4:31-34
Program Plan
1971
Box 4:35
Summary of Work Programs and Budgets
1975-1980
Box 5:36-43
Fundraising Proposals
1977-1978
Box 5:43a
Financial Statements
1981-1984
Box 5:43b
CSA Instruction Manuals
1975-1976
Box 5:43c
CSA Funding Survey, Hampshire County
1977
Box 5:43d
Mass. Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy Program
1974
Box 5:43e
National Center for Community Action Update
1977
Box 5:43f
Mass. League of Cities and Towns Technical Assistance Advisory
1974
Box 5:43g
Mass. Department of Public Welfare Donated Funds Agreement
1976
Box 5:43h
Advanced State Funding for Comm. Action Agreement
1975
Box 6:44
Mass. Dept. of Public Welfare Correspondence
1974
Box 6:45
U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Grant Application Form
1972
Box 6:46
Grant Proposal OEO
1972
Box 6:47
Grant Proposals to CSA
1975-1978
Box 6:48-52
Civil Suit #15953
1976
Box 7:53
Correspondence with Attorneys
1976-1978
Box 7:54
Hispanic Center v. Western Mass Theaters
1977
Box 7:55
Hispanic Center Suit, Correspondence
1977-1978
Box 7:56
HCAC v. Department of Public Welfare
1977
Box 7:57
HCAC Lease, 80 Main Street
1978
Box 7:58
HCAC Sublease, 15 King Street
1978
Box 7:59
Office for Children material
1975-1977
Box 7:60
Childhood Lead Poisoning Program Proposal
1977
Box 7:61
CETA Proposal Request
1977
Box 7:62
CETA Correspondence
1977-1978
Box 7:63
CETA Title Agreement
1977
Box 7:64
CETA Contractor Budget
1978
Box 7:65
Hamp. Council of Social Agencies (HCSA): Bylaws, inc. letters, list of members
1980
Box 8:66
HCSA, Human Services Contract info.
n.d.
Box 8:67
HCSA, Coord. of Human Services
1976-1979
Box 8:68
HCSA, Executive Committee Correspondence
1977-1978
Box 8:69
HCSA, Correspondence
1979
Box 8:70
HCSA Professional Advisory Comm. Corres.
1980-1981
Box 8:71
Mass. Comm. Action Agency and New England Comm. Action Agency
1977-1978
Box 8:72
National Comm. Action Agency, Exec. Directors’ Association Correspondence
1977
Box 8:73

Series 3. Programs
1970-1981, n.d.
Alcoholism Prevention Program (APP), Facts
1970-1979
Box 9:74
APP Personnel Policy Manual
1976
Box 9:75
Grant Applications
1974
Box 9:76-81
APP, Hispanic Section, Correspondence
1974-1975
Box 9:82
APP, Hispanic Section, Renewal by HEW
1976-1977
Box 9:83
APP, Grant Application
1973
Box 9:84
APP Budget
1979-1980
Box 9:85
APP Correspondence
1975-1980
Box 9:86-89
Energy/Winterization Program, Bylaws, Fact Sheet and Proposal
1977-1980
Box 10:90
Enabling Legislation
1976-1980
Box 10:91
Policy and Application Forms
1980
Box 10:92
Personnel Practices, Job Descriptions
1977-1980
Box 10:93
Program Account Budget
1977-1981
Box 10:94
Grant Model
1975
Box 10:95
Grant Application, Awards
1975-1977
Box 10:96
Grant Application, Awards
1978-1980
Box 10:97
CETA Energy Programs, Title VI
1979
Box 10:98
Crisis Intervention Grants
1980
Box 10:99
Button Up Northampton
1979-1980
Box 10:100
Correspondence
1980
Box 11:101-104
Crisis Program Agreement
1979
Box 11:105
Correspondence
1980
Box 12:106-107
Family Day Care, Org. Chart, Bylaws, Inc. Papers
1977
Box 13:108
Policies, Forms
n.d.
Box 13:109
Advisory Board
1977-1978
Box 13:110
Application Forms
n.d.
Box 13:111
Evaluation Committee
1978
Box 13:112
Grant Proposals
1974-1979
Box 13:113
Grant Proposals
1977-1978
Box 13:114
Contracts
1974-1978
Box 13:115
Correspondence
1974-1979
Box 13:116
Group Day Care, Advisory Board Bylaws, Minutes
1977-1978
Box 14:117
Newsletter
1978
Box 14:118
Correspondence
1977-1978
Box 14:119
Budget
1975-1976
Box 14:120
Grant Proposal, Contract
1974-1976
Box 14:121
Grant Proposal
1977-1978
Box 14:122
Grant Proposal
1979
Box 14:123
Proposal for Protective Services Daycare
1978
Box 14:124
Protective Daycare Agreement
1977-1980
Box 14:125
Loan Documents
1977-1978
Box 14:126
License to Operate
1974
Box 14:127
After-School Day Care Proposal, Marks Meadow School, Amherst
1974-1975
Box 14:128
Rural Early Assistance to Children (REACH) Contract
1980
Box 14:129
Foster Grandparent Project, Bylaws, Project Narr., Work Plans, Program Reports
1976-1978
Box 15:130
Advisory Board
1977-1979
Box 15:131
Evaluation of Project
1978
Box 15:132
Budgets
1978-1979
Box 15:133
Grant Applications, Awards
1975-1977
Box 15:134
Grant Applications, Awards
1977-1979
Box 15:135
Correspondence
1975-1979
Box 15:136-139
Great Barrington Project
1979
Box 15:140
Head Start, County Policy Council Bylaws, Minutes
1976-1978
Box 16:141
Personnel Policy
n.d.
Box 16:142
Planning Goals
1980
Box 16:143
Grant Proposals, Awards
1974-1980
Box 16:144-149
Budgets, Financial Statements, Audits
1973-1981
Box 16:150
Evaluation
1978-1980
Box 16:151
Parent Newsletter
1980
Box 16:152
Brochure, Press Releases
1979-1980
Box 16:153
Correspondence
1977-1980
Box 16:154-157
Handicapped Headstart Grant Proposals, Awards
1975-1979
Box 17:158
Housing Assistance Program
1974-1975
Box 17:158a
Housing Rep., Job Applicants
1975
Box 17:159
Legal Services list
1975-1977
Box 17:160
Neighborhood Centers Program, Summary of Work Programs
1975
Box 17:161
Food Stamps Program
1975
Box 17:162
Food and Nutrition Proposal
1976-1977
Box 17:163
Canning Center
1976-1977
Box 17:164
Food and Nutrition Program
1977-1978
Box 17:165
Program Summary
1977
Box 17:166
Grant Proposal
1978
Box 17:167
Summer Youth Recreation Program
1976
Box 17:168
Summer Youth Recreation Program
1976
Box 17:169
Summer Youth Recreation Program
1977-1979
Box 17:170
Ret. Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Bylaws, Org. Chart, Min. of Adv. Council
1978-1979
Box 18:171
Budgets
1976-1978
Box 18:172
Grant Proposals, Awards
1974-1976
Box 18:173
Grant Proposals, Awards
1977-1980
Box 18:174
Newsletter
1978
Box 18:175
Correspondence
1977-1978
Box 18:176
Youth Work Experience Program, Proposal
1975
Box 19:177
Proposal
1976-1977
Box 19:178
Youth Programs
1978-1979
Box 19:179
Contracts
1976-1977
Box 19:180
Proposal
1977-1978
Box 19:181
Youth Employment Service
1978
Box 19:182
Summer Contract
1978
Box 19:183
Youth Employment Service
1979
Box 19:184-186
Miscellaneous Programs Material
Hampshire Association for Mental Health
1976
Box 20:187
Medical Services Improvement, Project Mainstream
1975
Box 20:188
Right to Read
1977
Box 20:189
Small Farms
1978-1979
Box 20:190
Commonwealth Service Corps, Department of Community Affairs
1977-1978
Box 20:191

Series 4. Printed Material
1968-1980
Newspaper, the County Voice, Noticero Latino
1971-1980
Box 21:192
Clippings: Mass. newspapers; welfare articles, and letters to editors
1968-1969
Box 21:193

Subjects

Hampshire Community Action CommissionHampshire County (Mass.)--Social conditionsSocial service--Massachusetts--Hampshire County