United Community Services Special Programs Department Records

drice — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 15:47:16 -0400

The United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit has its origins in the establishment of the Detroit Community Union in 1917. The Union was reorganized into the Council of Social Agencies of Metropolitan Detroit in 1932, and merged with the Detroit Community Chest in 1951 to become the United Community Services (UCS). UCS operated alongside the United Way for Southeastern Michigan (United Foundation until 1989), which was primarily a fundraising organization. They merged to form the United Way Community Services in 1995, which merged with the United Way for Oakland County to become the United Way for Southeastern Michigan in 2005. UCS was an umbrella organization for a wide range of social welfare agencies in the Metropolitan Detroit area, and sought to promote social services (including child care, family, health, recreation, and community planning) through the centralized planning, coordinating, and budgeting of those agencies. The Special Programs Department oversaw UCS program initiatives and programs that were not necessarily related to other existing UCS departments or which were not permanent additions to UCS programs, such as temporary initiatives and special summer programs. The Special Programs Department consisted of, at various times, the Metropolitan Camp Council, the Volunteer Action Center, the Metropolitan Detroit Coalition for Blood Pressure Control, the Summer Programs department, and unemployment and work experience projects.

The United Community Services Special Programs Department Records consist mostly of correspondence, minutes, and reports related to the Metropolitan Camp Council and general campership initiatives, in addition to information regarding special summer programs. Included in the collection are materials from participating camp agencies, such as the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Camp Fire Girls, as well as materials from UCS administrative committees.

california english: “Improving Our Schools: Drastic Change or Fine Tuning? An Interview with Albert Shanker”

jruss — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:49:41 -0500

Al Shanker answers Berkeley Education Professor Ken Lane's questions about education reform. Shanker believes that the recent focus on reform is good, but he thinks that not enough is being done to enact change. He states that recent efforts at reform change only slightly the way education has worked for years. Instead, Shanker calls for a drastic overhaul of the entire educational model. He says we need to engage students in ways other than reading and listening, noting that different students learn differently. read more »