HomeMy WebLinkAbout09 14 1944 PC MinutesALBEi,111 ,E COUNTY PLA12JINCT CON111ISSION
NINUTES OF ``;YETI IG OF B0130
SEPTEMBER 14th, 1944
At the September meeting of the PlanninL, Commission, hwiss
Junia E. Graves of the Public welfare Department gave the follozring outline
of ,what she felt were the most pressing needs of -the community from
a `dTelfare Members standpoint:
lst. A receiving home for delinquent children ,rho have been brow-'t to
court here and must wP,!t in jail until Vey can be sent to Ricllm)ond for
trial. The stay in jail is most destructive to the character of these
boys. !Most of them are around four teen, fifteen and sixteen years old,
and should be paced in a home where they ;,ill receive�,'kirrl and understanding
treatrent. There is a state fund for the board of these boys, but there
are not enough homes where there are trained people wii inr; to board. these
delinquents. There was a recent case of where a boy had to remain in jail
from Ya.y until October. If placed in jail, these delinquents are usually
hopelessly lost to any better type of life., but a Receiving Ho;,e staffed
with properly trained pmrsonnel would be the :first step in humane and
constructive treatment which might direct the future lives of these
bo s in the riEht.(1irection. The childrenfs home cannot take in these
delinquents as they are not equipped to do so.
2nd. An i__stitution for the_ ter-norary care of ch_ilc,ren who have to be
taken from parents, and sent to foster homes. The real purpose of this
home would be to try to beep fa'ily groups together, and avoid the
destructive influence of seperation.
„rd. The great need in the schools for special classes to take care of
bath°rard children who do not have the mental capacity to keep up with the
regular grades. This is a bigger problem now than heretofore as the level
of intelligence of the average pupil in the schools has declined. It is
due to the fact that rank and file of th_e pupils are coming fromi the lo,,Ter
strata and not from the upper brac'•.ets. Therefore, it is essential that
something is done to make the best of this product. Liiss Graves suggested
that this problem be ex rimented .with so that the best results could be
obtainedi such as, having a teacher or teachers who were specially trained
to handle this type of child. Have these children placed in special
classes and taught character building and some read.in and tiririting, a.s
well as some vocation. They can be taught regularity and system and
a sense of satisfaction that comes :dith a dcemplishzment. :ith.out proper
training, these children become hopelessly lost trying to make the grade
ni.th children of greater mentality, and eventually bec, r e problen7s of
the community.
4th. A Home or facility for taa>ing care of the aged. There is the
District Home which has a. terrible stigma attached to it, and ti.is home
cannot tako care of all the chronically sick litho are a great care to
their families. The problem of old. are has increased greatly in the
last ten years. In 1940 in Albemarle County alone, there were three
hundred more -f_eople over sixtyifive years old than in 1930. To cope .ith
this, there is the old age assistance for the needy old, but t':,is does
not ta�he care of the sick who need a good type ofinfirmary care. There
are some private homes .;here the chronically sick can be taken care of,
but not enough for the number of sick. A Nursing Home where old people
could receive infirmary- care far around thirty dollars , er month would
be quite constructive and helpful to the community.
#2•
5th There will be the problem of labor after the war. On a.
contracting labor market, there are many people who cannot compete,
and Miss Graves suggests some form of supervised work at a living
wage for this group. The W. P. A. helped these men pull their own
weight, and had its many good points as well as bad ones. In
connection with the men who do not want to work, the and men who
drink too much, there should be some type. of vagrancy laws. These
laws should be such that they could be strictly enforced. The
Alcoholic should be treated as a public health problem.
6th Miss Graves would like to see the Family Welfare work better
interpreted to the community.
?th. The housing problem is one also that could be helped by
interpretation to the community as to the very poor living conditions
of many of our neighbors. It would be helpful if the landlords
could be contacted and convinced that better housing would raise
the health and moral standards of the community, that good housing
for their tenants is really a protection to their own families. There
are more communicable diseases where living conditions are primitive.
However, due to the scattered areas in Albemarle County, a housing
project similar to those in larger cities doesn't seem to be practical —
of if it is practical, nothing has yet been worked out along these lines.
Sth. Miss Graves would also like to see the churches doing more
relief work and also contacting more of the poorer people and trying
to do something toward building character in these people.
gth. The need for more money for the County Welfare Department in
order that it will be available to them to be spent on needy and
constructive cases.
Mr. Randolph expressed his appreciation to Miss Graves for her
very interesting and enlightening talk. He suggested that the
October meeting be held for the members of the commission only in
order to discuss the activities and accomplishments of the commission.
All members were present at this meeting except Mr. Ray Warrick.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Seer
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In September, 1944, two thousand of these letters were sent to
families of servicemen requesting their present address.
One
E8
�LBM AEl70UffVTE G COMMISSION
200 COUNTY OFFICE BUILDING
�- MEMBERS CHARL0ITESVILLE, VIRGINIA
L. D. RANDOLPH, CHAIRMAN
MRS. ISABELL NUNNALLY. SECRETARY
MRS. JAMES GORDON SMITH
HENRY MCC. BUSH
RAY W. WARRICK
H. A. HADEN
Sent out in September, 1944
To Member of Family of Service Men and Women.
The Board of Supervisors of Albemarle
County has appointed a Commission of five members whose
job it is to make plans to meet post—war conditions.
We, who are members of this commission,
are very much interested in helping any service men or
service women who desire employment in this community to
` obtain such employment should they desire our help.
Will you kindly send us the names and
addresses of members of your family who are in the
service so that we can obtain information necessary to
carry out our plans. Enclosed is self addressed card
for this purpose.
Yours truly,
Albemarle County Planning Commission,