Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles

Historical note

The impetus for the organization of the Metropolitan Recreation and Youth Services Council, like that for innovative programs such as the Los Angeles Youth Project and Special Services for Groups, came from the notorious "Zoot Suit" disturbances of May 1943, when minority youth gangs fought back against attacks made against them by servicemen stationed in the area. While Angelenos were alarmed by the violence, and disturbed by national media attention paid to it as evidence of racial tension, the Los Angeles Welfare Federation and its Council of Social Agencies acknowledged that social services for youth in the most disadvantaged and congested areas of the city had been seriously neglected. Preoccupied with war production, and plans for post-war industrial "reconversion", Los Angeles had allowed many of its public recreation facilities to deteriorate beyond repair. A first step for the Metropolitan Recreation and Youth Services Council was to commission--with difficulty, given the lack of qualified civilian manpower during the war--the detailed city-wide survey of its surviving recreational assets. In the post war years, while city and county government engaged in capital projects including freeway and airport construction, the Metropolitan Recreation and Youth Services Council worked with private and public agencies, including the Los Angeles City Board of Education and the City Recreation and Parks Commission, to meet the recommendations of its Sorenson Survey Report, both volumes of which can be found in the collection.

From the guide to the Recreation and Youth Services Planning Council reports and studies, 1945-1972, (USC Libraries Special Collections)

Historical note

In 1944, the Los Angeles Council of Social Agencies (founded 1914) officially became the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles. Its mission was to engage in the development of a community program of health and welfare services, and to serve as a medium for cooperative health and welfare planning in the Los Angeles region. In 1950, the Council officially separated from its sister institution, the Welfare Federation, and changed its name to the Welfare Planning Council, Los Angeles Region.

From the guide to the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles reports and publications, 1944-1953, (USC Libraries Special Collections)