Table of Contents
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Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids
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Collection Overview |
| Creator: |
The Boston Foundation Persistent Poverty Project. |
| Title: |
Persistent Poverty Project
records |
| Dates: |
1985-2002 |
| Call Number: |
M127 |
| Location: |
58/4, 57/1, FF6/D8 |
| Volume: |
20.5 cubic ft. (20 boxes) |
| Scope and Content Abstract: |
The collection documents the activities of the Boston Foundation's
Persistent Poverty Project in its attempt to create a comprehensive
picture of multi-generational poverty in Boston. Records reflect the
day-to-day administration of the Project and document its outreach
activities, including data-gathering on poverty through community
roundtables, focus groups, and surveys. The collection also reflects
the Project's attempts to disseminate its research through Boston
College Citizen seminars, press briefings, and multiple publications.
Topics documented include poverty in Boston, the effects of poverty
on various communities in Boston, including African American, white,
Asian American, and youth; community building; and the Project's involvement
with larger organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the
National Community Building Network. Records include committee minutes
and agendas; staff correspondence and notes; conference packets; seminar,
conference, and meeting transcripts; publications; reports; and research
data. |
| Historical Abstract: |
The Boston Foundation was created in 1915 as the Permanent Charity
Fund by brothers Charles E. and Charles M. Rogerson to relieve hardship
in Boston brought on by World War I. After the war, the Fund expanded
its scope of activity to include community activism and involvement
on a wider scale. In 1964, Albert Stone, Jr., left the Fund $20 million
in his will, allowing the Fund to support special projects in Boston
neighborhoods in addition to its other grant-making activities. In
1985, the Fund, now called the Boston Foundation, received a grant
from the Rockefeller Foundation and became one of the partner organizations
in the Rockefeller Foundation's Equal Opportunity Project. The Boston
Foundation conducted one of the first comprehensive surveys of the
multi-generational poor in Boston in the early 1980s, and the Persistent
Poverty Project built on that work. The Project ran from 1987 until
1997, publishing several reports and holding seminars, focus groups,
roundtables, conferences, and briefings to involve the general public,
politicians, and other community organizations. The Project was also
involved in initiatives, such as the National Neighborhood Indicators
Project and the National Community Building Network, and it created
the Boston Children and Families Database and the Boston Community
Building Curriculum. The Project continued after 1997 as the Boston
Community Building Network at the Boston Foundation. |
| Arrangement: |
Organized into four series: 1. Administration; 2. Projects
and Publications; 3. Outside Organizations; and 4. Audio-Visual. |
| Subjects and Contributors: |
- Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.) -- Center for Labor Market
Studies
- Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and
Public Policy
- William Monroe Trotter Institute
- Asian American Resource Workshop
- Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Equal Opportunity Program
- Community Planning and Action Programs
- National Neighborhood Indicators Project
- National Community Building Network
- Boston Community Building Curriculum
- Boston Community Building Network
- Boston Foundation's Persistent Poverty Project
- Asian Americans -- Massachusetts
- Asian Americans -- Massachusetts -- Statistics
- African Americans -- Massachusetts
- African Americans -- Social conditions
- Hispanic Americans -- Massachusetts
- Single parents -- Massachusetts
- Single mothers -- Massachusetts
- Poverty -- Psychological aspects
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| Restrictions: |
The collection is unrestricted. |
| Processor: |
Finding aid prepared by Hanna Clutterbuck with the assistance of
Britta Abeln, Marietta Carr, Tamara Gaydos, and Gena Pliakas, December
2007. The processing of this collection was partially funded by the
National Historical Publications and Records Commission. |
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