only a few years ago we were a discouraged people because we were the first to lose our jobs when old man depression came along and the last to get them back we struggled vainly to regain our bearings while the press and their unveiled just off the nation a tenth of the population of the united states we found as a race over a sixth of the unemployed one out of every four of us was on relief in vain we sought for something to restore our confidence our hope our courage without jobs we had no money without money we could not purchase food but angles at home our only hope lay in charity hunger drove our people to the bread line anxiously waited waited for some sign of better days then came the federal government's work programme one by one it took us out unskilled laborers the forgotten man of past generations now work steadily at decent wages the nation over there building and repairing schools public buildings community centers and efforts to meet the changing needs of our modern world in one project of the nation's capital twelve hundred men are employed in improving voting zeal grading constructing runways building hangars and administration building in addition to the hundreds unskilled laborers who were removed from relief roles many skilled workers are employed in this important improvement project hundreds of homes have been freed from the bondage of poverty as their breadwinners find security and hope in their new job in new york city w p a housing demolition project is underway which will greatly improve the living conditions of families of moderate me and many other cities of the country all tenements and fire traps are being torn down to make way for modern buildings containing comfortable sanitary colonial park in harlem as in many other congested areas w p a workers have constructed a huge swimming pool and are now completing a bath house which will accommodate forty one hundred persons in this construction project skilled workers are employed utilizing the knowledge of their winning pools are particularly valuable to the community because they offer a haven of relaxation to young and old during the hot summer outage city streets providing every safeguard to prevent such tragedies as were all too common to the old sending home typical of the park improvement projects underway all over the country is another feature of the improvement program at colonial talk awaiting who has been built by w p a workers in which the youngsters may splash to their heart's content new editions of the playground area have been me possible by the grading and improvement of parts of the park with her family merely decorative even the youngest children find plenty of opportunities for play under watchful supervision in many parts of the country nursery schools have been established where almost ten thousand children of our needy families are provided with hot meals supervised play activities and excellent preschool training under competent instructors removed from relief roles in these projects employment has been provided for six hundred teachers nurses dietitians and cook at the other extreme of aids more than three hundred thousand adults have learned to read and write for the first time in their lives eagerly they study realizing how very much a little knowledge can mean in our modern workaday like teachers drawn from relief roles instruct them in useful subjects such as languages in harlem where a large part of the population is from puerto rico and central and south america a knowledge of spanish is valuable to workers shopkeepers and others in this class elementary instruction in the spoken language is given by native teachers in employment at filing and checking important records at typing and at such unusual occupations abstracting and filing time worn land records so that they may be available for the use of future generation in order to learn the art of homemaking for use in their own homes in modern kitchens under competent instructors the girls are taught to cook and to prepare salads another delicacies which add much to everyday here's where you may be able to learn something this is the way the girls are taught to make b these household training courses i've already sent hundreds of girls out into the world well equipped to secure domestic causations and able to command skilled workers wages health education is an important part of the w p a program at a number have seen are part of a broad national educational program for which w p a has helped millions of children and a number of communities selling rooms have been established in which are employed women who are the breadwinners for their families their garments are made for distribution to needy families musicians and singers to sound employment an orchestra on vocal groups these are singers organized and directed by william lawrence have successfully presented a great many programs of classical music