The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-03-09
Buildings, Lots Available
 For Classes

Any other city in the nation may follow Flints successful exc ample In child welfare. Facilities are available, the plan has been outlined and tested. Read here what may be done.
 Flint, Mich, Mar. 0-Juvenile de- linquency cut 60 per centl
 An effective barrier raised be- tween death and children at playl
 Those are only the more striking of many good results obtained by the Flint plan of recreation. Scarce ly two full years of its operation have been completed. and the defi- nite results obtained have astonished even local packers of the plan, and drawn inquiries from many other cities.
 Flint, recently in the limelight as the center of auto labor disputes, is an automobile industrial city of l60,0OO. Practically every family has an automobile, and in a shocking ar- nual toll of auto victims there were always from four to 10 children killed at play.
 Juvenile delinquency was also a problem, and the courts handling such cases were busy all day with a flood of them.
 Not a single child has been killed while playing in the streets since the recreation program was organ ized. Juvenile delinquency has been cut 60 per cent to a point where during last August only two such cases came before the probate court.
 How was 1t all accomplishment Was the cost intollerable?
 How could a city establish more than 1000 playgrounds and 15 com munity centers?
 Launch Community Move
 Interested individuals and organ izations of Flint got together to see what could be done. They concluded that there were certain facilities available which were not being used
 There were vacant lots and back yards which stood idle and unused And the city school buildings, which stood adle summers and nights; in other words, the greater part of the time.
 Pamphlets were printed outlining the plans, and distributed through out the city. They asked for use of vacant lots and yards, for contribu- tions of iron pipe, rope, and other salvage materials that could be used | fn, yNla I,e,ria.NA aeaYitHynant
 Neighbors clubbed together to find and furnish playspot in the neighborhood to run on a coopera- tive basis.
 Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps provided facilities for week of traiing for young safety crusaders, who were taught to supervise and organize play, handicraft, games, storytelling, health and traffic safety.
 These safety crusaders, sworn in and each given a card and badge oi office, did yeoman service. They re. ported trafIis hazards, got pernlis- sion of owners for use of lots, lait out play-yards and equipment, took young children to and from tho yards, and helped supervise opera tons.
 Professional supervisors were pro- vided for the 40 largest playgrounds whileother supervisors toured and kept in touch with the smaller yards where Boy Scouts, Safety Crusaders parents, or members of socially minded organizations volunteered for service and directors.
 It went over big the first summer And in the summer of 1886, the pro- gram expanded beyond even the hopes of it's packers.
 More than a million visits to the playgrounds were made by Flint children. Many special events, such as outdoor theater and WPA or chertra performances, drew tens oi thousands more.
 A safety bicycle pageant at the end of the summer, promoted by the Flint Journal, had more thai 1000 decorated bicycles in line, while 25,- GOO people watched.
 Success of the summer program