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4-2131
FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
For Release to Newspapers,
Sunday, Mey 19, 1940
I.OCAL SPONSORS OF WPA PROJECTS INVITE PUBLIC INSPECTION;
MRS. ROOSEVELT TO SPEAK.
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt will ~peak by radio to more than half
a million WPAprofessional and service proj ect workers, loca l public officials
and cominuni ty repres entatives gathered at "p roj ec t dinners" throughout the
count ry tomorrow night.
The occasion wilr inaugur a t e a we ek long program
designed as a unique report on the results of community service activities
carried on by prof e ssional and s ervice proj ects of the WPA.
Citiz ens everywhere are being invit ed by Colonel 1• C. Harrin6ton, Conu~issioner of Work Projects, to visit and inspe ct local proj ects involving activities of education, r ecr eation, public h ealth , res earch, sewing,
and other fields of welfar e and community service .
Mrs. Roosevelt's addr e ss will be broadcast from Washington over
a nation-wide network of the Mutual Broadcasting System from 8 : 00 to 8: 30
p .m., Eastern Standard Time .
On the same p rogram
w!.11 be John M. Carmody,
Federal Works Mministrator, and Colonel Hcll'rington .
Mrs. Florence Kerr,
Assista:.1t '\VPA Commi ssioner in charge of tho Profess i onal and Service Division,
will introduce the spealrnrs .
The week of May 20-25 has been desi gnated a s
Commw.1.i ty Week. n
11
This Work Pcys Your
Governors of s ever ul s to.t es as vrell as a number of mayors
have issued pr oclamat i ons ca lli ng for public support of the occ2,sion , Mr s •
Kerr said.
WPA professional and service p rojects throughout the country will
be open to public insp ection during t he neek and visitors ,-,ill be t cl{en on
specially conducted tours to observe the a ctua l operation of the projects.
Arr angements have been made in many loca lities, she added, for group tours
by representatives of church, social and civic organizations .
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"This is an opportunity for the peop l e of .America to see for
themsolvos the services being perform&d for t he ir l ocal comriuniti es by
p rofessional and service projects, 11 said Mrs. Kerr.
rep ort of .America at work.
"It is a living
Citize ns are going to see in our open-hous e
week all our important community p ro grams in a ction.
11 Statisticc,l
reports cnn tell only a snall part of th e story
of vrhat has be en done and is being done by such activities a s adult education, child heal th and ,-;elf ar e , r ecreati on , res earch, r.ms ic ond art and
sinila.r p rojects of the Profess io1~al and Service Division.
Coru:mni ti cs
t hroughout the country have been enriched through the service Fendered by
t hose proj ects, and we we lcooe t he opp ortunity local sponsors are p roviding
in t ~1 is event to show the r esults of our p ro grao to the entire Nation. 11
The Professi onal anc-:. Service Di vision, i n co oper at i on with
local pu.blic offici als and agenci es, supervi ses all non-cons truc t i on
projects and furnishes er:rployoent to approxinately a fourth of those on
WPA r olls.
In a recent r eport of WPA accomplish:wnts it was po i nted out
that several oillion per son s are reached each we ek thr ou gh the operations
of the Professi onal and Service Division.
In a typical two-week peri od , health pr oject wo r kers oade
82,500 t e sts for specific dis eases and gave over 17,000 i nnuniz at i on
treat nents.
More t han 1,000,000 lunches were s erved u nder privileged
schoo l children each day.
Adult educa tion class es r epo rt ed an aggregate
enr ollnent of nore than 1,000,000 of whoo nore than 300,000 were illiterates
or aliens.
Public r ecr eation activities supe rvis ed by trained WPA wor kers
were found, in a t yp ical week, to be eq_uivalent to part icipation for one
hour each by 15,000,000 persons.
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