VESPRA Enabling Communities through a Community Based Psychosocial Support Program 1965-1970

摘要

The objective of this report is to share with the reader, an early methodof community mobilization in a then resource poor territory of the UnitedStates: Puerto Rico. The program initiated the mobilization method byrecruiting youth to visit communities, engage its citizens in conversationsthat resulted in prioritization of problems, identification of communitycapitals, and action. The U.S. Federal Government provided funding for theprogram from 1965-1971. Importance of the study : Community mobilization is gaining importance withinthe scientific areas of psychosocial support and community mental health as theworld faces natural disasters, movement of people and climate change. Whilethis study looks at events that happened in the 1960’s the results of thisstrategy and community experiment are used today in programs such as VISTA inthe United States and Humanitarian Agencies providing community-based programsto poor people. Method for datacollection : This is aqualitative study and so a multi method approach for collection, interpretationand analysis of data relies on the facts as gathered from a desk study of theU.S. Government, and Government of Puerto Rico Archives as well as trying tomake sense of events on the ground through participant observation andinterviews with former volunteers, paid staff and participant communities(1965-1971), and offering examples from newspaper reports, of the period, torelate to the reader the meaning people gave to these events in real time. Reportingof Findings : The findings for this study are reported sequentially from 1965 to 1971.The format is: 1) the fact, 2) impact, and 3) event. The findings includeexplanation of training methods, recruiting of personnel, administrative tasks,and the consequences on the ground as reported in newspapers, or follow-upquarterly reports from the field. The most important event was the formation ofthe Poor People’s Council, and their subsequent participation in Boards ofprograms that impacted their future. Footnotes are used within text torepresent additional content that supplements the text.