Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids

Series:

1. Administration, 1965-2000

Alphabetical

This series documents RMSC's founding; development and public relations activities, such as anniversary celebrations and the annual MLK, Jr. breakfast; human resources operations; and renovations of 317 Blue Hill Ave. Records include agency by-laws and articles of incorporation, diversity data, articles about RMSC written by staff members, consultant reports, strategic planning reports, program descriptions, RMSC and staff newsletters, organizational charts, demographic and census information, and needs assessment reports.Of special interest are three reports. Gertrude Cuthbert's "Report of Operations: January 1 1965-December 31, 1965," the first report of its kind, provides more detail than the annual report, including areas of strength, weakness and agency wide strategies. Hubert Jones's "Proposal for the Development of RMSC," identifies poverty as the major problem encountered by the residents of Roxbury and sets forth specific ways in which RMSC and residents can work together to alleviate the problem. The 1998 watershed report, commissioned by the Board of Directors after the agency was restructured, includes the results of consultant's findings based on interviews they conducted of 100 Roxbury residents regarding RMSC's position in the community. Also of interest are recommendations for RMSC's programs, staff and operations, and the executive director's summary of programs.

Series:

2. Board of Directors, 1969-2002

Alphabetical

This series consists of annual reports and Board of Directors records. Annual reports are written by the executive director and provide an overview of the agency's programs, funding, special events, and future plans. Annual reports are included for the years 1965-1967, 1970, 1975-1978, 1983-1984. Reports are missing from the years 1967, 1970, 1975-1978, 1983-1984, and 1985. Board records include monthly, special, and annual meeting materials; minutes of board and staff committees; executive director, transition, consultant, and auditor reports; financial, income, and expenditure statements; and balance sheets, budgets, and salary information. By-laws, amendments, certificates, licenses, and the purchase records of RMSC's property are also included. Board of Directors minutes date from 1969-1998. Minutes from 1985 are missing; however, minutes from the June 18th meeting are on audio cassette and can be found in Box 29. Minutes from 1992-1998 are incomplete.

The Board of Directors minutes contain a wealth of information that is not found elsewhere in the collection. The minutes document RMSC's finances, status of grant proposals and programs, personnel issues, development and public relations actions, and RMSC's 1998 reorganization. They also document RMSC relationships with outside agencies, including the African American Federation, ABCD, the Boston Public Schools, Ecumenical Center of Boston, La Alianza Hispania, and the Black United Front. Also covered is RMSC's political and social activism, including its support of the Black Panther Party, participation in the City of Boston's school desegregation effort, role in the development and creation of La Alianza Hispana, possible merger with the Ecumenical Center of Roxbury, and reasons for creating the Task Force on Children out of School. The minutes from 1991-1992 reflect the various funding cutbacks to social service agencies and ways in which RMSC responded to them. Program reports are included throughout the minutes providing a continuous narrative of the evolution of RMSC's programming from 1969-1991, which is not included in Series 4. Programs.

Of special interest is Shirley Carrington's transition report, which provides a concise but thorough overview of the state of the agency in 1992. Also included is Frieda Garcia's testimony in front of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (Box 2, Folders 24 and 41), Ana Maria Diamond's statement before the United States Commission on Civil Rights (Box 2, Folder 42), and testimony given by Hubert Jones to the House Ways and Means Committee on the welfare backlash (Box 2, Folder 43). The center's "Manual for Operations in a Community Crisis," (Box 2, Folder 28) and personnel policy and practice manuals are also located in this series.

Series:

3. Executive Directors, 1970-2000

Chronological by director; alphabetical within subseries.Organized into 9 subseries: A. Marilyn Anderson-Chase; B. Ricardo Millett; C. Shirley Carrington; D. Valerie Lovelace-Graham; E. Richard Folly; F. Zuline Gray Allen; G. Milton Samuels;H. Vanessa Bell; I. Brenda Gadson.

This series documents the administrative functions of the executive directors, including the implementation of RMSC's programs, its daily operations, and its partnerships and agreements with affiliated organizations, and city, state, and federal government. Also documented are RMSC's various reorganization efforts, program planning and implementation, and development and public relations efforts. This series includes Affirmative Action and diversity reports; consultant correspondence and reports; financial statements and auditors reports; program descriptions, reports, and statistics; and grant proposals and contracts. Included are scattered minutes and newsletters from local and affiliated organizations, such as the Black Political Task Force, the Boston Panel of Agency Executives, and the African American Federation, and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. The RMSC Board of Directors minutes in this series contain annotations and are incomplete. See Series 2 for complete minutes. Also scattered throughout this series are grant proposals and contracts. See Series 5, Grants and Contracts for a complete set.

A. Marilyn Anderson-Chase (.5 cubic ft.), 1978-1983, includes progress reports; grant proposals and contracts; and development and public relations material. Highlights include campaign material, candidate endorsements, and meeting minutes from the Black Political Task Force; the Freedom House Institute on Schools and Education report entitled, "Capsule History of Legal Matters Connected in Desegregation in the Boston Public Schools, 1961-1982;" and Anderson-Chase's notes from the Joseph Warren Commission. The Joseph Warren Commission was a political advocacy group which sought to improve socio-economic conditions for minorities and to endorse candidates who would focus on minority needs.

B. Ricardo Millett (.5 cubic ft.), 1983-1985, includes correspondence, consultant reports, program proposals, and descriptions.

C. Shirley Carrington (5 cubic ft.), 1986-1993, includes agreements with affiliated organizations, correspondence, grant proposals and contracts, development and public relations material, RMSC newsletters and newsletters from outside organizations, reports from program directors, program descriptions, and statistics. Highlights include records from the Boston Housing Partnership, the Boston Panel of Agency Executives, and Housing Strategies and RMSC, Part II.

D. Valerie Lovelace-Graham (2.5 cubic ft.), 1993-1995, includes correspondence, agreements with affiliated organizations, consultant reports, grant proposals and contracts, development and public relations material, reports from program directors, program descriptions, statistics, and newsletters from outside organizations. Highlights include the Conference on Violence, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and Freedom House, Inc.

E. Richard Foley (.1 cubic ft), 1995, includes contracts and development material.

F. Zuline Gray Allen (3 cubic ft.), 1995-1997, includes correspondence, consultant reports, grant proposals and contracts, development and public relations material, and newsletters from local social justice organizations. Highlights include documents from the African American Education Committee, the African American Federation, and Dorchester CARES Coalition for Families and Children.

G. Milton Samuels (5 cubic ft.), 1997, includes correspondence, development material, grant proposals, and program reports.

H. Vanessa Bell (.1 cubic ft.), 1997-1998, includes consultant correspondence, development records, and program reports.

I. Brenda Gadson (.5 cubic ft.), 1998-2005, records from 1998-1999 include agreements with affiliated organizations, consultant reports, development material, and program proposals and reports. Highlights include records from Dorchester Community Services Collaborative, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and Neighborhood Development Corporation of Grove Hall.

Series:

4. Programs, 1971-1999

Alphabetical.

This series documents the programs and services that were administered by RMSC from 1971-1999. Programs include education and job training; anti-crime and violence prevention; housing counseling, development and ownership; emergency and family shelter; community development; minority graduate student training; psychological assessment and counseling; sexual assault and rape awareness; youth development; minority student tutoring; community based correction for criminal offenders; summer camp; residential centers for young women and youth; college scholarship fund; and day treatment and mental health services. Prominent programs include Community Programs Against Sexual Assault and Rape Prevention (CPASA); Commonwealth Fellows; Green-On-Blue; Day Activity; Family House Shelter; Quincy-Geneva Housing Development Corporation; Rebuild and Improve Grove Hall Together (Project R.I.G.H.T.); Reading Skills Lab; 735 House; and the summer camp programs including New Visions Day Camp.

This series is made up of correspondence from funders and consultants; program descriptions, reports and statistics from executive and program directors to funding sources; grant proposals and contracts; educational material used in rape awareness workshops; client activities schedules; program newsletters; newsletters from other social justice organizations; newspaper articles; and site visit reports by government and private funders. Minutes from the Massachusetts Coalition of Rape Services and the Dorchester Counseling Center's Human Rights Committee are also included. Grant proposals found only in this series, such as the Community Based after School Tutorial Program, Elderly and Persons with AIDS Counseling and Placement, and the HUD/RMSC Summer Clean-up were never funded. The grant proposals and contracts scattered throughout this series are incomplete. Series 5 contains grant proposals for both funded and non-funded programs. Also, see Series 2 Board of Director minutes for background on such programs as the Teen Education Center, the South Boston School Enrichment Program, and the Day Treatment program (Box 3, Folders 1-6).

Of special interest is CPASA's relationship to the Derby (England) Rape Crisis Center, the Women's Crisis Center in Manila, Philippines, and the rape crisis center in Belize. Also of interest are the (unpublished?) drafts of the "Violence Against Women" chapter of Our Bodies, Ourselves.

Series:

5. Grants and Contracts, 1970-1999

Alphabetical

This series documents the government and private sources from which RMSC sought funding for its programs and operations. Funders include ABCD; the City of Boston, including the Public Facilities Department; The Boston Foundation; United Way; the Hyams Foundation; Boston Private Industry Council; and the State of Massachusetts, including the departments of Education, Youth and Social Services, and the departments of Mental Health and Public Welfare. Records included in this series are audits, budgets, correspondence, program descriptions, reports, statistics, contracts, and grant proposals. The proposals also include supporting material, such as newsletters, progress reports, and program activities. There are grant proposals scattered throughout Series 2 Board of Directors, Series 3 Executive Directors, and Series 4 Programs that do not appear in Series 5. Series 5 contains both funded and non-funded grant proposals.

Also included in this series are the monthly reports to the Massachusetts Department of Pubic Welfare from the Family House Shelter program. These reports include the number of families served, head of household, shelter logs, and meal and placement statistics. Monthly reports to the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services and the Department of Social Services contain gender, age, race, and assessment reports.

Of special interest are the La Alianza Hispana Proposal and the documentation required by ABCD for funding compliance. These records include corrective action plans, compliance reports, diversity data, work plans, progress reports, and client characteristics reports. United Way Allocation Packets generally include information not found in any other grant proposals, such as lists of collaborating agencies; amount of funding from other sources; clients' gender, age, race/ethnicity, demographic and geographic areas; individual program problem response forms; and program description forms including target populations and program methodology.

Series:

6. Outside Organizations, 1977-1999

Alphabetical

This series documents activities, events, and programs of organizations in and around the Roxbury and North Dorchester neighborhood and organizations with which RMSC collaborated. Records include meeting minutes, annual reports, newsletters, grant proposals, and program curricula and descriptions.

Series:

7. Audio-visual and Memorabilia, 1971-1995

Alphabetical. Organized into 3 subseries: A) Audio cassettes; B) Memorabilia; and C) Photographic images

This series consists of audio cassettes, memorabilia, and photographic materials documenting various aspects of RMSC, including staff, facilities, events, and programs. Memorabilia includes banners, buttons, posters, and a t-shirt. Of special interest is the audio cassette of the interview of executive director Ricardo Millett entitled "Boston Neighborhood Forum" and the cassette entitled "Narrative Overview of RMSC's History, Programs, and Progress". Also of interest is the audio cassette of the June 18, 1985 minutes of the Board of Directors meeting, which does not exist in hard copy.