President Nixon is expected to sign into law early this week the “Ethnic Heritage Studies Program” act which its sponsor said will include Jewish communities in the United States. Congress approved the program Friday as part of the Higher Education Aid law.
The act, sponsored by Sen. Richard S. Schweiker (R. Pa.), recommends expenditure by the Administration of up to $15 million for carrying out its provisions during the first year. The act authorizes the US Commissioner of Education to make grants for programs, development of curriculum material. and dissemination of information relating to the history, culture and traditions of the country’s various ethnic and minority groups.”
An aide to Sen. Schweiker told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “The Jewish communities certainly will be included in this program.” Other groups include Blacks, Mexicans, Central and Eastern Europeans, Puerto Ricans and other Latin Americans, as well as Chinese, Japanese, American Indians and others.
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare will prepare the materials in cooperation with representatives of the ethnic groups. The materials will be disseminated through their centers. The aide said “in the case of the Jewish people, we expect they would be distributed from a temple, a community center or a school.”
Sen. Schweiker described the act as “a pilot program” and said one of the measures of its success would be “how well various ethnic and minority groups work together in getting this program started.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
