The Houston Jewish Community Center will be open for the use of under-privileged Negro children every Saturday afternoon for the duration of the summer. The Center board voted unanimously to accede to the request of the Summer Youth Program to make the facilities available. The board of the Jewish Community Council and the Houston Rabbinical Association concurred in the decision.
The decision was described as a measure to fight racial divisiveness here and to establish a close understanding of the concern of the Jewish community for the welfare of the under-privileged. None of the Center staff will be actively directing the family resource program at the Center but staff members have volunteered to train Negro youth to serve as the program directors.
A letter from Harold Falik, president of the Center, explained to the Summer Youth Program leadership that the Center would not be able to provide staff because the programs would be on the Sabbath. Mr. Falik told the Jewish Herald-Voice that in making the Center and its facilities available, “we are following the wishes of a vast majority of our community.”
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.
