fhe interior of the gray stucco building at 1530 Eighth st. is like a busy little city of hope
Behind its doors are a small beauty shop, a grocery store, a laundry, a cafeteria, a sewing room and a factory section.
these establish-
Employed in
ments are 27 young girls who are preparing for a world that
was once unready to receive them.
These girls are mental retardates.
PUNCH CLOCKS
They punch time clocks at the Dr. Russell L. Holman Vocational Center.
Young women there earn no money, but it is their intention and devout hope to do so once they develop manual dexterity and skills taught at the center.
The fledgling institution opened its doors April 3, 1960.
Entering the big brown door
of the center that day were 10 young girls who had spent at least 17 unproductive years.
They had become accustomed to one thing in life: Failure.
To them and to the girls who are there now, the center meant the chance for a future of self-sufficiency, earnings and dignity. CENTER MAY CLOSE
Now — just a year and a half later—the futures of those girls are threatened.
The big brown door at Holman center may close for lack of funds.
"We simply cannot continue operating without funds we currently get from the state," said Miss Claire Robin, director of the center.
Gov. Jimmie H. Davis deleted support of the state department of education's program for mentally retarded children from his 1962 budget.
"Just as Louisiana was making great head way in solving a very complex problem, the governor decided the program for the mentally retarded was not worthwhile," the center's board of di-
pay at least the minimum wage, said Miss Robin.
Two other graduates are in beauty school preparing for careers. Another is in business
school, an exceptional feat for a person once classed as a "slow learner" whose only hope for earning money was to perform a repetitive job, said Miss Robin.
Ten of the current enrollees are in the center's eight-week evaluation period. Seventeen others have successfully nassed that
stage and are being trained in "good work habits," said Miss Robin.
Each girl the center places on a job will reimburse the state for paying her tuition by the taxes she pays over a three-year period, said Mrs. Taylor Caffrey chairman of the vocational ter committee of the Junio League of New Orleans
STARTED BY LEAGUE
The League started the center in co-operation with the sate department of education's vocational rehabilitation division.
The Junior League budgeted $25,000 for the center's first year of operation, with plans to gradually reduce its financial contrition and turn the institution entirely over to the state.
After the center receives a referral from vocational rehabilitation or counselors in schools, as much information a possible is compiled to assist the staff, volunteer psychologists and psychiatrists in working with the individual girl and her parents.
To enter the center, a girl's primary disability must be mental retardation. She must be able to travel alone or learn to do so and must have potential for full-time employment.
Mrs. daudine Scanlan, center instructor, said personal responsibility and self-sufficiency are stressed during both the evaluation and training periods. The girls are treated as adults, she said.
- mis is not a school," she said. "We let the girls know from he beginning that we expect them to learn to perform as if they were getting paid."
LEARNS SKILLS
Although the initial period-of a girl's enrollment is called the evaluation stage, she learns such skills as working in a grocery store, a cafeteria,, a laundry, sewing (including industrial sewing), and wrapping packages.
Each girl keeps a record of what she does all day Just as if she were getting paid for piece-1 work. The staff constantly evaluates the girls' occupational potential and personality development and adjustment.
After evaluation the girls are trained in skills, mostly repetitive. Many of them, however, upgrade their academic training during this training.
Twenty - five volunteers have (donated time equivalent to a full-jtime staff member during the past year, said Miss Robin. Staff members include Miss Robin, Mrs. Scanlan, Miss Simone Gui-chet, secretary, and Mrs. Elizabeth McCormack. social worker.
, social worKer.
The center's board of directors includes 35 persons, some of whom are psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors, business and professional men and women.
Most of the center's equipment was donated. PHOTO: Holman Vocational Center for Retardates May ClosePROGRESS of a young woman at the Dr. Russell L. Holman Vocational center, 1530 Eighth, is checked by Miss Claire Robin (left) and Mrs, Claudia© Scanlan (right)»
The young woman is learning the use of an adding machine, one of the many skills taught at the rehabilitation center. The center may close down for lack of funds.
