That with a view to preventing sickness which is caused by
the unavoidable neglect of children in their home, the Local
Government Board should be asked to remove the restriction
which at present confines the provision of Home Helps to
maternity cases, and to extend the scope of the board's grant
for the provision of such assistance in any home where, in
the opinion of the local authority, it is necessary in the
interests of the children that it should be given, and agreed
that if the Subsidiary Health and Kindred Services Committee
were prepared to adopt it in their report it would be
undesirable to continue their own sittings.
The resolution was adopted by that committee, and the Home
Helps' Committee was dissolved.
We are not unconscious of the great need that exists for
further preventive measures in connection with health
services, more especially as regards children, and we think
that the question of Home Helps must first be explored in
this connection. We are of the opinion, however, that as
regards help with domestic work, the position of the wives of
professional men with small incomes, and of the large army of
men of moderate means who are engaged in commerce and
industry is becoming critical, and that some form of
municipal service might help to solve this most difficult
problem.
RECREATIONAL AGENCIES
The public parks, playgrounds, and recreation centers, and the social
settlements, constitute the main community provision for the social
and recreational activities of immigrant groups living in the
congested sections of industrial cities. Certain problems in the
adaptation of the services and resources of such agencies to the needs
of an immigrant neighborhood have been brought out in our
consultation with representative men and women from various
nationalities living in different sections of Chicago.
The history of Dvorak Park may serve to indicate the nature of some of
these problems. Established when the population of the district it was
designed to serve was almost exclusively Bohemian, this small park was
given its distinctively Bohemian name, and the district chosen was
Bohemian. It became at once a popular recreation center for the
neighborhood, as the facilities provided in the playground and field
house were admirably suited to the needs of the people. Representative
men and women who have kept in touch with the later immigrants of
their nationality speak with greatest enthusiasm of the value of the
park to the Bohemian community. Its services in relieving the monotony
of the lives of immigrant women, and especially of mothers of large
families, is noteworthy.
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