Project Uplift
Encyclopedia
Project Uplift was a major short-term program of the Great Society
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice...

. It was an experimental anti-poverty program in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

, New York in the summer of 1965, intended to prevent the recurrence of the riots that hit the community the summer before. Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, more commonly called HARYOU, was a social activism organization founded by Dr. Kenneth Clark in 1962 and directed by Cyril DeGrasse Tyson . The group worked to increase opportunities in education and employment for young blacks in Harlem...

 (HARYOU), Associated Community Teams (ACT), and the National Urban League
National Urban League
The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...

 were deputized to organize a network of smaller organizations and employ thousands of young Harlemites in a variety of jobs intended, in the short run, to keep them busy and, in the long run, to give them skills and opportunities to break out of poverty.

Young people were employed running a summer camp, planting trees, repairing damaged buildings, and printing a newspaper. More surprising projects included a Project Uplift theater program, run by LeRoi Jones, and a dance program.

In the short run, Project Uplift was a success, there were no riots in the summer of 1965. However, the longer-range goals of the project were not met. Organizers did not hope to end poverty in one summer, of course, but if the 1965 pilot project had gone well, it might have been repeated, and on larger scale, until it had an impact.

However, the project was organized with very little lead time -- plans were written only weeks before the summer started, and proper research was impossible. Plans to plant 1500 trees in Harlem were scuttled, for example, when managers of the project discovered that one should not plant trees during the summer at all. Money was not allocated until June 25, though the program was to start June 28; this made it impossible to buy supplies in advance. Organizing over 100 agencies to work together was difficult, and the large groups involved fought for credit.
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