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Creator
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (U.S.)
Call number
Sc MG 227
Physical description
41 linear feet
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization records, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library

Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The records of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), 1966-1984, document the origin and development of the organization within the context of the social and religious turmoil of the late 1960s, a period which gave rise to Third World theological perspectives, and the radical critique of racism and materialism in American society. IFCO records consist of files for the various programs and projects IFCO developed to assist poor and disadvantaged peoples gain justice, self-determination and economic independence, primarily in the United States, and to a lesser extent, Africa. Included are hundreds of proposals submitted by community, educational, health care and other organizations to IFCO's Grant Making Program, which provide documentation of community empowerment organizations in the United States from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s.

Biographical/historical information

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is an interdenominational "parachurch" agency, created in late 1966 to open lines of communication between mainstream American churches and disenfranchised minority communities in the United States. Established by the United Presbyterian Church, the original membership consisted of nine religious groups and one foundation, only one of which represented a minority community. By the mid-1970s, however, IFCO had developed into the largest minority-controlled foundation in the country.

IFCO was a logical outgrowth of policies pioneered by the Board of National Missions of the United Presbyterian Church which, in April 1966, directed its Division of Church Strategy and Development to "pursue cooperation with other interested denominations in establishing and funding enabling structures for training organizers and for united support of local community projects". Up to that time no single national organization existed that coordinated financial support and program assistance for the many religious institutions interested in helping disadvantaged communities. Past attempts to enlist interdenominational support for local community development had always been frustrated, resulting in duplication and overlapping by the various missions. Nevertheless it was widely recognized that an ecumenical intermediary was needed through which interdenominational monies could be channeled.

Originally set up as an autonomous agency, IFCO later became affiliated with the Division of Church and Society of the National Council of Churches in 1976. The founding documents state that IFCO was established to find solutions to the problems that cause poverty through such vehicles as community and economic development, training in community organizing, and cooperative programs in communities where disadvantaged minorities lived. IFCO aimed to meet these objectives by engaging in direct fund raising, coordinating the involvement of member and cooperating agencies, conducting and commissioning research, reviewing requests for funding, and providing grants to community organizations that met the criteria.

The original ten member organizations were: the American Baptist Home Mission Societies; American Jewish Committee; Board of Missions of the United Methodist Church; General Board of Christian Social Concerns of the United Methodist Church; Catholic Committee for Urban Ministries; Executive Council of the Episcopal Church; Board of Homeland Ministries of the United Church of Christ; National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice; Board of National Missions of the United Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.; and the Foundation for Voluntary Service. Member organizations paid $1,000 annual dues and were entitled to appoint two representatives to the board.

At the time of IFCO's formation, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) was the only minority organization, and Rabbi Marc H. Tannenbaum, the national director of Interreligious Affairs of the AJC, became IFCO's first president. By 1967 the economic and social crises in the United States had focused most sharply among African Americans, and in recognition of this, IFCO established funding for projects affecting the black community as its top priority. Membership on the board was expanded to include greater minority representation and non-religious groups from all regions of the United States. Thus, by 1971 IFCO's policy decisions were being made by a board comprised of representatives from fifty-two member organizations: thirty-five African American, three Mexican American, two Native American, and twelve white organizations.

A board of directors served as IFCO's governing body and was responsible for raising funds, creating the financial plan, and determining policy. Other board committees were established to deal with communications, training, screening, planning and strategy, and personnel. In addition, two bodies were named to help formulate policy with regard to programming for American Indians: the American Indian Task Force-advisory committee and the Indian Consultation Board. The board also established policies and criteria for the grant making aspect of IFCO's program through its Proposals Advisory Committee (PAC). Although PAC evaluated grants and proposals with the executive director, the executive director was empowered to "make awards of grants within the policy and criteria limitations imposed by the Board".

The primary sources of IFCO's funds between September 1967 and March 1970 were the American Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the United Presbyterian Church, and the North Carolina Fund. Contributions from these sources totaled $2,630,000, with additional funding being provided by other foundations, churches, and individuals. From 1967 to 1975 IFCO granted funds totaling $4,170,000 to hundreds of national and international organizations. Although the demand for funding was consistently high, IFCO was never sufficiently funded to meet the requests of deserving programs. In 1969 alone, one hundred twenty-five programs requested over $11 million in funding, however, IFCO was only able to fund forty-eight grants totaling $862,000.

The Rev. Lucius Walker, an American Baptist clergyman, was appointed IFCO's first executive director in 1967 and continued in this capacity until 1973 when he left to serve as Associate General Secretary of the National Council of Churches (1973-1978). Ann Douglas assumed the position of executive director in 1974, and Marilyn B. Clement functioned as IFCO's associate director in 1976. Walker returned to IFCO in 1979 to resume his former position where he continues at present. Howard Stanbeck served as interim director in 1982.

From the beginning IFCO was embroiled in controversy over its funding of community groups involved in militant and protest activities. The most well known controversy was over IFCO's sponsorship of the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) in Detroit in April 1969. The conference was an outgrowth of IFCO's black economic development programming which was to be a vehicle for fostering the empowerment of the black community. It was at this conference that James Forman, head of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), first proclaimed the Black Manifesto, which demanded $500 million in reparations from America's white churches and synagogues to be used to address problems in the inner cities. The response to the Black Manifesto resulted in negative publicity for IFCO, and led to the resignation of Rabbi Tannenbaum, who also withdrew the membership of his organization because IFCO's board refused to "take a clear-cut position on the revolutionary ideology and racist rhetoric of the Black Manifesto." By 1971, however, IFCO had given into the outside pressure and cut off funding to the NBEDC. Despite this early history with the NBEDC, IFCO did not shy away from supporting controversial groups with funding and technical assistance. Other groups they supported were: the American Indian Movement; the Committee for a Unified Newark and JIHAD Productions in Newark, New Jersey (founded by poet and radical activist Amiri Baraka); Cesar Chavez' United Farm Workers Union; the Woodlawn Organization, Chicago, Illinois; films in support of the revolutions in Angola and Mozambique; the militant National Welfare Rights Organization; and the United Command of Zimbabwe African Peoples Union.

Although most of the projects funded by IFCO aided efforts in the black community, early on the board of directors had approved staff recommendations to expand funding and services to Native American and Mexican American communities. Native Americans were initially represented in IFCO in 1969 via the American Indian Task Force that was comprised of urban and rural Native Americans. IFCO was also instrumental in helping shape the American Indian Movement (AIM). In addition, as early as 1968, IFCO was aiding Mexican Americans by funding projects ranging from assistance to migrant workers and improving education and housing, to training community development workers to function in their, or neighboring localities. The board also set a high priority on funding economic development projects in both communities.

IFCO established several organizations and training institutes, at both the regional and national level in this country and in Africa. In 1976 IFCO sponsored a National Organizers' Conference to bring together grass roots organizers with representatives of churches and funding agencies. The themes were economic crises and political repression and the implications for social change. Approximately four hundred participants from the network originally formed by IFCO, as well as others who were working for social change, convened in New York City. Workshop subjects included organizing strategies representing five different philosophies and styles of organizing. In addition, there were workshops focusing on many areas of organizing activity such as health care, land reform, and women's issues.

IFCO was also instrumental in consolidating local independent, self-help groups to form the Black United Fund (BUF), whose purpose was to assure that funding reached blacks who needed social and rehabilitative services in their communities, and that decisions would be made by blacks regarding the allocation of revenue received from public charities. IFCO awarded $50,000 to the Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade during its first four years of operation in order for it to serve as a model for the BUF concept. Moreover, they provided BUF leaders with training, assisted in the development of local BUFs, and urged the black media nationwide to support the BUF through public relations and information dissemination. The National Black United Fund was incorporated as a separate entity in 1971 and achieved its independence from IFCO in 1974. It continues to be a viable charitable force in today's society.

On the regional level, in 1969 IFCO staff spearheaded efforts to develop a coalition of churches, other religious bodies, and community organizations in Ohio and Michigan. Called the Michigan-Ohio Community Organization Council (MOCOC), its support was comprised of local and regional governing units of seven major churches. IFCO envisioned that the Michigan-Ohio Coalition would be the first step toward developing a Midwestern regional coalition that functioned in much the same way as IFCO itself, i. e., churches supporting community organization efforts determined by the groups themselves. IFCO planned to expand the two-state coalition to include Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, however, due to internal problems, by 1970 IFCO elected to close the regional office and return all decision-making to the main IFCO office in Manhattan.

In March 1968 the IFCO board voted to institute an international program. The Community Organizers Training Institute (COTI), renamed the Amilcar Cabral Institute in 1973 to honor the assassinated leader of the struggle for liberation of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, was the major educational component of the international program. The Cabral Institute consisted of five programs designed to train minority individuals for leadership and staff positions in community organizations, train seminarians in community organizing, and establish Black United Funds. Among the other international programs IFCO supported were the African Liberation Support Committee, a program that mobilized African Americans to support African liberation movements; a grant program to develop educational films for use in communities and churches, such as films about liberation struggles in Mozambique and Angola; and programs that studied the liberation struggles in Asia, Latin America and Africa through IFCO's Cabral Training Institute.

Within its international program, IFCO also developed the Relief for Africans in Need in the Sahel (the region in north central Africa, south of the Sahara that is characterized by periodic drought) Project, also known as RAINS. The Cabral Institute developed and subsidized the operation of RAINS, which consisted of twenty-six groups that attempted to secure an effective response to the Sahelian drought. RAINS sought to carry out three objectives: apply political pressure on the U. S. for direct and massive government aid to the countries involved; coordinate fund raising for West African famine relief; and organize research and technical assistance in the drought affected areas. In 1973, through RAINS, IFCO sponsored a coalition of concerned black individuals and organizations to seek massive, immediate relief for drought-stricken countries of the Sahel.

From its inception the range of ethnic groups and projects assisted by IFCO was greatly diversified, encompassing Alaskan Eskimos, Native Americans, blacks, Mexican Americans, poor whites, and Africans. It helped bring about community action in projects in such wide-ranging fields as voter education, organization of exploited workers, and community owned cooperatives, job training, urban planning and rights of victimized tenants. In the 1990s IFCO continued to function primarily by conducting research, providing information and financial and technical assistance to community organizing efforts in the United States. Member agencies in more than forty cities currently work in the fields of political organization, housing, education, job training, and legal aid.

Scope and arrangement

The records of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), 1966-1984, document the origin and development of the organization within the context of the social and religious turmoil of the late 1960s, a period which gave rise to Third World theological perspectives, and the radical critique of racism and materialism in American society. IFCO records consist of files for the various programs and projects IFCO developed to assist economically and politically disadvantaged peoples gain justice, self-determination and economic independence, primarily in the United States, and to a lesser extent, Africa. Included are hundreds of proposals submitted by community, educational, health care, and other organizations to IFCO's Grant Making Program, that provide in-depth documentation for many community empowerment organizations in the United States from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s.

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization records are arranged in thirteen series:

  • Board of Directors
    1967-1981
    .8 linear feet

    The minutes and correspondence in this series do not encompass the full date span of the records on hand. As a result, they provide a limited picture, from the board's point of view, of the organization's activities, its achievements, and failures. The minutes that are available nevertheless document IFCO's operations and include scattered minutes for the general board and executive committee meetings. Among the files are those for the financial development, membership, and personnel committees. Additional files include those for the Indian Board of Consultants (1969-1970) and the Black Caucus (1970). The former contains an early discussion of IFCO's interest in addressing the concerns of the American Indian community, while the Black Caucus file contains a document which reveals IFCO's efforts to forge and maintain a black perspective as it affected the programs and policies of the Foundation. The Caucus, which was made up of black board and staff members, and elected delegates representing the historically black church denominations, was established to present and represent black concerns at IFCO board meetings and to review grants and program recommendations after grants had been evaluated by the Proposal Advisory Committee.

    The Proposal Advisory Committee (PAC) files, 1967-1975, are the most extensive board files, and document the significant role played by the PAC members in reviewing and selecting grant recipients. Files contain proposal summaries (also found in the Grant Making Program series) written by staff for review by PAC screening committee members, budgets, and minutes that reflect the interaction between staff and committee members regarding program decisions.

  • Administration
    1966-1982
    2.7 linear feet

    Administrative procedures, planning documents and reports, public relations files, financial records, directors' and staff files constitute this series which covers nearly two decades of IFCO's history. The executive director's reports for the years 1970, 1971, and 1974 only are available in the collection. The 1970 report refers to the loss of funding from the Board of National Ministers of the Presbyterian Church (U. S.), and an update on the Michigan-Ohio Community Organization Council and economic development programs. Most of Walker's 1971 report describes the organization's financial difficulties as a result of the controversial National Black Economic Development Conference. Similarly, the 1974 report discusses the impact of the reduction in funding for IFCO's programs and projects. Walker's correspondence with church representatives in the U. S. and Africa, elected officials, and individuals with black organizations, and his fund raising activities sheds some insight into his role as an administrator. Likewise, his speech, "A Case for Reparations to Black America", a response to James Foreman's Black Manifesto in which he analyzed Foreman's demands, reveals his skill as a mediator.

    Also included are manuals developed to provide guidance for the review of proposals and the provision of technical assistance to grassroots and community organizations. The planning document, "Concept Design for IFCO's Second Five Years, 1973", featured the new international emphasis in the grant making program, highlights of IFCO's training agenda, and programs and projects such as regional offices, an economic development agency, and the national organizers conference.

    Due to a relatively brief tenure as IFCO's executive director, Ann Douglas' files are not as extensive as Walker's. However, in her files can be found documentation for the beginnings of two of IFCO's major program initiatives: a proposal to the Charles E. Merrill Foundation requesting funding for technical assistance to grassroots and community organizations, and correspondence concerning the creation of local Black United Funds as conceived by IFCO. Staff files, arranged alphabetically by last name of the staff member, are not always substantive and, thus do not reflect the extent of the staff member's responsibilities. Marilyn Clement's (Assistant Executive Director) files, from 1971 to 1974, indicate that she was responsible for public relations, proposal writing, providing technical assistance to grant applicants, and for arranging the National Organizers Conference, however, her files do not document the full scope of these activities. Similarly, the files for the Associate Director from 1968 to 1969, Louis Gothard, contains sparse and scattered documentation. Typical of other staff files found in the collection, is the file for Ray Santiago, Program Analyst, 1973-1974, which consists of a few items related to his field trips.

    Included in this series are FBI files on the National Council of Churches (NCC) and the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC), which were acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. IFCO had become a target of COINTELPRO following the delivery of the controversial Black Manifesto at the NBEDC. The files contain letters to J. Edgar Hoover, then Director of the FBI, seeking information regarding the possibility of subversive activities by the NCC, and Hoover's responses.

  • Alaskan Natives Project
    1969-1974
    .1 linear feet

    This is the smallest of the project series, with only three files for four organizations. Among them are files for the Alaska Federation of Natives Project, which include correspondence, proposals, news releases, and a draft report concerning, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 1970.

  • American Indian Projects
    1968-1983
    4.7 linear feet

    Shortly after IFCO was established the board formed the Indian Board of Consultants to assist in identifying the needs of the American Indian community. The American Indian Projects series reflects IFCO's subsequent work with Native Americans, and is the second largest series in the collection. There is information on a number of Indian tribes: Crow, Sioux, Comanche, Lakota, and Navajo, as well as inter-tribal organizations, from around the country. File contents include proposals, agreements, and reports, correspondence with several church denominational representatives, minutes of meetings, copies of Indian treaties with the United States, and conference materials. IFCO also proposed the establishment of an American Indian task force to advise IFCO on American Indian affairs and communicate with urban, rural and regional tribal representatives. Files for the task force contain a proposal from IFCO requesting funding in order to establish a task force and evaluate proposals.

    There are several files on the American Indian Movement (AIM), which IFCO helped establish. Contents of these files include a feasibility-like study on AIM, the articles of incorporation, minutes, transcript of an IFCO meeting in May 1969, correspondence, activity report, newsletters, and newspaper clippings. A transcript of the trial proceedings in the case of the United States vs. Dennis Bank and Russell Means for the occupation of Wounded Knee can also be found here.

    Included are files for the Joint Strategy and Action Committee (JSAC), an ecumenical organization similar to IFCO that worked with Indians, Chicanos, Alaskan Eskimos and rural residents. Files include minutes, correspondence, and proposal summaries.

    There are also several files dealing with the Native American Consultation with Churches, a meeting or retreat convened at the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, South Dakota in 1975. In response to a request for information about American Indians and the lack of resources in their communities, church leaders proposed and assembled a meeting to discuss these issues. Individuals representing fourteen tribes and twelve denominations attended. The files contain materials from the planning meeting, as well as for the actual meeting and workshops, and include reports and plans regarding a follow up meeting for the next year. A folder, entitled, "Post-Conference Correspondence, Resolutions", contains letters, resolutions and a petition on Native American concerns. That folder also contains background information on Leonard Crow Dog, a Sioux medicine man who was arrested, tried and sentenced for his role in the occupation of Wounded Knee.

  • Black United Fund Project
    1967-1974
    .4 linear feet

    This series documents the formation of the National Black United Fund (NBUF) and local, independent, affiliated Black United Funds (BUF). There is a file containing Richard E. Charles' (a consultant) comments on Walker's original proposal to establish a United Negro Fund, a precursor to the NBUF. Unfortunately, Walker's proposal is not in the collection. A paper, titled, "An Idea in Need of Support: United Black Appeals (UBA)", available in these files, proved to IFCO that a national fund raising organization with local independent agencies could survive. The correspondence in the files indicates that IFCO and UBA occasionally exchanged fund raising techniques.

    There is also correspondence with the Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade, Inc., an organization IFCO funded to develop local BUFs. Additionally, the folder contains proposals from IFCO to other organizations to fund the NBUF, as well as correspondence and preliminary plans to organize the first NBUF training program curriculum at Atlanta University's School of Social Work. Other documents include agreements and research reports that show the development of the NBUF and local, autonomous BUFs under IFCO's auspices.

  • Economic Development Project
    1.8 linear feet

    The bulk of this series relates to the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) sponsored by IFCO in 1969. The files document the ensuing historic confrontation brought about by James Foreman's reading of the Black Manifesto at the conference and the ultimate rejection by white churches and synagogues of this call for reparations. In addition, there are files for two other economic development conferences, both held in 1968, the Southern Economic Development Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Rural Economic Development Conference in Waveland, Mississippi, including copies of papers given at those conferences. Neither conference was sponsored by IFCO.

    The files for the NBEDC contains information on the steering committee that helped to plan the conference and includes various planning documents. Among the steering committee members were Julian Bond (also a panelist at the conference), Vincent Harding, Robert Browne, John Conyers, Fannie Lou Hamer, and attorney Howard Moore. There are files containing speeches and papers presented at the conference, among them NBEDC's position paper on economic development. There is also a copy of Forman's manifesto, a chronology of the events that occurred before the speech was delivered and the controversy that ensued afterward, as well as extensive files on the responses from several denominations, and articles.

  • Grant Making Program
    1966-1980
    16.4 linear feet

    This is the largest series in the collection, containing nearly 1,000 proposals from organizations throughout the United States and Africa. Proposals were received from various ethnic groups in the United States (black, Chicano, Asian-American, Mexican-American, Puerto Rican), poor and working class urban communities, and agricultural and rural communities. A variety of organizations, including social service, community, and grass roots organizations, self-help groups, health care, church groups, employment and training agencies, publishers, and educational organizations, among others, submitted proposals. Folder contents include proposals, reports, printed material and correspondence.

    Also in this series are files kept by the staff regarding the administration of the grant-making program, including preliminary and follow-up files on the proposal review process from 1967 through 1986. There are status reports detailing the amount of money dispensed to a community group or organization, evaluations of proposals and recommendations by year, summaries, and information on model projects. IFCO staff established three categories for proposals: those that were not funded because they were outside of IFCO's guidelines; proposals that merited funding, but were not due to insufficient funds or because revisions were needed, and funded proposals. The files in this series, however, have been reorganized by the name of the organization or program, in one alphabetical arrangement for easy access. Whether or not a project was funded, can be determined by the correspondence and other documentation in the folders.

    Files do not exist for all of the projects funded by IFCO, such as MASS (Material Assistance Support System) in the former Portuguese African colonies, or the grants to FRELIMO in Mozambique and ZANU/ZAPU in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, it is in this series that the full range of the organizations that IFCO worked with and the full impact of its power as a minority-controlled foundation can be found. The list of organizations and programs provides us with a snapshot of community action in the 1970s, a period when so-called minority groups sought to empower themselves and their communities in numbers that were unprecedented up to that time. The proposals frequently provide the only extant information on an organization, many of which are now defunct.

  • Mexican-American and Chicano Projects
    1968-1976
    .4 linear feet

    Most of the files in this series contain proposals for community development projects, leadership training seminars, and educational programs. Contents of the files include proposal summaries and evaluations, a few newsletters and correspondence. There is also a list of IFCO's funding of Chicano and Mexican-American projects from 1968 to 1971. Among the organizations represented in this series are the National Council of La Raza, La Raza Information Center, the Mexican American Unity Council Organization, and Organized Migrants in Community Action (OMICA).

  • Michigan-Ohio Community Organization Council Program
    1967-1975
    .8 linear feet

    This series contains information on IFCO's attempts to develop a coalition that would replicate IFCO's role on a regional level. There are files for the Michigan Community Organization Council and the Ohio Council for Community Organizations, as well as information on the development of the coalition. Reports, proposals and correspondence provide details of the experiment, its achievements, and problems. Folder contents include minutes of meetings, proposal evaluations and recommendations, financial reports and statements, and field reports. A 1975 report summarizes IFCO's efforts to implement this program and the problems that prevented it from becoming a successful model.

  • Relief for Africans In Need In The Sahel Project
    1973-1978
    .2 linear feet

    The RAINS series is comprised of several papers on the drought and famine in the Sahel region, as well as IFCO board minutes containing a discussion of the procedures for granting funds for famine relief. Additionally, the decision by IFCO's International Task Force on African Affairs, convened in 1978, to refocus the program on a broader geographical area, particularly Southern Africa, is reflected in the task force's minutes. The National Council of Churches' Policy Statement on Southern Africa, and a program proposal written by IFCO executive director, Ann Douglas, seeking funds for the RAINS program, and to develop farm land and an infrastructure in the Sahel to avert future droughts, complete this series.

  • Training Institute Program
    1968-1976
    .8 linear feet

    Series pertains to IFCO's attempts to develop a national and later, an international, training program. Included are correspondence, reports, minutes and program evaluations that document one of IFCO's primary objectives - to train blacks, Asian-Americans, American Indians, Mexican-Americans, Chicanos, poor whites, Eskimos, and Africans to become community organizers who would, after their training, return to their communities to organize grassroots activities and programs. Although relatively sparse, the files show the trajectory of IFCO's planning in this area. Among the files are proposals for training in leadership development and community organizing. There is a 1969 report to the IFCO Training Committee regarding a proposed demonstration training institute developed by IFCO and a file for IFCO's first instruction project, a Ministers Leadership Training Program which they created for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. There are also files for the Community Organizers Training Institute (COTI) established in 1972 in Washington, D. C., and the Amilcar Cabral Training Institute, 1973-1974.

    The National Organizers Conference in 1976 was one of IFCO's most successful projects, and was planned by a forty-one-member steering committee, including IFCO staff. In addition to steering committee planning documents, file contents include correspondence, mailing lists, notes, panelists' papers and biographical sketches, conference evaluation forms, and an analysis of the conference possibly prepared by Marilyn Clement, one of the primary organizers. The entire conference was videotaped, however, the videotape is not included in the collection. A play script by Amiri Baraka, "Senate Bill #1" which was performed at the conference, is included.

  • Organization Files
    1966-1981
    2.4 linear feet

    Organization and subject files were kept separately by IFCO staff; however, no apparent distinction appears to exist between the two files, with two exceptions. The Organization files usually contain a history of the organization, and occasionally correspondence between the organization and foundation staff. The series is arranged alphabetically.

    Types of materials that can be found in the Organization series files are reports, flyers, minutes, newspaper clippings, brochures, studies, and newsletters. For the majority of the organizations represented in this series there is usually one folder, with some exceptions. The National Council of the Churches of Christ/Division of Church and Society (NCC/DCS) is represented by several folders, including correspondence and minutes for the Racial Justice Working Group. Of interest among the NCC/DCS files is a position paper, "A Strategy for the National Council of the Churches of Christ", and a 1966 working paper, "A Strategy for the Next Stage in Equal Rights: Metropolitan - Rural Development for Equal Opportunity". These files contain proposals, correspondence, minutes of meetings, guidelines for program evaluation teams, reports, a 1973 program and budget, news releases, and newspaper clippings. Also of interest in the Racial Justice files is a report of the alleged 1972 Wilmington, North Carolina (racial) "Insurrection".

  • Subject Files
    1966-1984
    2.6 linear feet

    Subject files usually include literature apparently retained by foundation staff to keep them knowledgeable and abreast of topics, issues, and organizations related to their work. The subject files encompass a wide range of topics and contain reports, brochures, form letters, and newspaper clippings. There are several folders on Africa of material from the United Nations, Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola, the Southern Africa Committee, and "Facts and Reports", edited by the Angola Comite da Costastraat. The files on Africa also contain the following reports, "American Corporations and Racial Discrimination in South Africa", and "Civil Rights or Black Cure: the Black American Response to South Africa" by Ronald W. Walters, then associate professor of political science at Howard University. A file on the Black Affairs Council (BAC) contains their publication; "Focus On", that includes information on BAC funded projects such as the National Black Economic Development Conference, Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement and other projects. The Black Efforts for Soul in Television (Washington, D. C.) file has a chronology from September 1969 to November 1971 of their efforts to obtain realistic portrayals of blacks in television. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee file contains copies of their newsletter. There are also several files on "Vietnam", with newsletters, newspaper clippings, a Swedish Delegation report from Indochina, and brochures.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Received from Lucius Walker, Executive Director of IFCO, December 1989, SCM 85-8

Processing information

Processed by Paula Williams and Janice Quinter with the assistance of Patrick Anicette, and Octavia Inman. Finding aid prepared by Paula Williams and Janice Quinter with the assistance of Diana Lachatanere, November 1999.

Separated material

The following items have been transferred to Schomburg Art and Artifacts Division (November 7, 1996):

Poster - Elizabeth Catlett; Stickers - I Am My Brother's Keeper / Afro-American Patrolmen's League

The following items have been transferred to Schomburg Photographs and Print Division (November 7, 1996):

87 photos, 6 negatives

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor