The Results of a First Year's Program for the Central Registration of Social Statistics

Abstract

Monthly reporting of statistics with regard to the service of social agencies in 29 cities in the United States was undertaken by a joint committee of the Association of Community Chests and Councils and the Local Community Research Committee of the University of Chicago in October, 1927. This undertaking had three chief objectives: (1) to increase knowledge of social work, (2) to provoke discussion that will bring about improvement in the technique of individual agencies, and (3) to teach agencies the reporting of comparable data in order to provide a more adequate factual basis for the co6perative planning of the community's social work. The collection of figures was begun in January, 1928, and reports have been received each month during the year. Plans are now under way to continue during 1929. The 29 co6perating communities are not cities but are, for the most part, metropolitan areas. The total population of the entire registration area on January 1, 1928, was a little over 13,000,000. The populations of the individual cities and the number of agencies expected to report are shown in Table I. The number of agencies does not vary directly with the population. Chicago, with the largest population and 358 agencies, heads the list, but Cincinnati has a slightly larger number of agencies than Detroit and Cleveland, cities two or three times as large.' Population ranges from about 3,000,000 in Chicago to 54,000 in Sharon, Pennsylvania, which has only 20 agencies. Only those cities were admitted to the registration area that undertook to forward reports covering at least 80 per cent of the social work in the area and that gave evidence of having a competent statistician or social worker to act as a local supervisor. This local supervisor is usually a member of the staff of the local community chest or council of social agencies. The central office in Chicago seldom makes direct contacts with any of the agencies in the area; all correspondence is carried on with the local supervisor, who is responsible for interpreting the schedules to the agencies, for collecting and forwarding the reports to Chicago, and for securing corrections on schedules that are questioned. The field of social work has been broadly defined for the purposes of