VESPRA Enabling Communities through a Community Based Psychosocial Support Program 1965-1970

Abstract

The objective of this report is to share with the reader, an early method of community mobilization in a then resource poor territory of the United States: Puerto Rico. The program initiated the mobilization method by recruiting youth to visit communities, engage its citizens in conversations that resulted in prioritization of problems, identification of community capitals, and action. The U.S. Federal Government provided funding for the program from 1965-1971. Importance of the study: Community mobilization is gaining importance within the scientific areas of psychosocial support and community mental health as the world faces natural disasters, movement of people and climate change. While this study looks at events that happened in the 1960’s the results of this strategy and community experiment are used today in programs such as VISTA in the United States and Humanitarian Agencies providing community-based programs to poor people. Method for data collection: This is a qualitative study and so a multi method approach for collection, interpretation and analysis of data relies on the facts as gathered from a desk study of the U.S. Government, and Government of Puerto Rico Archives as well as trying to make sense of events on the ground through participant observation and interviews with former volunteers, paid staff and participant communities (1965-1971), and offering examples from newspaper reports, of the period, to relate to the reader the meaning people gave to these events in real time. Reporting of Findings: The findings for this study are reported sequentially from 1965 to 1971. The format is: 1) the fact, 2) impact, and 3) event. The findings include explanation of training methods, recruiting of personnel, administrative tasks, and the consequences on the ground as reported in newspapers, or follow-up quarterly reports from the field. The most important event was the formation of the Poor People’s Council, and their subsequent participation in Boards of programs that impacted their future. Footnotes are used within text to represent additional content that supplements the text.