Sargent Shriver

Early this year Sargent Shriver passed away. From then until now I have considered
nearly every day what a profound effect he had on me, on my city, on my family,
through his policy of trusting people to employ their government to grow.
When President Johnson asked Sargent Shriver to head Great Cities, I thought "O wow, another government program. It won't be administerd to benefit anyone I know." I was too wrong! My mother followed the guidelines to apply for funds for the children in her surrounding neighborhood. I was married with a child by then, but my mother told me she was serious about needing me to get involved. Since I was trying to complete an undergrad degree, I initially thought I was too busy to make a committment to a project which would never come to fruition.
In the end, though, I saw the proposal I helped her write actually did get funded. So one day I went down to the church building, which was mainly a donated space to help with the program for children I felt were going to amount to an unruly chore group. Again I was so wrong. The children were young, from around eight years of age to maybe, twelve. Mom had named the program E.A.R.N. and Learn. The kids I met were engaged and engaging. My mother had hired a young art student from a nearby university to give the children art lessons twice per week. Initially, I thought even that was sort of an erudite idea. I visited the program one day, though - during an art lesson.
I felt such amazement at how quiet, how orderly, how eagerly the children soaked up the lesson on color and shading, and perspective. That lesson proved to be the first real art lesson I had ever received myself! The young people were respectful when they asked questions, but were not actually eerily quiet. They were truly working hard on their assigned projects. The teacher was very generous to let me sit in because she at first thought I would be a distraction, or an estimator of some sort for my mother. In the end I had a great deal of fun helping pass out the lunches that day, and helping preserve art for parents to see. I tried to visit the program to help out each day after that.
E.A.R.N. and Learn children did chores for elderly residents in their neighborhood. They swept up lawns, got a few groceries, swept porches, went to the mailbox, little things which could be supervised by the adults in the program. Every week they got paid. Every day they got a lunch. Every week they got a little evaluation by their seniors. Every week a tiny amount was put into individual accounts for them, a savings for program's end.
I just couldn't believe how motivated the very young very blonde teacher was each and every class period, how precisely my dad kept each and every receipt and expenditure in its proper place. The adults were so productive. The children were so industrious. Those getting services were so proud. The parents were so proud. Not from that day until this have I seen such positive governing at work. There was no waste. There was no fraud. There ws no putting children at risk. There were no parental complaints except that a few of them wanted to be more involved. There were no elder complaints.
In the end, Chrysler took the name of the program in a desperate move to garner some government attention at some point. We waved that away, as Great Cities had come to an end anyway by then. I'm not aware of what the name was used for at Chrysler.
Mom died in 1998, but a representative from the city came to her funeral to speak of her loveley achievement during the seventies, and to say there would always be a plaque to commemorate that achievement hanging in a place of honor in the City Hall.
I have seen first hand that children love to be the focus of meaningful education on any subject. I have seen first hand that every teacher is different from every other teacher. I have seen that a tiny church a few blocks east of Mack and Van Dyke on a street corner in Detroit can be a place of immense joy and community.
Forever and ever, I will thank Sargent Shriver for the depth and breadth of his conscience, of his wisdom, and of the gift those both were to us in America's great cities. Thank you Sargent Shriver.