Historical May 1981 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Washington Heights Neighbors are building a skills bank.
With the help of volunteers and an UMSL computer, they are developing a system in which people’s special skills can be identified and used, traded to create a self-help program for home and community maintenance.
In response to a Goal and Prioritysetting Workshop, held on February 21, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Williams volunteered to tabulate survey results from a door-todoor survey of Washington Heights residents.
The surveys ask residents to list their skills, from paint stripping to reupholstery, from architecture to canning, and whether they would be interested in either trading those skills, or being listed in a skill bank, a services directory of skills available in Washington Heights.
The Goals Workshop asked board members of Washington Heights, and others in the community who attended, to identify the major problems and needs of the neighborhood. Linda Holtzman, workshop coordinator, summarized those results in a report: “As we began to categorize the needs identified into the usual content areas (employment, housing and community development, economic development, health care, crime and education) it became clear that the bulk of the responses did not fall under these labels. Rather, people seemed to look upon conflict, lack of communication and unity as one of the gravest concerns in the neighborhood; with housing and community development a close second.” The Workshop went on to develop strategies to meet the major need with a skills bank emerging as an idea for helping neighbors know each other, and fight inflation as well. Consequently, a group of volunteers developed the questionnaire, and distributed it on March 28.
Mr. Williams is tabulating the initial figures and the University of Missouri will calculate the final results which will have been presented on April 25 at a neighborhood meeting.
Originally published in The Paper, May 1981.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1981_05.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
