Juvenile delinquency (1955)

60 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Section coordinator Meets with planning committee to become familiar with town meeting plans. Responsible for making final check on physical arrangements for his section -. Public address. Heating, lighting, and ventilation. Seating arrangements to facilitate discussion. Charts, visual aids, exhibits, blackboards. Maintains attendance lists. TRAINING OP TOWN MEETING LEADERS A good planning committee trains its corps of assistants before the meeting begins. Some of these assistants, such as the recorders and coordinators, will be assigned personnel from participating agencies, and they may have prior experi- ence in conference participation. Others will have no previous experience. In such a situation, team training becomes essential. This training need take only a few hours for a small town meeting, but it may require a full day for larger programs. Training should be the responsibility of someone from the planning committee who is thoroughly familiar with the town meeting plan and method of operation. It should include a full description of the nature and purpose of the town meeting. General sessions The first general session explains to the group the organization and plan for the town meeting. Productive thought and discussion will be reached more quickly if the opening session : Creates an atmosphere in which the participant feels that he is important to the success of the meeting. It is important that the participants be made aware that all major decisions will be made by them. Reviews some of the problems leading to the calling of the town meeting. The participants should understand that the meeting will consider both their sug- gested problems as well as the leader's suggestions. A good town meeting takes time for a final session which is as important as the opening session. Here the entire group gets the essence of the program and a clear sense of the findings of the town meeting through hearing the reports of the individual section meetings. They make any necessary final decisions, and plan ways to carry out those decisions through group or individual efforts. Public commitment leads people to carry good intentions into action. The final session then should become a commitment session in which those attending publicly endorse the findings of the meeting and, at least by implication, declare that they will carry out its recommendations. Town meeting followup A successful meeting requires some kind of followup. A preliminary decision as to the type of organization needed to follow up on the town meeting should be made by the planning committee. This plan or an alternate plan should be detailed and endorsed by those attending the closing session. Some of the recom- mendations will be directed to specific organizations and agencies. No permanent new organization should be created unless no representative coordinating group exists in the community capable of furthering the recommendations. The followup committee might have the following functions : To forward reports of the meeting to the mayor, to the board of supervisors, and to the governor. To carry on the work of stimulating community action on the recommendations of the meeting. To develop plans for reassembly of the town meeting from time to time, to assay results and lay new community plans for effective action. To plan for the creation of a county committee on children and youth, advisory to the board of supervisors. Mr. Breitenbach. And the other is a workbook for those attending town meetings, entitled "An Outline of a Commimity Program for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency." This is still in the course of printing, and we will be happy to present it to the committee for inclusion as an exhibit. What we desire is to learn the local problems and local conditions which revolve around the causes and prevention of juvenile delin-