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newal. Every third household was monitored in
Census Tract 6526.
4. Somerville-Census Tract 3512
Somerville is a largely white, "blue-collar" suburb
of Boston located next to Cambridge. CDF wanted
to survey such an area and selected Census Tract
3512, with 3,000 persons under 18. Median family
income is $9,205 and 7 percent of the families have
incomes below the poverty level. This extremely
dense area has single and double family houses.
Monitoring was done by CDF staff and people identified
through Somerville Youth Program. Every
fourth household was visited during September and
October 1973 and February 1974.
5. Springfield
a. Census Tract 8008
According to the Census, Census Tract 8008 has
the highest percentage of persons of Spanish language,
50 percent, in Springfield. CDF found that
the Puerto Rican population is still growing. This
Census Tract has the lowest median family income
($5,119) and the highest percentage of families with
incomes below the poverty level (37 percent) in
Springfield. Housing in the areas is varied. Puerto
Rican families live chiefly in large tenement-like
apartment buildings, all in bad condition and many
condemned. In other sections there are single and
double family homes on tree-lined streets. CDF staff
monitored along with interpreters identified through
the Memorial Square Neighborhood Council and the
Springfield Urban League. Interviews were conducted
during August 1973 and a small number
during December 1973. Every third household was
visited.
b. Census Tract 8018
Census Tract 8018 has the highest percentage of
blacks (7 I percent) and the second lowest median
family income ($5,759) and percentage of families
with incomes below the poverty level (27 percent).
This heavily black area has one new, small, housing
project, but is made up largely of 20- to 30-year-old
single and double family, two-story, detached homes
plus occassional large subdivided old homes. Monitoring
was done by CDF staff along with Springfield
Urban League Cadets during August and December
1973. Every fourth household was visited.
MISSISSIPPI
Canton-Joe Prichard Homes Housing Project
Canton is a town of 10,503 people with black
and white populations of about equal size. The town
has extensive poverty: a median family income of
$3,918. Canton has two segregated housing projects;
CDF surveyed the black project: Joe Prichard
Homes. It has 26 brick buildings with 130 units.
Because housing conditions in Canton are very bad,
the housing project is not considered undesirable
given the housing which is available to the poor.
AFSC staff surveyed every household in the project
in December 1973.
SOUTH CAROLINA
I. Columbia
a. Census Tract 5
CDF wanted to survey a lower-middle-income urban
black area in the South. Census Tract 5 is 78
percent black with a median family income of $5,445
and 35 percent of the families with incomes below
the poverty level. It has over 1,000 persons under
18. Though there are some streets with bad housing,
housing in the area is chiefly comfortable, modest,
single-family brick homes built between 1930 and
1940 on tree-lined streets. The area, once white and
now heavily black, has some stable, integrated neighborhoods.
AFSC staff monitored in both Columbia
Census tracts in August 1973. Interviews were conducted
in every fourth household.
b. Census Tract 22
Census Tract 22 is a very small, middle-income
Census tract with less than 400 persons under 18.
This integrated but increasingly black area is characterized
by single family homes housing lowermiddle
to upper-midd1e-income people. AFSC staff
monitored every fourth household in August 1973.
2. Sumter County
a. Precinct 2
Precinct 2 was surveyed because of its heterogenous
population: racially mixed in both low-income,
rural areas and suburban-like, middle-income
neighborhoods. Although the Shaw Air Force Base
is located there, Shaw officials refused to let AFSC
monitors survey on-base housing. Off-base housing
includes a new housing development with $20,000
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