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Tribal Council - Special Section

Tribal Council - Special Section image Tribal Council - Special Section image Tribal Council - Special Section image
Parent Issue
Day
14
Month
December
Year
1973
OCR Text

October 29, 1973
To: City of Ann Arbor
From: Tribal Funding, Inc.
Re: Services provided from April to date

Tribal Funding, Inc., is the legal entity representing the Ann Arbor Tribal Council, a cooperation organization made up of concerned individuals within Ann Arbor’s rainbow (“youth”) community. Formed in 1969 to coordinate community activities and provide community services which are not provided through government or other social agencies the Tribal Council is dedicated to seeing that all of the needs of Ann Arbor’s “youth” community are adequately handled by people and organizations within that community. At the present time we are active (with varying degrees of involvement) in the areas of music, defense, communications, food, education, and drugs.

Until the end of 1972 our activities were centered at the Washington Street Community Center, which we shared with several other service-oriented groups active in the “youth” community. Located at 402 E. Washington, the Community Center was badly damaged by fire (and closed) December 15, 1972.

At the time of the fire the Tribal Council was principally involved in:

musical activities – we built and operated the Ann Arbor People’s Ballroom adjacent to the Community Center, serving 600 to 1,000 people at public events held there each week;

community defense activities – principally through the Psychedelic Rangers, a community-staffed security force which has taken the place of police at many “youth” community events in the city, such as the weekly Sunday free park concerts and the People’s Ballroom dances;

communications – principally through the Tribal Network telephone switchboard and information service and the People’s Communications Committee Radio Workshop, which did unique, community-service radio programming weekly on WNRZ-FM in Ann Arbor;

educational activities – principally through the Children’s Community Center, serving up to 20 children and their families on a five-day-a-week basis at the Center’s temporary facility in a house in Ann Arbor, and providing child care at free park concerts, the Blues & Jazz Festival, and the People’s Ballroom;

food-related activities – principally through the People’s Produce Co-operative, an organization (open to all residents of Ann Arbor) which, through collective buying and distribution, provides a way to meet the growing food crisis;

and the area of drug abuse – principally through the People’s Hard Drugs Committee of the Tribal Council, which is the organization which provided the initial funding (through a federal grant) for acquisition and renovation of the Washington Street Community Center. At the time of the fire, the Hard Drugs Committee was involved in drug education, advertising against hard drugs, and research.

It is significant to speak to our level of activity at the time of the loss of the Ann Arbor Community Center/Ballroom facility because we have only recently located a building in Ann Arbor which would, within the present range of resources, be suitable for a facility of the same type. The lack of a fully adequate, permanent site has had the effect of restricting our activity to previous area involvement, and we have not been able to significant expand to serve more of the ever-growing needs of the Ann Arbor “youth” community.

Since fire destroyed the Community Center in December 1972, we have had to continue existing Tribal Council activities at temporary locations wherever we could, with office and work space often donated by Tribal Council members and other people in the “youth” community. In August, four offices were rented at 1510 Hill St. on a temporary basis; and recently an adequate, purchaseable facility for the Tribal Council has been located in Ann Arbor and negotiations are presently in progress with its owner to acquire it.

Therefore, the specific period of this report was not a period of coordinated, highly-publicized, increasing activity on the part of the Tribal Council because there was no permanent, highly accessible location to serve as a center for our work. Instead we have concentrated our energies on maintaining and coordinating most activities at previous levels, along with trying to locate a permanent site so we could (once again) begin to expand and grow.

However, we do not in any way consider the activities described in this report to be insignificant. In fact, as our obligations to the Tribal Funding Inc. contract with the City of Ann Arbor are concerned, they more than fulfill all of the requirements. We want to strongly point out, however, that this contract and others like it that the City has entered into only speak to the needs of this community in the most fractional of manners, and much more in terms of both services and funding will continue to be needed now and in the future.

What follows are reports from each of the most active committees of the Ann Arbor Tribal Council – the People’s Music Committee, the People’s Defense Committee, the People’s Food Committee, and the People’s Education Committee. The reports cover the activities of these committees from April 1, 1973 to the present.

Re: Services provided from April 1 through September by the People’s Defense Committee, Ann Arbor Tribal Council

The People’s Defense Committee was organized to encourage young people to develop positive ways to handling legal and security problems, particularly at large gatherings of people like concerts and dances. The Psychedelic Rangers is the functioning arm of the People’s Defense Committee and has been working in Ann Arbor since 1969.

PSYCHEDELIC RANGERS

During the period from April 1st to September 1st the Psychedelic Rangers worked primarily at various benefits, at the summer free concerts, and at film showings, and made over $3,000 from those jobs, paid out in cash to the people participating. At the annual Blues & Jazz Festival in early September an additional $5,000 was paid for the services provided by 126 Rangers and future prospects look fairly good.

There were eleven summer concerts at which an average of 60 Psychedelic Rangers worked each week, 30 doing parking and 30 doing crowd security. Parking Rangers were paid $5 each per concert, and crowd Rangers $3 per concert. This amounts to approximately $2640.00 over the summer.

Psychedelic Rangers were hired by New World Film Co-op to help with security at their film showings starting in January ‘73. During the time period from April to July two to four Rangers divided $I0-20 per show for 41 shows and a total of $525.00. (New World Films terminated their showings for a short period and now hire Rangers for specific showings.)

Rangers also worked for free at various benefits and for the People’s Ballroom Project. During the specified time period there were four large benefits:

June 17 – Union Ballroom, 30 Rangers

June 22 – Carpenter Hall, 18 Rangers

July 20 – People’s Ballroom dance, South Quad, 20 Rangers

July 29 – Carpenter Hall, 22 Rangers

On September 7, 8, and 9 the Rangers did the crowd security at the Blues & Jazz Festival. 126 Rangers worked the three days and were paid $5,168 in salaries.

Rangers have been hired by UAC Daystar to do security at the dances that will be held in various dorms at the University of Michigan this year. 10-15 people are projected to work for $5 each per dance.

When the People’s Ballroom is functioning again the Rangers will do security at the events held there.

Summer Concerts 2640.00

New World Film Coop 525.00

Blues & Jazz Festival 5168.00

TOTAL $8333.00

How many people involved are from Ann Arbor? Does this program really serve the Ann Arbor community in a meaningful way?

95% of the people involved in the Rangers are from Ann Arbor. All the people working organizational capacities are from Ann Arbor. Rangers have felt it important to provide Ranger jobs from time to time to people from other cities to give them the experience and encourage them to start similar programs in their areas (park programs as well as ranger programs and ballroom projects).

At each job there is a percentage of new people working with the more experienced people. This turn-over of people is organized purposely to involve more people and so we can constantly evaluate and upgrade our level of performance.

There are many different kinds of people involved with the Ranger organization: high school students, college students, young working people, street people (meaning young people not working regularly or going to school at this time).

We would estimate that 80% of the people who attend the events Rangers work at are from Ann Arbor, based on our personal contact and discussions.

One of the most valuable aspects of the Psychedelic Rangers is their involvement in the problem of hard drugs, beginning years ago with the amphetamines and coming through the years with barbiturates, heroin, and the more recent influx of Quaaludes and other available prescription chemicals. Working at large events like concerts puts Rangers in direct public contact with the people who deal these drugs as well as the people who take them.

Other extremely important problems common to most of us are worked on by Rangers. Rip-offs, muggings and fights often involve some of the same people at concerts, bars, on the streets, in stores, restaurants and in schools. Rangers have direct access to these people also, and are helping to create a new consciousness about how to solve these common problems involving more people and avoiding jails.

How are Rangers assuring the further development of the program?

Besides practical experience at different jobs there are training sessions and meetings/discussions to attend. Many of the Rangers are certified in Overdose Aid and First Aid with both courses being offered periodically for more new people. Every Thursday for two hours from 4-6pm there are general discussions at open meetings about our work, evaluations, the future and how we can improve.

Every Saturday at 11am for 2-3 hours there are more specific meetings for organizational purposes to discuss each job and the details of how many people we need and what it is necessary to cover at each place. Specific proposals come out of these meetings about how to further develop the organizational methods of the Rangers and are discussed at the larger Thursday meetings. In addition, since we acquired an office Rangers can spend more time with each other during the week.

Rangers already produced one manual of information for the Blues & Jazz Festival and are in the process of producing another more general information manual for new and prospective Rangers, as well as a small brochure for the general public to explain ourselves and seek more jobs.

CONCLUSION

As more people get seriously involved in the Rangers the possibilities widen for the services Rangers can provide. For example, we have talked about being around town more on the streets where the problems grow more and more pressing all the time. We have gotten very positive response from the city police at these suggestions and are studying the situation.

For the Rangers it’s very important to have regular places to work where people gather in large numbers. The People’s Ballroom is key to the Ann Arbor community in that there was and will be again a known regular place for people to go and direct energy into music and dancing. People under 18 can go and people with kids can go and get to know each other and work together on such a rewarding project as well as do some clear and direct educating about drugs and rip-offs and fights that affect us all so much.

Rangers need to generate more consistent income throughout the year and get our own equipment, like flashlights, canteens, and Communications radios. We are working now on producing a brochure for public information so we can offer ourselves for more jobs and put a certain amount of our pay back into the Ranger account. This kind of work can only keep expanding and involving more people and needs as much support as it can get.

Re: Services provided by People’s Communications Committee, Ann Arbor Tribal Council, from April 1 to date

The purpose of the People’s Communications Committee of the Ann Arbor Tribal Council is to provide accurate, truthful information and all necessary Communications within the Tribal Council and the “youth” community as whole as well as Communications between the Tribal Council and the “youth” community and other organizations and communities. Activity has primarily centered on the Radio Workshop, publication of the Ann Arbor SUN news service, acquisition and management of Tribal Council mimeo equipment, and organization of part-time switchboard facilities at the temporary Tribal Council office facility.

RADIO WORKSHOP

The Radio Workshop of the People’s Communication Committee had a weekly, one-of-a-kind, community-oriented radio program on WNRZ-fm that was ended by an abrupt change in station policy by WNRZ management on April 22, 1973. A petition drive supporting the return to the air of the Radio Workshop program and other community-oriented programming cancelled at the station was initiated by the Workshop and it netted 12,000 signatures in the Ann Arbor area within two months.

Negotiation between WNRZ management, the Workshop, and other elements in the “youth” community were started, but they did not successfully result in a change of management policy. Members of the Radio Workshop currently are active with (and on the air at) WCBN in Ann Arbor and WIOT in Toledo.

ANN ARBOR SUN

The People’s Communications Committee assumed responsibility for production and publication of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper in May 1973. Since that time it has provided a self-supporting, regular (twice a month) community news service with a circulation of over 10,000 in the “youth” community. (Since Communications Committee assumed responsibility for the SUN, the newspaper, in accordance with the by-laws of Tribal Funding. Inc., has “not participated in or interfered with (including the publishing or distribution of any statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for political office.”)

OTHER

On the initiative of the Communications Committee, Tribal Funding, Inc.. purchased a mimeograph machine and mimeo supplies in August, 1973 for free use by Tribal Council participants and low-cost use by other community-service organizations. Communications Committee members have responsibility for scheduling use of and maintaining this equipment.

Telephones at the temporary Tribal Council offices at 1510 Hill St. are currently staffed on a part-time basis (12 noon to 5:00 pm) by volunteer workers associated with the Communications Committee.

Re: Services provided by People’s Education Committee, Tribal Council

The Children’s Community Center is the first project of the People’s Education Committee. The CCC maintains administrative offices at the Tribal Council offices as the People’s Education Committee. All records and accounts are kept there, while the Children’s Community Center itself is housed at 317 N. Seventh.

The Secretary/Treasurer and the Director and Co-Director have desks at the Tribal Council offices which allows them to work on organizing the CCC while the Center is preparing for licensing. The CCC will serve more than a dozen homes, “mostly of financially poor single-parent children between the ages of 2½-5 with full day care and education for 15-20 children.

The arrangement works well with Tribal Council (and Tribal Funding, Inc.) providing administrative offices and materials, while the CCC, Inc. has a separate contract with the city to purchase and operate the Center at Seventh.

Meetings of the CCC are attended by up to two dozen people, with more people involved through volunteer work like repairs and construction and other day labor, teaching, professional consultation, and general support, including government and social agencies and local businesses.

There are 5-10 regular workers involved in the organizational tasks. This includes producing flyers about meetings and general Information about the Center mimeographed and distributed.

REVENUE SOURCES:
Separate contract with the city
Benefits
Bucket drives
Donations – cash and non-cash (Rainbow Multi-Media and Project Community at the U-M absorbed over $500 in costs for free child care provided by the Children’s Community Center at the 1973 Blues & Jazz Festival)
Sales of things the kids make, like candles and tie-dyed articles
Projected income of a small tuition fee

The Children’s Community Center has participated in various projects itself. During the 1973 Community Park Program the CCC provided free child care at over half the concerts with the cooperation of the Psychedelic Rangers sharing a tent. Up to a dozen kids and 4-5 volunteers (including a Ranger) worked and played together each week.

At the Blues & Jazz Festival over 150 children were served with a staff of over 40 people organized by the Children’s Community Center.

When the People’s Ballroom was open the CCC provided free child care. This is an extremely important program in that it provides a place for young parents to go where they can take their kids and be assured of quality care. The Ballroom itself could be used by the CCC for physical education, dance classes, music classes (local musicians have already volunteered to teach), and to have the benefits.

RE: Services provided from April 1 to date by the People’s Music Committee, Ann Arbor Tribal Council

The People’s Music Committee of the Ann Arbor Tribal Council is set up to coordinate musical activity within the Ann Arbor “youth” community, to foster artistic and economic self-determination for local musicians as well as economic self-determination for the “youth” community through production of community-controlled musical events, and to encourage development of and interest in musical pursuits. The Music Committee is presently active in the People’s Ballroom project, several areas of production of the Community Parks Program free Sunday concert series, and production of benefits and various other musical events.

PEOPLE’S BALLROOM

The purposes of the People’s Ballroom is to provide regular musical events at a low cost to members of the Ann Arbor “youth” community while at the same time providing employment for and exposure to local musicians and giving popular and economic support to other activities of the Tribal Council. The primary responsibility of the People’s Ballroom project is the establishment and maintenance of a Ballroom Community Center facility in Ann Arbor.

During the period of this report the People’s Ballroom project has been primarily involved in attempts at location and acquisition of suitable space tor the Ballroom/Community Center. Many different structures were located lor inspection and research as to their use-feasibility. The most extensively investigated buildings are listed in notes attached to this report.

Lengthy inquiries and negotiations were entered into in a number of instances but, as can be seen in the attached notes, all but one of the buildings were either unsuitable for use or unavailable for sale or lease for varying reasons.

The facility at 514 East Washington Street (brought to our attention by its realtor only this month) has been found to require only moderate improvements in order to be fully adequate of our use; and the building is, to the best of our knowledge, available for purchase by us. Purchase Agreements are now in the hands of the realtor and were also presented for approval by the City of Ann Arbor on October 25, 1973.

Other activity of the People’s Ballroom project has included initial work on setting up a series of People’s Ballroom dances held at temporary locations until a new facility is operative. One such dance was held at the U of M South Quad dormitory dining room on July 20, 1973, with further events being postponed pending determination of the possibility of locating a permanent site. Now that negotiations for a new building are almost complete we expect to resume these temporary dances in the immediate future.

PARKS PROGRAM CONCERTS

Members of the Music Committee were actively involved in producing the Community Parks Program free concert series at Otis Spann Memorial Field this summer. Music Committee participants were responsible for booking and scheduling, stage management, and advertising and publicity for the ten-concert series.

BENEFITS

Music Committee members have been involved in production of many benefits for community service organizations in Ann Arbor and the Committee has recently taken active responsibility for the production of regular such events held with the cooperation and assistance of the Primo Showbar, 217 South Ashley Street, Ann Arbor. The first such events are presently scheduled at the Primo Showbar, on November 11 (for the Pass It On Freedom School), November 18 (for the Ann Arbor SUN) and November 25 (for the Children’s Community Center). Future events are presently in the planning stages.

Attached is a financial report which includes revenue sharing and other Music Committee income and expenditures for temporary Tribal Council office space (mentioned earlier in this report) and the July 20 People’s Ballroom dance.

Notes on Site lnvestigation, People’s Ballroom/Community Center

Old People’s Ballroom structure – city-owned, not available (City voted to demulish rather than renovate)

Feiner Glass Bldg. – city-owned, will not rent because of possible use by Packard-Beakes

Zahn’s Garage – same as above

Eberbach Bldg. – Federally-owned, not available

Varsity Laundry Bldg. – same as above

Masonic Bldg. – soon to be purchased by Federal government. Masons will not rent on temporary basis because of discriminatory policy against “youth” community

auto service garage adjacent to Masonic bldg. – not available for sale or lease

Kerrytown warehouse – only second floor available, renovation impractical and too costly

Adam’s Garage – space inadequate, purchase and renovation expenses too costly

former Kroger Store (Packard) – purchase and renovation expenses too costly

former Sears Catalogue bldg. – space inadequate

514 East Washington – adequate space, accessibility, and parking, in process of purchasing

From: Tribal Funding, Inc.
Re: Use of Revenue Sharing Funds and other funds of People’s Music Committee Ann Arbor Tribal Council

INCOME April – October 1973

Revenue Sharing 1379.50

People’s Ballroom
(previous accts.: money raised through benefits for Community Center/Ballroom) 914.63

People’s Ballroom door receipts July 20 226.92

cash loan 161.38

TOTAL INCOME $2682.43

EXPENSES April – October 1973

Office supplies and materials 299.64

Office Rent 750.00

Phones 200.00

Mimeograph machine 275.00

Typewriter 35.00

Desk Chair 20.00

Office maintenance 31.30

Office insurance 25.00

Utilities 45.00

Fuel oil 20.00

Truck rental & gas 25.00

Miscellaneous 52.12

EXPENSES for People’s Ballroom Dance, July 20, 1973

Ballroom insurance 75.00

Publicity and Advertising 36.76

Postage 14.00

Hall rental 50.00

P.A. rental 40.00

Bands 200.00

Miscellaneous 17.28

Ballroom insurance (policy covers up to 24 dances at temporary locations) 447.81

TOTAL EXPENSES $2658.91

Re: Services provided from April 1 to date by the People’s Food Committee, Ann Arbor Tribal Council

The People’s Food Committee was organized to provide low cost food (through cooperative buying and distribution) to people in their homes as well as at events such as concerts and theater presentations. It also produces information about foods and recipes to help young people to be more conscious of developing good health. Since the demise of the People’s Ballroom (where the Committee operated a food and refreshment stand) the People’s Produce Cooperative has been the main functioning entity of the Food Committee.

PEOPLE’S PRODUCE COOPERATIVE

The Ann Arbor People’s Produce Coop, organized under the banner of the Tribal Council, presently serves up to 100 homes weekly. These people generally live near the two food distribution points used by the Co-op: Northside Elementary School and 1035 Martin Place. The Co-op services are used by a variety of people including students, young married couples, people in communes, traditional families, and the aged.

The Co-op requires approximately 15 to 30 people to actively participate on a weekly basis to carry on its operations. This involves holding organizational meetings at Tribal Council offices as well as at Co-op members’ homes for shared convenience; and the publication of a newsletter on Tribal Council mimeo equipment.

The areas of work carried on daily and weekly involve Co-op members in various kinds of activities:

Financial Administration and Distribution of Food

bookkeeping and accounting
collecting money for orders at the signup points
picking up and delivering large amounts of cash with buying instructions
shopping for produce, cheese and eggs coordinating unpacking and redistribution of food into 2-bag orders
collecting and giving co-op order receipts and entering orders in log
hauling of crates and garbage to dump

Organizational Planning and Work

development of alternative economic forms based on cooperation
the exchange of service time for food energy
the choice of purchasing food and organizational services or equipment at relatively low prices and cooperating with other small independent and alternative farmers and businesses.

Publicity, Promotion, and Communication

designing flyers and advertising and publishing a food co-op newsletter that reflect the cooperative nature of this organization

Each one of the above areas is done on a rotating basis, involving from 1 to a dozen people in each phase of the work. Policy is determined at weekly co-op meetings. The co-op is organized on a non-profit basis and members who work for the co-op receive orders in exchange for their labor. Revenue involves between $300-500 per week. This money pays for the food, operating expenses, and taxes.

The People’s Food Committee has been involved in other projects at various times also:

At the Community Park Program free summer concerts (11 concerts this year) from 5-10 people from the Food Committee were employed each week by Eden’s Foods and the Park Program to staff the food concessions. Each person received an average of $5 per concert for this work.

In the past when the People’s Ballroom was open the Food Committee organized the munchies available to the crowd and staffed the counter.

The People’s Food Committee could involve even more people if there were a large building like the People’s Ballroom to become a main distribution and signup point for the co-op as well as a dance concert location for a munchies stand