KTLA News: "Chicano Caucus and obtaining funds for Chicano communities" (1972)

[No audio] [Baldonado] There are no racial connotations at all so far as we're concerned. We're concerned about the inequities of the distribution. And the person who may be the administrator of the program is not the person who calls all the shots. There is a large and sometimes unwieldy board and that board isn't necessarily controlled by any ethnic group, at all times. So our concern is one of getting funds to our area, to meet the needs. We're not concerned about the racial splits. [Baldonado] There are X numbers of funds available and then you find communities competing. And trying to devise all sorts of methods to come out on top. And we feel that's one of the major weaknesses of a mechanism such as EYOA. That's why we would like to see direct funding by HEW's Department of Labor, ah, directly to the agencies and that way you're not competing with other agencies for the same funds, but you're going directly to the source. [Reporter, partially unintelligible] Do you feel you're competing? [No audio] [Reporter] All right. [Baldanado] Okay. [Baldonado] The Chicano Caucus formed about a year and a half ago. Made up of delegate agencies in the, basically, in the East Los Angeles area, but we do have representation from San Fernando and the Harbor area. And there are approximately fourteen agencies that were involved and concerned, because the Chicano community was constantly being cut back in funds. And we found that time after time proposals were submitted and denied. Yet at the same time, we saw proposals were being approved in other areas of the city and county of Los Angeles. And we have had an on going communication with, ah, OEO and other persons, ah, in power to affect some changes. To try to devise a new mechanism for the funneling of, ah, for the funds to come into the Los Angeles, particularly Chicano community. [Reporter] You say you have [?] coming in, from what, from the government agencies? Yeah, there are persons who are employed as, who are employees of some of the delegate agencies and by delegate agencies I mean agencies that, [Camera noise] [Baldanado] to see other mechanisms developed, but we want to be a very integral part of developing these mechanisms. We don't want to be left out again as we have in the case of EYOA, As we have been in the county programs or the city programs. Ah, there's a broad representation here, Mr. Edward Olivas here, is from the Indian, [Camera noise] [Clatter] [Edward Olivas] Yes, I feel that the Indian community, [Camera noise] [KTLA Reporter Stan Chambers?] In what specific ways have you found the EYOA to be insensitive to the needs of the Indian community? [Olivas] Well we have, repeatedly, ah, asked for funding for different types of projects and these have been gone on, unanswered. And we have not, ah, we, I think, there's one, ah, clinic in Huntington Park that is funded through EYOA, but that's only one project in all the millions of dollars that EYOA administers. One project that perhaps includes about a hundred thousand dollars. [KTLA Reporter Chambers?] Will you attempt now during this study period to give an input to the authorities so that they can come up with plans for you? [Olivas] That is specifically our concern Ah, we would like to be a part of, any mechanism that is created to, ah, to plan for the future, to dealing with problems in the Indian community. We want to be a part of that, ah, ah, of that plan. [Reporter unintelligible] [Reporter] review EYOA with Baldonado. At that time do you feel that you were having adequate amount of programs and is it the fact that ah, [Reporter] that now you have a negro in charge of the program, is this why you feel you're, [unintelligible] [Reporter] a new group will come up and complain that they're not getting their share. [Reporter] Where a Mexican group will come up and complain they're not getting their share. [Reporter] [?] had a mass meeting at one of the junior colleges, [Camera noise] [Reporter] Obviously if you're saying to [?], [Baldonado] We were critical of the mechanism that exists. [Camera noise] [Baldonado] The symptoms of that mechanism,