ADAPTWE CHANGE EN AN ORGANIZATION:
A CASE STUDY OF ‘
CRISTO REY COMMUNITY CENTER

Thesis for the Degree of M. A.
MRCHIGAN STATE UNNERSiTY
MARGARET LOIS YOAK

1974

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31293 10524 9092

 

Diversity

ABSTRACT

ADAPTIVE CHANGE IN AN ORGANIZATION:
A CASE STUDY OF
CRISTO REY COMMUNITY CENTER

By

Margaret Lois Yoak

This study deals with adaptive change in goal structure (orien-
tation to social service) in Cristo Rey Community Center for the Spanish-
speaking in Lansing, Michigan. The framework within which this analysis
is made was formulated by Mayer N. Zald, for studying community organiza-

tion agencies: an agency has a constitution (goals and norms) linked to

 

the constituency and resource base of that agency (groups providing sup-

 

port, and to whom the agency direction is responsible); the agency tries

to affect certain target pgpulations, within a complex of external rela-

 

 

tions with other agencies. This study demonstrates how a change in con-
stitution of an agency (Cristo Rey) may be made in response to changes
in attitude of the constituency (the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing)
and variation in the resource base (reductions in funding); this will
lead to a changed relationship with the target population (the Mexican-
American community in Lansing) and other agencies in that city.

Data for this study were gathered through interviews with staff
members working at Cristo Rey, agency representatives working there, and
as many as possible of the community members who had been associated with
the development of the center. In addition, the Cristo Rey Budget Presen-
tation to the Diocese of Lansing, 1975-7h, and an agency review made by

the Lansing United Community Chest were valuable sources of information.

Cristo Rey is found to have evolved through successive phases

from a Catholic parish for the Spanish-speaking, to a community action
agency, to a provider of social services for the Mexican—American com-

munity, in a process of adaptation to factors in the community and in

the Diocesan administration.

ADAPTIVE CHANGE IN AN ORGANIZATION:
A CASE STUDY OF
CRISTO REY COMMUNITY CENTER

By

Margaret Lois Yoak

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Sociology

1 971+

 

 

 

‘\l 5..

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those
who have guided me in my work in preparing this thesis, especially to
my advisor, Professor Kay Snyder. My thanks also go to the other mem-
bers of my committee, Professors Barrie Thorns and James McKee; and to
Professors Lee J. Cary and W. Eugene Robertson of University of Missouri-
Columbia, with whom I consulted in preparing my final draft.

I also owe a great debt of gratitude to the many people in Lan-
sing who gave so generously of their time and effort to make this study
possible. Among these are the staff members and agency representatives
at Cristo Rey Community Center, and those people active in Lansing's
Chicano community, all of whom provided me with the many perspectives
on Cristo Rey and the community within which it exists, which I have

integrated in this thesis.

ii

LIST OF
LIST OF
Chapter

I.

II.

III.

V.

VI.

VII.

TABLE OF

TABLES O O O O O O O O O O O

FIGURES . . . . . . . . . .

ADAPTIVE CHANGE . . . . . .
Introduction . . . . . . . .
The Problem . . . . . . . .
Research Methods . . . . . .

THE TARGET POPULATION . . .

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE IN
AN AGENCY CONSTITUTION . . .

THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION . .

Organizational Structure . .
Services Offered . . . . . .

THE ADAPTIVE CHANGE PROCESS
IN CR 1810 REY O . O O O O .

IMPLICATIONS OF THE
PRESENT CONSTITUTICN . . . .

CONCLUDING REMARKS . . . . .

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . .

CONTENTS

iii

Page

iv

0) \J'l\)l-3

17
26
26
52

45
1+7

55
58

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Budgets, Manpower and Persons
Served in Programs Operated Out
of Cristo Rey by Agencies
Associated with Cristo Rey
1972-75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

iv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Organizational Structure of
Cristo Rey Community Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

CHAPTER I

ADAPTIVE CHANGE

Introduction

 

Organizational change is a persistent theme in the literature of
the sociology of organizations; over time, an organization or agency may
adapt its structure and operations in response to changes in its environ-
ment. Such adaptation is often seen as the key to organizational sur-
vival. The studies which have been done in this area of organizational
change tend to concentrate on one of a range of possible themes, such as
bureaucratization, cooptation, or institutionalization, as the adaptive
mechanism adopted by a particular agency in a particular situation. Many
of these studies are case-studies dealing with an individual type of
change. Rather than look at a single dimension of organizational change,
as has often been done in the past, this study shall present an analytical
framework, and then apply that framework to an individual case of change
in an agency to see how well it may apply.

Several basic themes of the literature of organizational change
become evident in an examination of that field. The theme of cooptatioh
is clearly expressed by Philip Selznick, in his study of the Tennessee
Valley Authority. He describes a process whereby an organization with a
dual responsibility for program objectives and citizen participation co-
opts certain threatening elements of the environment into its structure

in order to survive.1 A different, although related, theme may be seen

 

1Philip Selznick, TVA and the Grass Roots, A Study in the Socio-
logy of Formal Organization (New York: Harper & Row, 1966).

1

 

 

2

in Mayer N. Zald's study of the “political economy of the YMCA,‘2 which
analyzes the problem of a service-oriented organization which must choose
whether and how to adapt to such broad social forces as urbanization,
industrialization, and a growing pOpulation.

The theme of bureaucratization within a growing organization may
be found in Paul M. Harrison's study of the American Baptist Church, in
which bureaucratic development was antithetical to the original goals of
the organization:5 The related problem of institutionalization is expres-
sed in Joseph R. Gusfield's work on the Women's Christian Temperance
Union, as it encountered obstacles in its social environment.

The study I shall present here does not correspond completely to
any one of these major themes, although it may involve several of these
adaptive mechanisms. I will concentrate, rather, on the relations among
various component factors of change process in a particular agency con-
text. One common factor in all the above-mentioned studies is the use of
the case study, which is also the approach I shall use here.

The case study to be presented here has a dual significance:
first, as a study in organizational change, it provides new insight into
the relations of forces which bring about organizational adaptation to
the environment. Second, in analyzing an institution serving a minority
population in the United States, this thesis is part of a growing body
of literature dealing with the rise of an impoverished cultural and racial

minority to take its place on the social and political scene. The impact

 

2Mayer N. Zald, Organizational Change: The Political Economy of
the YMCA (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 19V7).

5Paul M. Harrison, Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradi-
tion: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention _(Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1959).

hJoseph R. Gusfield, 'Social Structure and Mbral Reform: A Study

of the Women's Christian Temperance Union," American Journal of Sociology,
61 (1955). pp. 221-252.

 

5
of adaptive change in an institution such as Cristo Rey has more than
internal import for the agency; the minority community which is repre—
sented and served by the center is deeply implicated in the adaptive

process and the resulting agency orientation to community service.

The Problem

 

The study to be presented here deals with adaptive change in goal
structure (orientation to social service) on the part of a community cen-
ter which serves a minority population in an urban setting. Tb facili-
tate this analysis of an agency, I shall rely upon a framework presented
by Mayer N. Zald in his work on organizational structure and change.

Zald presents four concepts basic to analysis of a community organization
agency:

(1) Organizations have constitutions, that is, they have basic zones
of activity, goals, and norms of procedure and relationships that
are more or less institutionalized in the organization and that are
changed only with great effort and cost.

(2) Constitutions are linked to the constituency_and resource base
of the organization. The constituency is not the clientele; rather
the term refers to the groups and individuals who control the or-
ganization and to whom the agency executive or executive core is
most immediately responsible . . . .

(5) . . . . agencies wish to affect target populations, organiza-
tions, or decision centers.

(4) Finally, . . . . agencies exist among a welter of other agencies;
they have foreign or external relations that can facilitate, impede,
or be neutral to the accomplishment of their goals. (5)

 

In his article, Zald develops an analytical framework and poses some
theoretical questions dealing with the relations of component parts to
one another, but it remains to apply these questions systematically in

a case situation to test their theoretical validity.

 

5Mayer N. Zald, "Organizations as Politics: An Analysis of Com-
munity Organization Agencies," in Fred M. Cox, et al. eds., Strategies 2:
Community Organization: A Book of Readingg (Itasca, Illinois: F.E. Pea-
cock, Publishers, Inc., 1970), p. 92.

4

Using this conceptual formulation, I may proceed to make a state-

ment about a pattern of organizational change: change in constitution

 

may be made due to alterations in the attitude of the constituency and

 

variation of the resource base; this will lead to a change in the effect

 

of the organization on the targetngpulation with which it deals. When

 

an organization is dependent on the support of its constituency for sur-
vival, especially financial support, this dependence restricts the au-
tonomy of the agency. The condition of restricted autonomy may be com-
plicated if financial support is divided among various sources with dif-
ferent goals and expectations, especially if some of these funding sources
are cooperating agencies in the community (143;, constituency relations

are also in part external relations within the organizational framework).

 

Such restrictions (be these implicit or explicit) as may be placed upon
the agency by sources of support affect the nature of agency relations
with the target population, by reducing the range of choices as to the
type of activities in which the agency may engage itself, and the kind of
alliances it will form in the community to further its own ends.

The community agency to be examined in this study is the Cristo
Rey Community Center for the Spanish-speaking, located in the city of
Lansing, Michigan. The constituency of the center is primarily the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Lansing; since 1968, however, Diocesan funding of the
center has been cut back, forcing Cristo Rey to seek additional financial
support from United Community Chest of Lansing, and to rent out office
space to social service agencies who function through the center. The
target population of Cristo Rey is the Mexican-American population of
Lansing; although there are members of other Spanish-speaking peOples

living in Lansing, the vast majority of the center's target group is of

5

Mexican descent.6 The hiatory and composition of this target population
will be discussed at greater length in Chapter II.

Since the inception of Cristo Rey, first as a Spanish-speaking
parish in the 1950's, then as a social service center in the 1960's, the
orientation of this agency to its role in the community has undergone
two radical transformations; first, in response to the perceived social
needs of the target population, and later, in response to demands of the
constituent group and changes in the resource base. These changes in
the constitution of the community center have had a far-reaching effect
on the relations of this agency with the community in which it exists,
and have deeply influenced the role it plays in the lives of the target
population. This thesis shall analyze these constitutional changes in
terms of the nature and composition of the target pOpulation, the nature
of the resource base, and the constitutional development of the center

up to the time of this study.

Research Methods

 

The present study of Cristo Rey was undertaken as a result of my
volunteer work in an agency which then operated out of Cristo Rey, a
summer's employment as a staff member of that agency (United Migrants for
Opportunity, Inc.), and my growing interest in the emergence of the Nexi-
can-American peOple as a racial and cultural minority struggling for re-

cognition within the American system. In this age of migration into

Northern urban centers, Lansing, Michigan, has the potential for becoming

 

6This study shall concern itself solely with the Mexican-American
portion of the target population, for two reasons. First, although it is
known that the majority of Cristo Rey'a clientele is of Mexican origins,
there are no figures available on the national origins of people actually
utilizing the center's services. Second, these services are aimed prin-
cipally at the low-income Spanish-speaking population, and so would not
reach or interest much of the Cuban or other Spanish-speaking population,
as many of these latter groups are middle- or upper-class emigrants from
their country of origin.

5

Mexican descent.6 The history and composition of this target population
will be discussed at greater length in Chapter II.

Since the inception of Cristo Rey, first as a Spanish-speaking
parish in the 1950's, then as a social service center in the 1960's, the
orientation of this agency to its role in the community has undergone
two radical transformations; first, in reaponse to the perceived social
needs of the target population, and later, in response to demands of the
constituent group and changes in the resource base. These changes in
the constitution of the community center have had a far-reaching effect
on the relations of this agency with the community in which it exists,
and have deeply influenced the role it plays in the lives of the target
population. This thesis shall analyze these constitutional changes in
terms of the nature and composition of the target pOpulation, the nature
of the resource base, and the constitutional development of the center

up to the time of this study.

Research Methods

 

The present study of Cristo Rey was undertaken as a result of my
volunteer work in an agency which then operated out of Cristo Rey, a
summer's employment as a staff member of that agency (United Migrants for
Opportunity, Inc.), and my growing interest in the emergence of the Mexi-
can—American people as a racial and cultural minority struggling for re-

cognition within the American system. In this age of migration into

Nerthern urban centers, Lansing, Michigan, has the potential for becoming

 

6This study shall concern itself solely with the Mexican-American
portion of the target population, for two reasons. First, although it is
known that the majority of Cristo Rey's clientele is of Mexican origins,
there are no figures available on the national origins of people actually
utilizing the center's services. Second, these services are aimed prin-
cipally at the low-income Spanish-speaking population, and so would not
reach or interest much of the Cuban or other Spanish-speaking population,
as many of these latter groups are middle- or upper-class emigrants from
their country of origin.

6

a new focus of Chicano political recognition. It is my feeling in study-
ing Cristo Rey that the analysis of the institutions of this nascent
social-political grouping can provide greater insight into the entrance
of a political "out—group" onto the American scene, as well as contribu-
ting to the study of organizational structure and change in a more
general sense.

The research methods used in gathering material for this study
were primarily those of the loosely-structured interview approach. All
staff members involved in service programs, and the agency representatives
working out of the center on a part—time or full-time basis were asked
(1) to describe their role and function in the services provided by Cris-
to Rey and (2) their perceptions of the role of Cristo Rey in the community
it serves. Fourteen staff and agency representatives were formally in-
terviewed in this way. Ten members of the Lansing community who were in-
volved (past and present) in the center's development were interviewed
as to their perceptions of the function served by Cristo Rey, and whether
they had perceived changes in this function over time. Due to limitations
of time and the dispersal of people who had formerly been closely invol-
ved in Cristo Rey, it was not possible to contact all the people who had
been influential in the develOpment of the center, or who were active in
Chicano affairs in Lansing. An attempt was made, however, to interview
as many key figures in the history of the center as could be contacted.
Interviews ranged from fifteen minutes to two hours in length.

Other data used in this research came principally from the Cristo
Rey budget proposals, an analysis made of the center by Lansing United
Community Chest, and a study of Lansing's migrant and ex-migrant popula-
tion made by a team from Michigan State University. The material presen-

ted here is mainly of a qualitative rather than a quantitative nature, as

7

this is an exploratory study, and it would be premature to attempt a
strict analysis through close-ended questions without obtaining a more
general idea of the situation of the agency from less structural inter-
views. A criticism might be made that such data are subject to bias due
to the Opinions of and goals of the persons interviewed; however, in a
study of an organization's constitutional goals and attitudes, such biases
are the most reliable source of data, and are themselves the information
we seek. Considerable care was taken in interpreting these interviews

to cross-reference statements with published material, known history, and
statements of other interview subjects. It is hOped that in this way I
have as much as possible eliminated potential sources of error or mis-
interpretation of opinion and events in the development of the Cristo

Rey Community Center.

CHAPTER II
THE TARGET POPULATION

In order to understand the constitution of the Cristo Rey Com-
munity Center, it is necessary first to examine the target population
which is the reason for the center's existence. As an agency serving the
Spanish-speaking population of Lansing, Cristo Ray is principally con-
cerned with the Mexican-American (or Chicano: in this thesis the terms
will be used interchangeably) peOple of that city. Only through a clear
understanding of the nature and needs of this client pepulation can the
role of Cristo Rey be analyzed. In this way, the changes in its con-
stitutional orientation toward serving the needs of the population may
be perceived, and we may judge the affect these changes have had on the
center's relationship to the community.

Lansing, Michigan's Mexican-American population may be divided,
for purposes of analysis, into two groups; the Michigan-born and the
newly settled immigrant or ex—migrant; both these groups originated from
migratory movements related to the poverty of conditions for these people
in the American Southwest. Today's Michigan-born pOpulation is descended
in large part from the Mexican-Americans who began migrating North from
Mexico and Texas in the late 1950's, and then more rapidly during World
War II as the U.S. became more involved in the war effort, due to labor
shortages in Michigan factories. Plants in the North lowered the testing
standards for employment in order to obtain needed manpower in‘a time of

crisis, and Mexican-American people who had been seasonally employed,

8

9
either on farms in the Southwest or in the migrant stream, came to settle
in the Michigan area because it promised steady employment. The Michigan-
born youth of the 1970's is now the third generation of descent from these
early industrial migrants. The Chicanos born in Michigan, however, com-
prise but a small proportion of the state's entire Spanish-speaking pepu-
lation, due to the high migration rates of recent years.

The greatest portion of the Mexican—American population in Lan-
sing is a result of more recent migration and settlement: "A local survey
indicates that 43% of Lansing's Mexican-Americans come here from Texas
and 28% from other states while only 17% were born and raised in Lansing!1
The present group of settlers in Michigan are people leaving the agricul-
tural migrant “stream” to establish a permanent home in this state. Until
recently, before mechanization of agriculture became so widespread, it
was quite profitable for a Mexican-American family to make the long trek
from the Southwest (usually Texas) to the Midwest for a season of compara—
tively steady work in the harvest, and then to return to their home at
the end of the growing season. This migratory tradition, however, is ra-
pidly becoming a thing of the past, as agriculture comes to depend in-
creasingly more on corporate business and mechanical efficiency, and as
the migrants find themselves working at a declining real wage. As of the
1960 Census, almost eighty percent of the I'Spanish-—surname" population in
the United States (including Cuban, Puerto Rican, and other nationalities,

but still predominantly Mexican-American) was living in urban areas.2

 

1United Community Chest, Cristo Rey Communitinenter: An Agency
Review (unpublished staff report, Lansing, Michigan, 1971), p. A. This
statement is a result of a 'spot survey“ made at Cristo Rey in 1969, and
may be biased, since the more recent migrants and immigrants might be ex-
pected to use such services more than would a long-time resident. However,
it is known that the influx of recently settling migrants is great here.

 

2M. Barrera, C. Mufioz, and C. Ornelas, ”The Barrio as an Internal
Colony," in Harlan Hahn, ed., People and Politics in Urban Society, V. 6
Urban Affairs Annual Review, (Beverly Hills: Sage Pub., 1972), p. 466.

 

10

According to a survey done in 1969, about seventy-five percent of the
Mexican-American population in Michigan is living in cities of at least
100,000 population.5 Thus, the Chicano population is becoming urbanized
to roughly the same extent as the majority Anglo group,” although this
urbanization, at least in Michigan, has occurred at a significantly
later data, within the last twenty to thirty years. The Mexican-Ameri-
cans are in many ways still a rural people in a process of urbanization.
As of 1971:

. . . it was7 estimated that there are approximately 15, 000 Span—

ish-speaking— people in Lansing; . . . . it is estimated that the

current rate of in-migretion of Mexican-Americans is between 150

and 500 families a year, or about 1, 000 persons. (5)
The majority of those settling in Lansing have previously been part of
the agricultural migrant labor force. The typical social and family or-
ganization associated with Mexican-Americans, who have until recently
been an essentially rural people, has evolved as a result of the rural
migrant's life-style and occupation. (Although the permanent residence
of the Chicano migrant in the Southwest may be in an urban area, his ag-
ricultural occupation has established his identity and culture as that of
a rural dweller.) As has generally been true of people in rural settings,
Chicanos have a tradition of an extended family structure and a large
number of children. This is due mainly to the nature of the agricultural
(occupation; the work-force value of a large number of children overrides

the increased consumption of goods; even a small child can produce more

than she or he will eat. In a recent survey done among Michigan migrants:

 

5Harvey M. Choldin and Grafton D. Trout, Mexican Americans in
Transition: Migration and Employment (East Lansing, Mi.: Dept. of Socio-
logy, Rural Manpowar Center, Agricultural Experiment Station, Michigan
State University, 1969), p. 55.
Barrera, Munoz and Ornelas, op. cit., p. #66.
5United Community Chest, 0 . cit., p. 5.

 

 

11

. . . . over half of the Mexican-American respondents had four or
more children working with them in the fields. It was not un—
common to find three generations from one family working on the
same farm. (6)

The extended family system Operates such that work crews are often com-
posed of people who are all related to one another, directed by a pat-
riarchal crew leader who arranges for jobs and transportation. Many
migrants, especially the women, may have had little contact with the non-
Spanish-speaking sectors of urban life, because the men, especially the
crew leaders, have handled the business of negotiating with the world
outside the migrant camp and the field. Migratory labor is, by necessity,
seasonal and highly variable. The wages are very low compared to average
American standards of living, since there is no federal protection of the
laborer and the minimum wage law does not apply. If the weather is bad,
there is generally little or no work. Housing (usually supplied by the
grower) is a great problem; it is not unusual to find a family of eight
sleeping, eating and living in a small one-room cabin, with no heat, no
running water (except at a central spigot for all families), and lighted
by a single light bulb in the ceiling. The children often leave school
in Texas early to come North, and return late for school Openings. Often
the family will continue to move during the school year, forcing children
in and out of classes, and causing them to fall one or more grades behind.
Aspirations of Mexican-American migrants are consistent with an
American standard of living in which they have been unable to partici-

pate. According to the Michigan migrant study:

Four attributes appear to be of central concern to Mexican-American
heads of households if they are to achieve a "good life." These are:
Housing: to have adequate comfortable living quarters, or to own
their own home (mentioned by 56%).

Education: particularly for their children (mentioned by 54%).

 

6Choldin and Trout, o . cit., p. ?24.

12

Job or Career: to continue working steadily, to have a trade or

to have their own business (mentioned by aha).

Health and a Long Life: both for self and family (mentioned by 52%)?
It is evident that these aspirations are not very well fulfilled by life
in the migrant stream.

The primary motivation for settlement in Michigan has always
been the attraction of greater employment opportunities. People assume
that there are more and better jobs at higher pay in the cities, as un-
doubtedly is true. What they do not realize is that there is more com-
petition for these jobs, need for a higher educational level, and a vast-
ly increased cost of living which accompanies urban life.
Thus there remain serious problems for Chicano families in the

urbanization process, and especially for those with a large family.
The foremost of these is the shortage of money during the resettlement
process. Many families are literally penniless upon arrival in a city,
especially after covering their debts in the migrant camps, since many of
them must live on a subsistence budget while there. Even if the head of
the household is lucky enough to locate a job immediately upon arriving
in the city, and if the family is able to find adequate shelter without
paying exorbitant rents and placing a large damage deposit for a dwel-
ling (some families overcome this problem by moving in with friends and
relatives, creating serious problems of overcrowding in the household),
there remain difficulties in income and cost of living.

A well-known characteristic of migrant families is that of their

working together . . . The wife and older children contribute to the

total family income in the field . . . The multiple-earner character

of the Mexican-American family tends to break down during resettle-

ment and despite the often much higher earnings of the male head,

the total famil income may decline . . . At the same time the needs

of the family clothing, higher costs of housing7 are greatly in-
creased. (8)

 

71bid., p. 291.
8Ibid., p. 310.

13

To complicate the problems of finances, there are many social
adjustments that the Chicano family must make as a result of their move.
Housing and transportation for the migrant often have hitherto been sup-
plied by the crew leader and/or grower for whom they have worked, and
employment has generally been pre-arranged. Budgeting very little money
in a comparatively restricted environment, practically on a subsistence
level, has become the pattern of life for these people. Because of
legislative pressures, there are new special Opportunities for aid avail-
able tO migrants and their families, but when the ex-migrant settles in
the city, there is no longer anyone Offering him welfare services, and he
is no longer eligible for special consideration nor for many types of aid
in solving his problems.

Now the Chicano must find his own housing (and with a large fami-
lv this can be extraordinarily difficult in a city); he must learn to
judge his expenses against his income in a new environment where credit
is easy and he has more money, but living costs are much higher. If he
does not speak fluent English, he will encounter peOple unable to compre-
hend his broken speech; a situation which can be extremely stressful, es-
pecially in emergencies or in a job interview. Even if his language is
no barrier, his color may be. There is a certain degree of discrimination
against Mexican-Americans in Northern cities, as is becoming increasingly
evident as this minority population grows, and gains a sense Of group
solidarity.

The nature of urban work also presents an adjustment that must be
made by the agricultural migrants. In contrast to the high aspirations
for good pay and easy work with which they arrive in the big city, ex-
migrants often find that a job in a factory or foundry (for these are the

most common types of employment for the Mexican-Americans in Lansing) is:

14

. . . dirty, cold, noisy, too far from home or demanding of ex-
cessive hours; . . . too heavy or monotonous; . . . low job secu-
rity and layoffs; . . . pay disappointingly low or expected fringe
benefits lacking; . . . unfavorable social relations . . . , inclu-
ding discrimination in the assignment of work. (9)
Employers may tend to consider Mexican-Americans irresponsible, likely
to be consistently late for work (although they may simply not have ade-
quate transportation), or lazy if they do not care to work the overtime
Often demanded of those in a factory. It is seldom understood that these
working conditions are radically different from any the ex-migrant has
previously experienced.

In many ways, then, the urbanization of these rural people creates
distinct problems for them in their environment. The size of the family
and the customary extended family from which the urban nuclear unit is
now often estranged; the use of an often-unfamiliar language in a system
where there is an increased heterogeneity of contacts which must be made
for survival; the lack Of experience with bureaucratic contacts; the fi-
nancial difficulties involved in budgeting a relatively larger, but sub-
stantially less sufficient, income; and the nature of work in an urban
setting: all these problems must be encountered and resolved before the
family can function well in an urban environment.

In addition to the various adjustment problems, Mexican-Americans
have the dual handicap of low educational level and low income to combat
in the city.

Of ZEexican-Americans in the U.S.7 25 to 55 years of age, 40%
have completed high school (i.e., 60% drop out along the way), and
only 8% have completed even one year of college. Less than 12% of
those 55 or older have completed high school. In Lansing, Mexican-
Americans have by far the highest educational drop-out rate of any
group, much of it at the grade school level.

More than 18% of all Mexican-American families in the U.S. earned
less than $5,000 in 1969 (in contrast with a 10% U.S. average),

 

91bid., p. 2A5.

15
51% earned less than 84,000. The median family income for all Mexi-
can-Americans in the U.S. was 35,h88; only 8h,276 for heads-Of-
family 18 to 24 years of age and only $4,860 for those families
headed by someone #5 to 64 years Of age. Of the major minority
groups in this country, only the American Indian fares less well
than the Mexican-American. (10)
The Mexican-American population in Michigan, as elsewhere, in also ex—
tremely young:

Sixty-seven percent of the Mexican-Americans are under age 25 as
compared with 46 percent of the Michigan population as a whole in
1960. This extreme youth results in a heavy burden of dependency
on the working members of the population who must produce income to
provide for the children. (11)

Thus it may be seen that the problems of all urban Chicanos are
twofold. First, as a rural peOple coming into an unaccustomed environment
and COping with changes in their needs and sources of sustenance, there
is a great adjustment to be made in personal and social relations.
Second, as a poor minority population in an urban environment, they find
themselves maintained in a position Of poverty by their lack of skills
and education in a social system which allows for little upward mobility.

The division of Lansing's Mexican-American population into two
groups ( the Michigan-born and the recent in—migrant) is important in
examining the development of Cristo Rey. Both these groups had original-
ly been employed in the agricultural migrant stream, and so share a
certain common experience. They are divided, however, on the basis of
their length of residence in the urban North. The long-time Lansing
residents have established themselves and their families in the city;
they have jobs, reputations, and a certain level of security and peruse

nence ih the area. These people tend to be, in large part, supportive of

the status quo in the Chicano community; and these are the peOple who

 

 

10

United Community Chest, 0 . cit., p. h.
11

Choldin and Trout, O . cit., pp. h1-h2.

16

have experience and a voice in Chicano affairs. In many ways, it is
this group that has determined the nature of the relationship between
the Chicano and Anglo groups in Lansing.

The newcomers to the Lansing area are more likely to be social
and political activists. They have often participated in the Chicano
political movement in the Southwest, and believe that Mexican-Americans
can be mobilized for political action, since they have seen this done in
Texas, New Mexico, or Southern California. It has been said that the
newcomer has less to lose, is poorer, and so is willing to risk more in
action than is the long-time resident. The new arrival also has a dif-
ferent conception of the nature of the Mexican-American peOple than does
his Older counterpart, and so acts on different principles.

This division, although it is neither absolute nor widely recog-
nized in some circles in Lansing, does have a direct influence on the
decisions that are made in the Chicano community. On some issues the
Mexican-Americans form two distinctly competing groups, although these
will often join forces and find a compromise solution when the leaders
feel the community is threatened. The importance of these divisions in
the community will become more evident as I discuss the constitutional

develOpment and the goals of the Cristo Bay Community Center.

CHAPTER III

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE IN
AN AGENCY CONSTITUTION

Due to this influx of formerly rural dwellers into an alien en-
vironment, the social institutions of the city of Lansing have needed to
make certain adjustments in the type and style of services offered; one
outgrowth of this institutional adjustment process has been the creation
of Cristo Rey Community Center for the Spanish-speaking. Since its found-
ing in the mid-1950's, Cristo Rey has undergone certain develOpmental
changes in response to community needs and administrative pressures,
which have had far-reaching consequences for the very nature Of its con-
stitution as an agency of service to the peOple.

It is my intent in this section to document these vital changes
and their causes, and to examine the different approaches to serving a
minority population that resulted from each adaptive change.

Cristo Rey parish grew out of the involvement of the Catholic
Church in migrant worker problems and services in the mid-1950's; since a
high proportion of the Mexican-American pOpulation is Catholic, such in-
volvement was a natural response to the needs of these people. The Dio-
cese of Lansing provided clothing, food and recreation, and brought in
priests from Mexico to administer spiritual services to the migrants, many
of whom spoke little English. From 1957 to 1961 St. Mary's Parish, serv-
ing largely a Spanish—speaking population, began programs of youth clubs,

social group organization, and personal assistance to the poor. Then in

17

18

1961, a priest active in migrant aid work was assigned as pastor to the
parish, and they Obtained better facilities in the building of the for-
mer Main Street Methodist Church. During this period, priests from Mex-
ico and seminarians from Cuba and South America worked in the parish,
bringing new ideas from developments in their own native lands where the
Church was becoming increasingly involved in prOgrams of social develop-
ment Of the poor. The pastor began to see the need for a more organized
approach to social services through the church, and he began to build up
a staff of people who were interested in formulating such a program.
Through lengthy discussion as to the best approach toward serving com-
munity needs, the staff decided upon a “Community Center" approach, to

be designed as a multi-service center. The Bishop of the Diocese of Lan-
sing at this time was highly in favor of the prOgrams serving the Mexi-
can-American population, and was willing to support funding proposals for
the development of such a program. A Social Director for the center was
hired, and the pastor became Spiritual Director of the prOgrams, with a
close cooperation and coordination Of these two aspects of service. Un-
til their move to the new Cristo Rey center in 1967, a “parish" identity
was more or less maintained, but the emphasis was increasingly placed on
social service activities.

This first period in Cristo Rey's existence marked the first adap-
tive change in the organization, as it became a wing of the Catholic
Church intent upon serving a select disadvantaged population. St. Mary's
was not originally designed as a Spanish-speaking perish, but the concen-
tration of Mexican-Americans in the area served by the parish produced a
trend which resulted in the specialization of services to fit the needs

of the congregation. There was a great deal of voluntary activity in all

19
religious groupings in Lansing, aimed toward giving aid, donating old
clothing, and ministering to the spiritual needs of the migrant popula-
tion; as a result of the particular leadership of this Catholic parish,
a decision was made actively to serve the material as well as the spiri-
tual needs of the congregation on a full-time basis. It was during this
initial time period that Cristo Rey emerged as a parish 93 the Spanish-
speaking, :25 the Spanish-speaking; whereas before it had concentrated
simply on a geographical congregation, now the concentration was on this
specific racial and cultural grouping, city-wide.

The develOpment of Cristo Rey as a social-service center came in
response to the perceived social and material needs of the population.
The congregation became a real "target pOpulation' in terms of social and
religious activities, and these activities were planned, not simply fol-
lowing a typical Diocesan pattern, but with the characteristics and needs
of that population in view.

in 1966, when the Main Street church gave way to freeway cons-
truction, the Diocese was convinced to build a Social Service center
(Cristo Rey) rather than a church to replace the former edifice. From
this time forward Cristo Rey did not function primarily as a church, but
as a community center. Many interested community members, both Chicano
and Anglo, were involved cooperatively in the construction of the new
center, which was completed in 1967. After moving into the center, there
came a new development in the thinking of the staff, as they became aware
of the housing crisis in relocation caused by the freeway construction
(I-h96) in Lansing. Work was begun within the center to set up a Housing
Commission in the city to care for those persons displaced by the project.

This interest marked the change from a service orientation of the center,

20

to the function as a change agent in the community. Soon the Cristo Rey
staff were working for legislative action to improve conditions in mig-
rant labor camps, and lobbying for national legislation for relocation of
persons displaced by public construction. A special consultant who was
working with Saul Alinsky in Chicago was brought in to conduct a communi-
ty organizing workshop, and more efforts were made to involve the peeple
of the community and to bring in new ideas. The center's interests gra-
dually were broadened to aim their change efforts to include the poor
and minorities in general, not just the Spanish-speaking.

This interest of Cristo Rey in social change issues was part of
what has since been seen as an impulse within the Catholic Church to join
in the Civil Rights movements of the 1960's, in the ranks of fighters in

the War on Poverty.1

There was a great concern with the issues of racial
discrimination and poverty in this era, and the churches, especially the
younger clergy, experienced a sense of guilt and frustratiOn in the light
of newly publicized social conditions. The Church has a history of mis-
sionary activities in urban areas, and at this time there was a desire to
enter a leadership role in social movements, and to broaden the influence
of the Church in the lives of peOple in the inner city and in poverty con—
ditions everywhere. Churches in Chicago and other parts of the nation,
as did Cristo Rey, found technical assistance for their social activism
in Saul Alinsky's I'Industrial Areas Foundation,“ which was a highly con-
troversial organization involved in accial change for the poor.

A study of Mexican-Americans in Lansing around that time in the

center's history has stated:

 

1Thomas D. Sherrard and Richard C. Murray, “The Church and Neigh-
borhood Community Organization,‘ in Hans B.C. Spiegel, ed., Citizen Par-
ticipation in Urban Development, Vol. I, Concepts and Issues (Washington,
D.C.8 Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, 1968), pp. 184-205.

 

 

 

21

. . . . the Community Center . . . [waé7 cited as valuable in that
they have money and full-time staff members, and can work consis-
tently in helping Mexican-Americans. It was explained that the
function of the community center is threefold. First, it deals in
direct service, which involves administering to immediate needs.
Second, it works in community development, getting area residents
involved in the process of change. Third, it has a social action
function, which includes the organization of marches and other
demonstrations with hopes of bringing about change. (2)
And, as the present administration of Cristo Rey has expressed this pur-
pose, 'The leadership of this period believed that the purpose of Cristo
Rey should be to help organize the poor of the Lansing community in com-
munity action efforts on their own behalf."5 When the Spiritual Direc-
tor left the community center in 1968 (for personal reasons), the total
thrust of the center was primarily for social change, and secondarily for
social service, but without duplicating the efforts of other agencies.
One of the primary functions of the center at this time was to make other
agencies perform more effectively to fulfill community needs, especially
the needs of minority groups.
Throughout the existence of Cristo Rey up to 1968, support of the
center by the Diocese of Lansing was apparently never a major problem.
The yearly budget at that time averaged around $100,000, and the new
Cristo Rey center had just been constructed on Ballard Street on Laneing's
North Side, in the area where the Mexican-American population was concen-
trated. During this time, there had been a change in the Diocesan admini-
stration; the new BishOp continued to fund Cristo Rey as before until 1969.
In 1966, an advisory committee consisting of influential Chicano and Anglo

community people, had been chosen by the directors of the center, in or-

der to gain a wider community involvement in Cristo Rey's activities, and

 

2Choldin and Trout, o . cit., pp. 559-250-

SCristo Rey Community Center, 1975-7h Budget Presentation to Dio-
cese of Lansing Finance Committee, (Lansing, Mi., 1975), (Xerox copy), p.1h.

 

 

22

to foster greater support for the center in the Lansing area and within
the Diocese. This was felt to be a step toward greater community con-
trol of the center, through the election of a board composed of communi-
ty members, although the original choices were not democratically elected.
In any case, the constituency of the center apparently supported Cristo
Rey in its orientation to service and social change, although this situa-
tion was soon to undergo a radical alteration.

After the departure of both Spiritual and Social Directors in
1968, a Chicano who had been active in Cristo Rey was chosen by the Dio-
cese as temporary Social Director, and a priest who had originally worked
in St. Mary's parish returned as Spiritual Director. The temporary direc-
tor attempted to continue the programs and directions that had been in
effect at the center, making Cristo Rey a "development" agency, which
would act as an advocate for the cause of the poor, following up on social
service cases, creating agencies to fill community needs, and initiating
new legislation. He intended to create a small expert staff who would
run the center with the help of widespread volunteer workers and communi-
ty members who would work at a low salary as "para-professional“ staff.
The community members who were involved in the center's activities were
divided on which direction Cristo Rey should take, and so the Social Dir-
ector left, feeling that his prOgrams did not receive the support they
needed in order to succeed.

A member of the Mexican-American community who had served on the
advisory board under the former administration was hired by the Diocese
to be Social Director of Cristo Rey in the summer of 1969. The funding
of the center was cut drastically during this time, from a yearly allot-

ment of $100,000 to half that amount. It was explained that the Catholic

25
Church in general has had to cut back on social expenditures in recent
years, due to the failure of the program for Federal aid to parochial
achools, the falling number of clergy and nuns available as teachers,
and the general inflationary condition of the economy and shortage of
funding. The Diocese simply told Cristo Rey that they would have to
find money elsewhere, as there would be increasing cut-backs over the
years, and suggested that they apply to the United Community Cheat

for support.

The nature of Cristo Rey as a community center changed radically

with the institution of the new administration; one such change was the

more complete severance of the social and spiritual fUnctions, though

these were to remain housed in the same structure of the center. As the

Cristo Rey staff itself has analyzed this change:

When the present administration took over in summer and early fall
of 1969, because of budget cuts and changes in personnel, a major
question had yet to be faced. Should Cristo Rey continue to pursue
the same philosOphy and purpose it had under past leadership? We
answered that negatively.

In slightly over three years since then, we have transformed
Cristo Rey from a community action agency into a center whose pri-
mary purpose is to provide a vehicle by which the social services
offered in the Lansing community can be brought to bear on the prob-
lems of the low income Spanish-speaking.

Our objective is to provide the Spanish-speaking community with as
many social services as they would have available if they had no
language, cultural or special material problems . . . by bringing
into Cristo Rey those local service agencies whose prOgrams are vital
to our community and who are willing to place Spanish-speaking per-
sonnel in our Center . . . The present philosophy of Cristo Rey is
to work entirely within the local institutional framework. (4)

Thus the Cristo Rey Community Center today acts as a I‘supermarket

of social services" designed to make the obtaining of needed services

easier for peOple who are unwilling or afraid to go to public agencies;

Cristo Rey provides a place where they can feel at home, and where they

 

4Ibid., pp. 1A-15.

2h

know they will encounter no language barrier or misunderstanding of
their needs and their situation.

Funding has been a persistent problem for Cristo Rey since 1969,
when the original funding was cut to half the original amount. In 1971-
72, the Diocese funded the center for £55,001, but in 1972-75 the alloca-
tion was cut to $h5,000, with future reductions in sight. This loss of
funds has been combatted in various ways, including the rental of office
space to social service agencies who were to place representatives in
the center (income from that source was $5,804.57 in 1971-72).5 Also,
for 1972-75, assistance was requested and granted from the United Com-
munity Chest, in the amount of 820,000. (The Spiritual Director of the

center is mainly supported by income from Church activities; his come

pensation and expenses are more than covered by individual offerings;'6
freeing all other resources to be applied to develOpment of the social
program and activities.)

Thus the present constitution of Cristo Rey may best be charac-
terized as an adaptation to changes in the resource base, amount of sup-
port, and the attitude of the constituency (the Diocese of Lansing) to-
ward the center's social activities. In response to funding cutbacks by
the Diocese, the new administration of the center saw the necessity for
a dual change in the constitution: a reversal of the "change agent“ role
to become part of an institutional social services network; and a diver-
cification of the resource base to seek financial support from multiple

sources, office rental and United Community Chest, as well as continuing

Diocesan allocations. The organizational goals of the center are now

 

51bid., p. 30.
6United Community Chest, op. cit., p. 2.

25
twofold, though interrelated: first, the provision to a disadvantaged
minority group of services that might not otherwise be accessible to
them; and second, the acculturation of this group, through services and

activities, into mainstream American life.

CHAPTER IV

THE PRESENT CCKSTIT‘TICN

The cumulative effect of the changes and adaptations in the con-
stitution of the Cristo Rey Community Center has resulted in an organiza-
tional structure which is still responsible to and answerable to the
Diocese of Lansing, as well as to other sources of funding in the com-
munity. The range of services offered by the center is dependent upon
a variety of agencies whose attempt to serve the Mexican-American pOpu-
lation is carried out through representatives housed in the center. In
this section, therefore, I shall present a descriptive analysis of the
organizational structure and the services presently offered through and
by Cristo Rey, with an attempt to estimate the number of peeple these
services are reaching. Through this analysis, it will be possible to
perceive the cycle of change undergone by this agency, and to assess the

differential impact of Cristo Rey upon the community which it serves.

Organizational Structure

 

The organizational body of Cristo Rey consists of a dual leader-
ship, in the Spiritual and Social Directors; an elected Board of Directors
which serves as an advisory body; a regular center staff; and representa-
tives of the various agencies housed in the center. The flow of respon-
sibility, advisory capacity and authority is schematically described in

Figure 1.

26

DIOCESE 0F
LANSING:

CRISTO REY
COMMUNITY CENTER:

27

FIGURE 1

CRGANIZATICNAL STRUCTURE OF
CRISTO REY CCNWUNITY CENTER

    
 

 

BISEOP aha —DIOCESAN OFFICER
’ OF

SOCIAL SERVICE

 

 

 

 

J! l/ W

_ A

SPIRITUAL SOCIAL
DIRECTOR DIRECTOR

 

 

 

 

 

‘ AGENCY I
REPRESENTATIVES

r

 

28

The Spiritual Director is directly responsible to the Bishop of
the Diocese of Lansing in Church—related matters; his responsibilities
include the administration of sacraments and other parish duties, such as
visits to the ill in hospitals and at home, for the Spanish-speaking com-
munity. There is a nun who works with the priest in spiritual matters,
as well as directing some social programs; she teaches catechism and
oversees instruction for First Communion and Confirmation. Where spiri-
tual and social programs overlap, the Spiritual Director is also respon-
sible to the Diocesan Director of Social Service.

The Director of Social Service (Social Director) of Cristo Rey
coordinates the social services programs of the center, and is respon-
sible directly to the Diocesan Director of Social Service.

The Board of Directors of Cristo Rey has the responsibility of
advising, promoting and assisting the two directors of the center, es-
pecially in the area of social service. The Board is primarily an elec—
ted body, composed of fifteen voting members; the Social Director sits on
the Board, but does not vote. This Board of Directors is not, as might
be expected, an all-Chicano body; rather, it is composed of influential
Chicanos and Anglos from the Lansing community. Their interests in
Cristo Rey range from religious social-service to advancement of the
Mexican—American peOple. Of the fifteen members, the BishOp may appoint
five, and the rest are elected through the Cristo Rey Bulletin by the
members of the Community Center (parishoners, and people who have joined
through donations of fifty cents or more). Terms of service on the Board
are either one or two years, with elections timed so that there is never
a complete turnover in the membership. The Board of Directors has five

standing committees, in charge of the various functions of this body;

29
these are: Program DevelOpment and Evaluation; Budget Supervisory; Pub-
lic Information and Relations; Youth Program; and Community Activities.1
Also, Ad Hoc committees are formed periodically as the need arises for
special investigations or projects. As one board member has expressed
the role of this body, the members come from a variety of backgrounds and
have various interests and reasons for participation; as a rule, their
role in the center is not an active one, but rather they are available
in case they are needed.
The Cristo Rey staff consists of six people who have various res-
ponsibilities in the administration of the center. They are:
(1) Religious and Community Werker, in charge of Emergency Food and
Clothing Program.
) Administrative Secretary, in charge of Visas and Immigration Aid
) Secretary, in charge of Credit Union and Social Programs
) Community Aids, in charge of Translation, Transportation and
Drivers License Assistance programs.
)
)

Receptionist
Maintenance

AA AAA
0\\J| km N

There is a great deal of coordination among the various activities of the
staff, expecially when there are special projects being planned, and the
level of c00peration is very high.

The final component of the Cristo Rey organizational structure
is made up of the representatives of the various agencies which Operate
out of the center, on a full-time or part-time basis. In a chain of come
mand, these representatives are to a large degree autonomous of the center,
being responsible to their respective agencies, who generally rent the
office space they occupy in Cristo Rey. These representatives will be
discussed in a later section of this chapter, along with a presentation

of the various service programs run by staff members of the center.

 

1
United Community Cheat, Op. cit., p. 12.

50

The nature of the service orientation of Cristo Rey is partially
determined by its dual role in the community; the role of a church (a
parish for the Spanish—speaking), and the role of a social service center.
Cristo Rey was among the first churches in this country to respond to
the special needs of the Spanish-speaking peoples in the United States.
Many Mexican-Americans have felt let down by the Catholic church, and
there has been a rise in the numbers of people who have left the tradi-
tional religion of the Spanish-speaking peOples and turned to Protestant
sects as more able to meet their spiritual and cultural needs. There is
a long history of segregation of churches in the Southwest, and a paternal
attitude is displayed toward non-whites, including the Chicanos. In
Michigan, Mexican-Americans did not fit the predominantly Irish and Ger-
man priests' stereotype of what a Catholic should be, although it has been
said that twenty-five percent of all Catholics in the world are Spanish-
epeaking. The Church is now attempting to respond in a more fitting man-
ner to this minority in the United States, although progress is being
made very slowly.

Cristo Rey had existed solely as a parish until 1965, and due to
changes in the nature of its activities since that time, there has ap-
parently been some confusion and misunderstanding on tha part of persons
in the Diocesan administration, as to Cristo Rey's status as a social ser-
vice center, and no longer as a parish only. It is not clear how this
relates the center to the Church as a whole. Its function as a parish
for the Spanish-speaking is important to this community; according to the
Spiritual Director, ninety percent of the Mexican-American population is
of the Catholic faith. Mass on Sunday at the center was originally held

entirely in Spanish, until the youth of the parish objected. Young people

51

raised in Michigan do not generally understand the Spanish used in church
services, as they have leraned the vernacular only in home and street
settings, and so do not feel comfortable with the church service in Span-
ish. Now two Masses are offered on Sunday mornings: one in English, and
one in Spanish, but the music is still sung in Spanish. People, especial-
ly those of the older generation, appreciate having a church of their own
where the old traditions are respected; 'a place where they can come
light a candle."

There are some objections, which have existed since the time that
Cristo Rey was constructed as a social service center, to this combination
of church and community center. This is true especially of the older
peOple, many of whom say they would prefer to have a traditional type of
parish church rather than the bustling institution that exists now. One
person working in the center quoted peOple as saying, 'A church should be
a church, not a supermarket!‘ (a reference to the 'supermarket of social
services." concept). Apparently there are some people also in the Diocesan
administration who feel that the spiritual and social functions of Cristo
Rey should be more sharply separated and independently defined. Upon ob-
servation, however, it does seem that these two functions occupy separate
spheres of action in the community, although they are housed in close
proximity in the same physical edifice. Perhaps the question for the
Diocese is more accurately one of support: whether the Church should mini-
ster to the needs of the whole person, or only to the needs of the soul.

The ’supermarket of social services' function of Cristo Rey is
for the most part provided by the various agencies housed in the center.
They, along with the Cristo Rey staff, serve the goal of bringing the

services iJnLansing to a location where peOple can obtain them without

52

confronting a large public agency. Here I have presented a brief over-
view of each of the major agencies represented in the center as of Spring
1975; some of the services offered in the center may have been omitted
from this listing through oversight, and information on some was not com-
plete or readily available, but most of the vital services to the Spanish-
speaking peOple through the Cristo Rey Community Center are included in

this analysis.

Services Offered

Big Brothers of Lansing (Chicano Big Brothers)

 

This agency provides volunteer Spanish—speaking (Mexican-American)
Big Brothers for fatherless Spanish-speaking boys between the ages of
eight and seventeen. The Little Brothers, in order to be eligible for
this program, must be recipients of 'Aid to Families with Dependent Chil-
dren;' that is, their family income must be below the poverty level.

Big and Little Brothers are matched through a screening process on the
basis of personality and interest, and take part in planned and free-
time activities tagether. The purpose of such a program is to transmit
the Mexican-American culture, language, and pride in tradition, which are
necessary to a youngster's identity develOpment.

There are not many volunteer Big Brothers who take the initiative
in offering their services to the program, so the Cristo Rey representa-
tive spends much of his time in outreach work in the community. Big
Brothers of Lansing rents half an office in Cristo Rey for the represen-
tative, who says Cristo Rey is a good location for this service, as it is
in the center of action, the center of the community itself. There were

thirty-two active cases in the program at the time of this study.

53

Emergency Food and Clothigg

 

A member of the Cristo Rey staff is in charge of this program.
She serves as a liaison for people in dealing with the welfare bureau-
cracy (Department of Social Services), as well as dispensing clothing and
food to needy families. Food is given in the form of "food vouchers'
which may be redeemed in a grocery store, or as canned food directly from
the Criato Rey storeroom. Baby formula is also donated by companies to
be dispensed to those in need, and there are shoes donated by the '01d
Newsboys' society. Many people in the community give things they want to
donate to the poor to this staff member, who then distributes them accord-
ing to need. She estimates that approximately forty-five to fifty fami—
lies a month are given help with food in some form, as well as dispens-
ing ten or more cases of baby formula each month. The most beneficial
aspect of this prOgram, according to the person who runs it, is that peo-
ple are helped without her having to account for them; there are no forms
to fill out, no eligibility requirements except need. Out of loans for
food, it is estimated that about one-half are eventually paid back.

Food Stamps

 

This is a program of the United States Department of Agriculture,
which is administered locally through the Ingham County Department of
Social Services. In order to receive the stamps, people must be certi-
fied by the Department of Social Services at their office on the out-
skirts of Lansing. Cristo Rey is now the only Food Stamp distribution
center in Lansing (local banks used to perform this function, but stop-
ped when it was found to carry a high risk and take much time and effort
away from regular business). This location at Cristo Rey on the North

side of Lansing causes some difficulty for residents of other parts of

5A

the city, due to the inadequacy of public transportation in that section
of town. The facilities are good for a Food Stamp office at Cristo Rey,
with enough personnel to handle the flow of traffic, and adequate secu-
rity measures. It is reported that peeple are satisfied with the service,
since there are no long waiting lines as there were at the banks.

The location of the Food Stamp office has also been beneficial to
Cristo Rey, since it attracts a large number of people who may then take
advantage of other services at the center. A family may purchase Food
Stamps once a month, and must come to the office to do so. The approxi-
mate number of yearly service contacts made by the Food Stamp office in
Cristo Rey is 84,000 people.2

Immigration Service

This service, provided by the Executive Secretary of Cristo Rey,
helps expedite the processing of papers for visas and permanent residence
forms, and aids and advises applicants as to the necessary documents and
procedures. There were no figures obtained on the number of people rea-
ched by this service, which is vital to those peOple who immigrate to
Lansing directly from Mexico, or who have entered the country without
papers and want to establish a legal residence here. This service is
also used more extensively in the summer, when migrant workers come to
Lansing and many decide to settle in this area permanently.

Urban Four-H (Ingham County and MSU COOperative Extension)

This agency is concerned with developing youth programs for urban
youngsters. There are presently over 250 young peOple enrolled in the
program's various projects, which include Recreation, Arts and Crafts,

Self-Defense, and Mexican Pastry Baking. The Four-H program is open to

 

2Cristo Rev Community Center, 0 . cit., p. 19.

55

youths of any race and background, but places an emphasis on the Spanish-
speaking, and is concerned especially with those of high-school age.
Attempts are made to involve parents in the program, and there is leader-
ship training both for youths and for their parents, through special pro-
gram activities. One of the main goals of this program is to give young-
sters a wide exposure to the community, to the facilities of the nearby
Michigan State University, and to experiences new to them, such as garden-
ing their own plot of land at the university.

Cristo Rey seems well suited to this activity, as it attracts
peOple of all backgrounds. The facilities for the prOgram are good (a
large hall, activities room, and kitchen). Cristo Rey, as a well-known
agency, provides the Four-R office with more exposure to more people, and
facilitates approach to and contacts with the community.

Child Health and Immunization Clinics (Ingham County Health
Department)

 

Through this clinic, a walk-in immunization service is offered

one afternoon a month, free to all county residents; and well-baby care
and check-ups are held two afternoons a month, free to Michigan residents,
by appointment. For the child care, there is a month to month-and-a-half
waiting list for appointments; about twenty to thirty cases are seen in
one afternoon. The Health Department, in its office on the outskirts of
Lansing, began a program of daily walk-in immurization clinics four morn-
ings a week in late 1972, and since that time attendance at the Cristo Rey
clinics (as at other outlying clinics) has dropped off sharply. Accord-
ing to figures provided by the public health nurse working in the Cristo
Rey program, attendance at the community center's clinics, which had aver-
aged over one hundred persons a month and sometimes went as high as three

hundred, drapped off to figures well under fifty persons a month.

56

These clinics do not provide any emergency service or treatment
of acute illness, but must refer people needing such services to local
doctors or hospitals. Nurses involved in the program report that there
is a language barrier, as well as a poverty barrier, to health care for
the Mexican-American community. The Cristo Rey clinic is intended to
overcome that barrier, although most of the nurses and doctors serving
in this clinic are not bi—lingual; if translation is needed, a Cristo
Rey staff member may be called in to aid the doctor. Cristo Rey does not
have Optimum facilities for medical care, as the conditions are crowded,
there is much traffic, little privacy, and heavy use of the clinic area
by other activities. The deepest need in the Spanish-speaking community
is said to be outreach efforts for medical care, to contact those poor
peOple who need care, but who will not or can not attend clinics at the
center or elsewhere.

English Language Classes (Lansing School District)

These classes are funded by the Adult Basic Education Program of
the school district. The class usually consists of ten to twelve students
and sessions are held every morning at the center. Students progress at
their own speed, so that peOple enter and leave the program at irregular
intervals. The classes are planned to teach written and spoken English
to non-English speakers, most of whom are literate in their own language.
No figures were Obtained on the number of people who benefit from this
service, or the level of competence they attain.

Re-Entry Prggram (Lansing School District)

This program serves youths who have left junior high or high
school and want to continue their education, but do not learn well in the

standard classroom setting. The emphasis here is upon informal,

37

individual, and self-instruction, with learning achievement measured on a
contract basis; about one-third of these students are working toward high
school credit, one-third toward a high school equivalency diploma, and
one—third use the classroom as a drop-in center. There are many projects
undertaken by these classes, including weekly live radio programs, a food
cooperative, dark-room work, ceramics and silk—screening. The goal is to
develop the young person's outside and group interests, and to teach co-
Operation and unselfishness. For the first two and one-half years of its
three-year existence, the prOgram was predominantly Chicano, but now
there are black youths also participating in classes and activities. The
re-entry class varies in size, but usually involves about twenty young
people in its programs.

Legal Advice

Through this service, volunteer lawyers consult and advise poor
people on legal problems, by appointments made through the Cristo Rey
receptionist. NO information was Obtained as to the level Of activity of
this service, nor the number of peOple taking advantage of it.

Mhrtin de Porres Credit Union

The credit union was founded with the purpose of lending money to
people who could not otherwise get credit through conventional sources.
It was originally formulated in the center's prOgram to be a way of pre-
serving people's dignity when they needed money, as a give-away program
could not; one Of the goals of this program is to help poor peOple learn
to manage money. The Credit Union, founded before 1968, functioned well
for several years, until in 1971 it fell ninety percent in arrears due to
loans not being paid back. (As one staff member commented, 'If you serve

high-risk people, you lose money; if you don't, you lose credibility.')

58

The Banking Commission froze the Credit Union, allowing no transactions
to take place, until in February 1975 funds were gathered to re-Open this
service. Now, apparently, it is not serving high-risk people; if a per—
son's loan is not approved, he is sent for credit counseling and given ad-
vice on money management; the Credit Union, according to one source, is
now serving those who could qualify for bank loans, but are unwilling to
go to the bank. According to the staff member in charge Of the program,
the Martin de Porres Credit Union presently has 695 members; 55h Of these
hold shares in the union, with a high diversity in membership, both ra-
cially and economically.

Mental Health Counseling

This service offers counseling on personal and family problems,
by appointment at Cristo Rey. It mainly acts as a referral service, re-
ferring peOple to Community Mental Health Services or local hospitals for
treatment. There were at one time two representatives Of this agency in
Cristo Rey, but one was removed since it was found that there was not
sufficient demand for their services to occupy them both. The counselor
who no longer works there now spends three hours a week in consultation
for Cristo Rey staff members, teaching them to help people who come to
the center. Most Of the work of the Mental Health counselor assigned in
Cristo Rey centers around referrals and other activities, including help-
ing peOple to apply for social services and Obtain drivers licenses, and
providing transportation, legal aid advice, and interpretation. Due to
the amount Of traffic and the lack of privacy in the center, the agency
location is not a good one for counseling; the worker there feels that
some mental health counseling is needed by this target group, but Cristo

Hey is not really the place for it. Also, according to this worker, there

59

is a cultural barrier encountered in mental health counseling with Mexican-
Americans, as they do not understand the concept of seeking advice for
psychOIOgical adjustment to social problems. Due to this barrier, this
service is not as widely utilized as some of the more concrete social
services at Cristo Rey.

Michigan Employment Security Commission

This agency representative in Cristo Rey supplies job information
and handles references and counseling for unemployed persons. There has
been a MESC Office in the center since 1971, which has recently cut back
from full-time to three half-days a week, because the use Of the service
did not warrant a full-time representative there; it was mentioned that
this service might be further reduced in the near future. Most of the
applicants from the area served by Cristo Rey are classified as ”disad-
vantaged' according to income; many lack necessary skills, knowledge of
English, education, and most are not highly motivated, according to the
agency representative. Some of these are referred to the main office for
special counseling. The agency representative expressed the belief that
the main problem lies in peOple's unwillingness to work; we might inter-
pret that as a result Of the difficulty experienced by the Mexican-Ameri-
can in adjusting to an urban employment situation.

The average number of peOple served is four or five people a day,
and somewhat more than that number in the summer due to migrant activity.
The main value in the Cristo Rey Office lies in solving the transportation
problem for people who cannot get out to the main Office. As the repre-
sentative said, however, peOpla would need transportation to get to a job
once one was located for them in any case. We might conclude from that,
that the MESC office in Cristo Ray is of dubious real value to people

seriously interested in its services.

ho

Social Security

 

A representative of this service is present in Cristo Rey one
afternoon a week to take applications, explain benefits and help solve
problems, Offering full services at the center. This worker was also
involved in other work; outreach, translation, and general aid to people;
as well as performing her Social Security functions, and going to migrant
camps in the summer to explain Social Security benefits to peOple. It
was found that after people learned that the representative could be con-
tacted regularly at the Social Security office, they would go there in-
stead of coming to Cristo Rey, or use the telephone, as they gained con-
fidence in their ability to communicate with the worker. The main func-
tion of the Cristo Rey Office seems to have been to acquaint people with
the fact that Social Security services were available to them, there and
elsewhere; in that sense, this service acts as an agent of acculturation
into the system.

Trangportation - Interpretation - Drivers Licenses

 

This direct service in performed by a staff member at Cristo Rey,
who is overworked in the position and lacks time to aid all the peOple
who need assistance, although he is helped by other representatives and
staff members in this function. This Community Aide is available for
almost any need that is not filled by some other service in the center.

Vocational Rehabilitation

 

There is a contact person available for counseling on vocational
rehabilitation services, by appointment through the Cristo Rey reception-
ist, es the need arises.

Volunteer Action

 

Two agencies cOOperate with Cristo Rey in Offering volunteers to

perform various community services. The Michigan State University Office

41

of Volunteer Programs provides volunteer student manpower for income tax
assistance, tutors for the Re—Entry classes, assistance in Four-H acti-
vities, aids to Senior Citizens, and other special programs. The Michigan
State University School Of Social Work provides Master's Degree candidates
to assist in various aspects of Cristo Rey Programs, social work services,

and develOpment of community programs.

The Social Director of the center has hOpes that Cristo Rey will
soon be able to expend both its physical plant and its range of services
at some time in the near future. As of the time of this study, funding
had been requested from the Diocesan Service Appeal in the amount of
360,000 for physical and program expansion. Physical expansion will be-
gin by purchasing a group Of houses bordering on Cristo Rey prOperty to
provide further office space and room for activities. The Director would
also like to see services begin in the area of a nutrition program for
Senior Citizens; a Day-Care center in Criato Rey to be funded through
Revenue-Sharing receipts; a dental clinic for both preventive and remedial
care; and a family health clinic to supplement the present prOgrams Of
immunization and well-baby clinics presently offered in the center.

The Cristo Rey Social Director has stated the purpose Of the cen-
ter as follows:

. . . . Cristo Rey as an organization is the glue that pulls into

a coherent pattern the fabric of services being delivered at Cristo
Rey. Cristo Rey personnel are responsible for the design of the
specific mix of other agency programs available at Cristo Rey. This
is based on an assessment of the priorities and needs Of the Spanish-
speaking community. Then when other agencies' programs do not cover
a problem, . . . . Cristo Rey personnel simply go ahead and fill the
void . . . . Our most important day to day function lies in chan-
neling the people with problems to the agencies . . . . Cristo Rey

personnel sit down with that individual or family [heading help7,
diagnose the problem, and decide which agencies and programs are

42

necessary to solve the problems involved . . . . it is the only way
to work successfully with low income people. (5)

Meat Of the staff and agency representatives interviewed as to their
feelings about the role they and Cristo Rey were playing in the process
of meeting the needs of the Mexican-American community, responded in very
positive terms. There is definitely a need for services among this mino-
rity pOpulation, and Cristo Rey integrates the efforts Of a variety Of
different service agencies, bringing the services closer to the community
which depends on them. This center, by mediating between the bureaucracy
and the low-income person, also serves as a force Of acculturation by
easing the initial bureaucratic contacts these people must make in order

to survive in urban society.

 

51b1d., p. 20.

CHAPTPR V

THE ADAPTIVE CHANGE PROCESS
IN CRISTO REY

Thus far, I have dealt with the first component of the theore-
tical pattern of agency change: change in constitution may be made due
to alterations in attitude Of the constituency and variation of the re-
source base. The original constituency of Cristo Rey Community Center
(that is, the administration Of the Diocese of Lansing which supported
the center's early undertakings) allowed Cristo Ray's constitution to
develop in response to the perceived needs of its target population.
That development led the center from the functions of a traditional re-
ligious parish, to become an agency of personal social service (in mig-
rant aid and other service activities), to an action role in community
organization and change-oriented action. There is evidence that this
development was not whole-heartedly favored by the entire target community
or by the Diocesan constituency. One Observation on the changed nature
of the center since 1969 and the advent of the new administration, was
that peOple had been losing confidence in the former directorship's con-
ceptions of what the center should be, and that his belief that Mexican-
Americans should run their own prOgrams was alienating people and losing
the backing of former advocates who were service-oriented, rather than
change-oriented. A deep division Of popular sentiment is evident in the
difficulty faced by the temporary Social Director in 1968; he attempted

to steer Cristo Rey along its former course of social action, and found

45

hh

that the necessary support for his program was not present within the
staff of the center or interested persons in the community.

It seems appropriate at this time to interject a brief word about
the process by which agency leadership is chosen. The Social Director
who is the chief executive Of service affairs in the community center is
chosen by and responsible to the Office Of Social Service on the Diocesan
level (see Figure 1). This fact is indicative of the profound effect that
Diocesan attitude must have on the constitution of Cristo Rey, since the
Diocese appoints the person responsible for all major policy decisions
(under advisement Of the Board of Directors). As one author has stated
in analyzing agency processes, at the time of selecting a new director,
'an organization may choose to reexamine goals and directions and attempt
to link this reexamination to the selection Of its new chief officer)1
In the case of Cristo Rey in 1969, there remains some doubt as to whether
the Diocesan authorities chose the new Social Director because a need was
seen for constitutional change; or whether the director, after being cho-
sen, later decided to conform to constituency desires or exigencies for a
change in service orientation. Undoubtedly, some cOnfluence Of the two
effects exists here, and it would be difficult to distinguish which had
the greatest impact on agency change. However, it is known that there was
at least one other applicant who had been closely associated with the for-
mer administration, and whose conception of Cristo Ray's function was
greatly directed toward change activities; he was not chosen for the posi-
tion. The political implications of choice of leadership do not lend
themselves to ready analysis, and therefore I will leave this matter in

a speculative stage.

 

1Zald, Organizational Chengg. . . , O . cit., p. 181.

 

55

With the advent Of this new administration in 1969, accompanied
by a drastic budget cut, the second major change in Cristo Rey's deve-
lopment took place, this being a radical reversal of former policies.

As the present Social Director once stated, Cristo Ray is still an agent
of change, but now confines itself to working entirely 'through the chan-
nels.‘ There is no longer active sponsorship of legislative action, nor
organization of mass demonstrations; the center's activities are now con-
fined to the provision Of institutional services in a more accessible
manner, to people whom these services might not otherwise reach.

Despite the now diversified base of financial support, the direc-
torship of Cristo Ray is still directly responsible to the Diocesan Office
as well as having to meet the requirements of agencies acting through the
center and Of the Community Chest, each of which supplies partial funding.
Because all of this support is vital to the continued Operation of the cen-
ter, many parties have potential influence upon any given agency decision,
and sit in judgment upon Cristo Rey activities. The Social Director
thus must consider the many effects Of any action he Or the staff takes,
for the existence of the organization is to varying degrees dependent

“masters." In this way, adaptation to a so-

upon the will Of the various
cial, political and economic environment for Cristo Ray is not only a
long-range historical phenomenon; so dependent is the agency upon an un-
predictable constituency that survivel is at stake in the most routine
day-to—dey decisions.

The present constitution of Cristo Rey has certain implications
for the impact of the center upon its target population, the Mexican-

American community. In the following chapter, I will discuss two aspects

Of these implications: (1) the problem of survival and the importance of

146

Cristo Rey for the Mexican—American community in Lansing; and (2) the
changed nature of those community needs now served by the center due

to the problems of ensuring continued survival. It will be seen in this
analysis that Cristo Rey has abandoned its former role of bringing about
long-range change in the fate Of the Mexican-American peOple in Lansing,
and is now meeting the immediate needs Of individuals in the community

rather than those of the community as a whole.

CHAPTER VI

IMPLICATIONS OF THE PRESENT
CONSTITUTION

Despite the constitutional changes through which Cristo Rey has
gone, it is widely felt that the center's program is accomplishing much
Of value in the needy Mexican-American community. As one source has sta-
ted, the Chicanos in Lansing have full confidence that they can go to
Cristo Rey for help with any problem they might have, and will at least
receive some positive response and aid. The center also acts as an agent
Of transition and acculturation into American society for those peOple
who have problems in adjusting to the urban environment and the social
service bureaucracy. Some Of the services Offered by Cristo Rey staff,
especially the personal assistance that is not readily available else-
where in the community (translation, transportation, direct donations and
loans of food, clothing and money) make Cristo Rey a highly valuable in-
stitution for those who are on the brink Of destitution.

In view of the community need they are filling, a prime value for
the Cristo Rey administration is survival of the institution; and there
have been occasions when the continued existence of the agency has been
in question. The adaptation Of the constitution Of Cristo Rey to changes
in the supporting environment has surely enhanced the probability Of the
center's survival, although Often at great cost in changes in the exis-
ting orientations for prOgrams and services to the community.

Contrary to former practices of the center, Cristo Rey now typi-

cally assumes a rather conservative (status quo-maintenance) orientation

47

 

#8

toward social action and change. Several staff members, when interviewed,
expressed a belief in the innate conservatism of the Mexican-American
community in Lansing, which they feel has made an a-political stance on
the part of the center necessary to its acceptance in the community.
The non-political nature of the population is usually attributed to the
cultural values Of the people, which include a strong family orientation
and little interest in a larger community. The stated purpose of the cen-
ter is to serve all sectors of the Chicano population, not alienating any-
one, whatever their social or political leanings. In this aspect Of Ope-
ration, the present administration perceives the terget population very
differently than did the former director.

Another factor influencing the center's conservative stance is
its strong church affiliation; the more change—oriented community members
feel that this religious link inhibits Cristo Ray's social leadership
function within the community, since it is felt that the Catholic Church
does not really want to get involved in the promotion Of change or social
activism. Cristo Rey is dependent to some extent also upon the income
and support from social service agencies represented in the center; the
nature of the services Offered is based upon the participation Of these
agencies, and their financial contributions in rental income are important
to the center. Thus, Cristo Rey also must be to a certain degree respon-
sible and responsive to these institutional agencies. One community ob-
server, when interviewed about the apparent conservatism Of the center,
mentioned that the administration of Cristo Rey had once displayed pos-
ters supporting the Chicano lettuce boycott, and a representative of an-
other agency working in Cristo Rey had insisted that they be removed,

against the Director's wishes, on the grounds that such posters were

49
"political.” This responsibility, being answerable for all actions and
decisions to other agencies, is an adaptation which reduces Cristo Rey's
autonomy in return for a certain level Of financial security.

One Of the criticisms that was voiced both by staff members and
others in the community was Cristo Rey's administration's apparent un-
willingness tO press for more funding from the Diocese or from other
programs or projects in the city and state which might have available
funds. As a legitimate organization with institutional support, it is
argued, Cristo Rey should be able to take advantage Of that legitimacy to
Obtain needed resources for the important prOgrams it sponsors; the admi-
nistration appears in the public eye to be unwilling to risk favor with
its constituency by asking for more adequate support. One Observer ex-
pressed the opinion that the Board of Directors seemed to consider their
Diocesan support as a favor, and would not press for more money; perhaps
the real problem (in the light of the evidence) is that the Diocese it-
self considers its support Of Cristo Rey as a favor. At any rate, the
center has been slow to solicit alternative sources Of support, although
the allocation Of Community Chest funds to their program may be a sign
of a permanent and expanding change in the resource base Of Cristo Rey.

Cristo Rey, due to its agency ties and needs for statistical jus-
tification of its role in the community, Operates on what has been termed
a 'head-count' basis (see Table 1); the amount of traffic passing through
the various offices and agencies in the center (although those being coun-
ted may only be referred to another agency's services) is tabulated and
presented as a verification of the center's importance to the community.
This method of judging a community center's effectiveness in meeting com-

munity needs, although certainly the most forthright method of measurement,

50

TABLE 1

BUDGETS, MANPOWER AND PERSONS SERVED
IN PROGRAMS OPERATED OUT OF CRISTO REY
BY AGENCIES ASSOCIATED WITH CRISTO REY

 

1972-75 (a)
1972-75 Nanpower Approximate No. of
Budget Full- Part- Service Contacts
Time Time Yearly
MESC Branch Office: 35,000 2 2 7,000
Michigan Employment
Security Commission
Social Security: HEW 850 - 1 156
Youth DeveIOpment 6,96h - 2 -
Corporation
On The Job Training: 1,025 - 1 -
Vocational Rehabilitation
Legal Aid: Young Lawyer 5,200 - 1 416
AssOciation, and State
of Michigan
Vocational Rehabilitation 22,190 - 1 1,0h0
Services: HEW
Service for Chicanos in
Lansing Community
MSU School of Social Work 12,000 - 10 1,200
Graduate Program
Big Brothers Pragram: 8,500 1 -
Lansing Big Brothers
Northside Athletic and 2,950 5 7 5,000
Recreation Center
Community Mental Health: 3,156 - 2 1,h80
Tri-County Mental
Health Association
Food Stamp Pragram 62,000 6 - 84,000
Office: U.S.D.A.
Re-Entry PrOgram: 17,000 2 - 6,650

Lansing School District

51

TABLE 1--Continued

 

 

1972-75 Manpower Approximate No. of
Budget Full- Part- Service Contacts
Time Time Yearly
Driver License Education: 450 - h 2,520
(Swanish), Lansing
School District
Adult English Classes: 5,5“1 1 2 5,800
Lansing School District
Well-baby and Immunization 52,000 - 22 5,900
Clinic: Ingham County
Public Health Service
Cristo Rey Food Co-Op 5,200 - 4 5,900
Michigan Housing 9,000 1 - 2,600
Opportunities
Ingham County 00- 559000 2 - 12,000
Operative Extension
Four-H Service
National Youth Corporation: 5,455 - 2
CBC
MSU Volunteers 5,000 — 4 #50
Total 518,979 ‘ 159,1;12

 

aCristo Rey Community Center, 0 . cit., p. 19. Figures presen-
ted in this table are "estimated for a year on the basis of first six
months of fiscal year.” The table is one of a series of three tables for
fiscal years 1970 through 1975, which are presented as justification fer
the value of the programs at Cristo Rey. They were made up several months
before the time of the present study, and so contain several inaccuracies
relative to the data presented here, In the intervening period, both
MESC and Mental Health Counseling reduced their manpower in the center;
the Northaide Athletic and Recreation Center moved to other facilities
in the community. No information was available for this study on the
Youth Deve10pment Corporation or the National Youth Corporation, and it
is doubtful whether they actually Operate in the center at all, or only
cooperate with Cristo Rey in some projects and prOgrams. It is believed
that the Michigan Housing Opportunities program had been discontinued
before the present study was made.

52
may be misleading; when a report attests that "the number of contacts was
fifty,‘ there is no way of knowing whether that means fifty different
people, or the same person fifty times. By far the largest number of
people using the Cristo Rey center are those served by the Food Stamp
office. This could be considered evidence of the pOpularity and high
degree of value of the community center, until we realize that Cristo Rey
has the only Food Stamp distribution center in the City of Lansing; if
other such distribution centers are established, then possibly this count
will be a somewhat truer evaluation of the value of the center to the
peOple of the area. The head—count method of evaluation, however, is
made necessary by the nature of Cristo Rey's dependence on agencies whose
orientations to service demand such a justification of the value of the
center; in this view, such tactics are only another facet of the adaptive
process, as the agency adjusts to the constituency's demands.

The adaptive changes in the constitution of the Cristo Rey Com-
munity Center, as well as increasing the likelihood of the center's fia-
cal survival, have had profound implications for the nature of the ser-
vices offered by Cristo Rey, and the type of need they are filling in the
community. To borrow a terminology coined by Nathan Cohen, the former
administration had been concerned with militant goals and needs of a mino-
rity group (with bringing about actual radical changes in the working of
the social system with respect to that group), whereas the present ad-

ministration is more concerned with survivalist needs and services;2 that

 

is, the center now ministers to the day-to-day subsistence of that large
sector of the Chicano population who are concerned with basic life-

sustaining necessities.

2Nathan E. Cohen, "The Los Angeles Riot Study,” in Nathan E. Cohen,
ed., The Los Angeles Riots: A Socio-Psychological Study (New York: Praeger
Publishers, Inc., 1970), pp. 19-21.

 

55

There is a certain level of dissatisfaction, among the more change-
oriented members of the Mexican-American community in Lansing, with this
level of service on the part of the most prominent institution in that
community (Cristo Rey). One community member formerly associated with
the development of the center sees the role of Cristo Rey at this time
solely as that of a referral agency; the center has ceased to perform any
autonomous function, and is now just a conglomeration of different insti-
tutional agencies. The agencies represented in the center, according to
this source, are not doing any better job of serving the poor due to the
influence of Cristo Rey, for the personnel there do not play any advocacy
role for the Spanish-speaking. There is no attempt to improve or change
the social services being offered, but simply to feed more peOple through
the same bureaucratic channels. Another observer working outside Cristo
Rey noted, “The only way to get social services is to be part of the
Anglo system and follow Anglo standards; and the only way to meet real
needs of the peOple is to change that system; so that to do anything
really constructive, you must divorce yourself from that system.‘

Perhaps the most telling commentary on the role of Cristo Rey in
the Lansing community was one staff member's remark that the center really

is filling a need in the area, because people keep coming back year after

 

year with the same needs. (In this author's opinion, one might question
whether it would not be more advantageous to the target population that
is to be served if the center were to work for more far-reaching changes
to solve the problems of the people at their social roots, rather than
offering meliorative services which leave peOple dependent on the com-

munity center for sustenance, instead of freeing them from need.)

54

It may be seen, in conclusion, that adaptive change which an in-
stitution makes in response to changes in the environment may have far-
reaching consequences on the nature of that organization's role via-a—
vis the population it hOpes to affect. This is especially true when the
agency feels constrained to adapt in order to retain the resource base
which allows it to Operate. Cristo Rey has become dependent, not only
on the Diocese of Lansing, but also on the other agencies with which it Fl

hOpes to OOOperate in solving the problems of the target group; this de-

pendent relationship has enabled the center to continue in service to the

m 1““? v“. _

Mexican-American community, but has brought about a radical change in the

 

as) ’-';"n.

nature of that service and in the community center's essential autonomy

to respond to the target pOpulation's needs as the administration may per-
ceive these needs. This paradox of dependence and necessary support is
not an easy one to avoid in today's society of complex agency relation-
ships, and it may be seen that the consequences of a dependent relation-
ship necessary to financial support may have much more than a superficial

effect on the total constitution of an organization.

CHAPTER VII
CONCLUDING REMARKS

The adaptive change undergone by Cristo Rey is not an isolated
case among social service agencies; a similar alteration in goals and
orientation has been described by Jerome E. Carlin in a discussion of the

1 In the case Of the store

legal services institution in San Francisco.
front lawyers, the central Office of the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal
Assistance Foundation was originally staffed by radical lawyers interested
in working l'toward altering conditions that keep the poor powerless and
victims of injustice,"2 through class action suits and legislative advo-
cacy. This function of the foundation was gradually superseded by the
interests of neighborhood control advocates, who stressed individual re-
medial services through neighborhood offices. Thus, the most radical
thrust of the program was eliminated in favor of 'band-aid' services, in
much the same manner that the change-agent function of Cristo Rey gave
way to programs Of institutional social service administration.

It must be noted, however, that the theoretical formula of adap-
tive change is not entirely adequate to explain the processes at work in
the Cristo Rey Community Center and in the Lansing Chicano community.

One salient problem is that of the language used in Zald's original frame-

work. This analytical formulation was designed for application to social

 

1Jerome E. Carlin, “Store Front Lawyers in San Francisco,"
Transaction, 7 (April 1970), pp. 64-74.

21bid., p. 66.

 

55

56

welfare situations, and so carries certain overtones of elitist profes-
sionalism in the definitions of target pOpulation, constitution, and con-
stituency. It may appear, for example, in this analysis that Cristo Rey
has formulated its constitution (goals and procedures of service) with
only the sources of support (iggg, the constituency) in mind. This is
not entirely accurate; nor can the Chicano community be perceived as some
sort of passive "target' at whom these services are aimed. The community
center is in active communication with various sectors of the Lansing
community, both Anglo and Chicano, and attempts to respond to needs and
sentiments in that community in a constructive manner.

Neither does the language of adaptation adequately account for
the presence of conflict and strain within the Chicano community or with-
in the center's administration itself, although some of these effects
have been examined in Chapter VI of this thesis, 'Implications of the
Present Constitution." Adaptation on the part of Cristo Rey, while en-
hancing its ability to retain present sources of fUnding, has also aliena-
ted the community center from some of the more radical sectors of the
community, who would rather see this prominent institution sponsor pro-
grams directed toward social change.

The notion of adaptive change, as I have used it here, is not in-
tended to delineate an inevitable process of change in response to envi-
ronmental conditions. There are, in fact, agencies in Lansing which have
chosen not to adapt in response to financial pressures, and who have sur-
vived to carry on some part of the original function of Cristo Rey, the
promotion of social change. The administration of Cristo Rey Community
Center has chosen to alter its goal orientation in response to financial

pressures, and, in my appraisal, has thereby lost a great deal of the

57

center's real value for the Lansing Chicano community. If it may be as-
sumed that the real needs of the Mexican-American peOple can only be met
through radical changes in the social structure to which they are now
subject, than in retreating from a program of involving the Chicano people
in an effort to bring about a more equitable distribution Of social jus-
tice, Cristo Rey has failed to respond to the challenge of poverty and
discrimination, and has settled instead for a position of relative secu-
rity within an institutional structure which perpetuates the dependence
of the Mexican-American peOple. This, indeed, may be seen as the logical
and result of an adaptive process which places an agency increasingly
more in a position of responsibility to institutions not essentially con-

cerned with the long-range welfare of the Chicano community in Lansing.

B IB L IOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrera, M., Nufioz, C., and Ornelas, C. 'The Barrio as an Internal
Colony,‘ PeOple and Politics in Urban Society, VOL VI of Urban
Affairs Annual Review. Edited by Harlan Hahn. Beverly Hills: T
Sage Publications, 1972.

 

 

Carlin, Jerome E. I'Store Front Lawyers in San Francisco," Transaction, VII

(April 1970), 64-74.

 

Choldin, H., and Trout, G. Mexican Americans in Transition: Migration
and Employment. East Lansing, Michigan: Department Of Sociology,
Rural Manpower Center, Agricultural Experiment Station, Michigan
State University, 1969. A

 

 

 

Cohen, Nathan E. "The Los Angeles Riot Study,‘ The Los Angeles Riots: A
Socio-PsycholOgical Study. New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc, 1970.

 

Cristo Rey Community Center. 1975-74 Budget Presentation to Diocese of
Lansinnginance Committee. January 1975. (Xerox):

 

Gusfield, Joseph R. "Social Structure and Moral Reform: A Study of the
Women's Christian Temperance Union," American Journal Of Sociology,
61 (November 1955). 221-52.

 

Harrison, Paul M. Authority_and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A
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Selznick, Philip. TVA and the Grass Rootgl_A Study in the SociolOgy of
Formal Organization. New York: Harper and Row, 1966.

 

Sherrard, T.D. and Murray, R.C. ”The Church and Neighborhood Community
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United Community Chest. Cristo Rey Community Center: An Agenpy Review.
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Zald, Mayer N. Organizational Change: The Political Economy of the YMCA.
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Zald, Mayer N. "Organizations as Politics: An Analysis of Community Or-
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