Abstract:

In his Pulitzer Prize winning book "The Power Broker Robert Moses and the Fall of New York" Robert Caro (1975) reminds the reader that Moses, as the leader of numerous New York City building commissions over four decades "clear[ed] land" for improvements in the city's infrastructure, "he evicted the city's people...and tore their homes down." This had " vast import on...the social fabric of the cities, on the quality of life that the inhabitants led." ( Caro, p. 7.) It has long been thought that the vast city planning that Moses instituted, relocating the poor, including immigrants, to Moses built drab housing on the fringes of the city, was a major cause of unrest and apathy.

This paper contends that it is time to promote personal self-determination among those who live below the poverty level in the South Bronx, New York, the poorest zip code in the United States (Kozol 1995). Empowerment programs such as the Community Center at St. Mary's Park and others will be highlighted as the means to promote the economic and educational self empowerment needed to leave the passive acceptance of a controlling city planner in the 20th Century.

Keywords:

Poverty, education, social services.