Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 1993

Volume

24

Issue

1

Publication Title

Social Policy

First Page

21

Last Page

27

Abstract

Khrishnamurti used to tell a story about Man walking along the shore of the sea of life looking for the shell of truth. God and the Devil are watching from atop the cliffs rising far above the sand and water. Man finds the shell of truth in the roaring surf and picks it up. God turns to the Devil and says, "I've got you now, for Man has discovered truth."

I'm not worried," replies the Devil. "Just wait until he organizes it."

Although we hope no one would ever presume to have found the truth, most of us in the service field tend to cherish the bit of knowledge we have found in our own program-especially if it has met with success. This summer, the government gave funding to sixteen projects promoting youth service, New Orleans Summerbridge among them, and asked us all to organize our respective truths ... and in some cases, to replicate them. As participants in the Summerbridge project, we're here to say that, yes, truths are out there - programs that are working. However, we must report also that the Devil is no fool-organizing programs to expand can be extremely difficult. As the national service program is gradually phased in, a large number of existing local projects will be faced with the same issues we dealt with this summer: how do you take a program that is working, add to it an infusion of federal money, and expand it to a much larger scale?

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