Civilian Home Front THE CIVILIAN HOME FRONT is where we live and how we live-130 million Americans. Strengthening this home front means doing a better job to make our everyday life worth living in our home towns: we must see that children go to school and get plenty of recreation; that everybody has enough food and the right kind of food; that everyone’s health is protected; that homes are not broken up by poverty and illness. There is nothing new about this. We have been working for these kinds of community self-service and others for a long time. What is new is that total defense demands total strength of the nation. IT is in all-out job that calls for an all-out plan. It means that all the machinery of government and private agencies must work together to strengthen the community for such things as health, recreation, education, and family security. At present, the following are the new set-ups that we will be cooperating with most on the home front-the Civilian Defense Volunteer Office most often and most directly. OFFICE OF CIVILIAN DEFENSE (Federal Agency-FIORELLA LA GUARIA, Director) This office is responsible for maintaining the channels of cooperation between the federal government and state and local Defense Councils. IT does not run or control civilian defense. It gives, through nine Regional Offices of Civilian Defense, an advisory service to states and localities on the organization of all types of civilian protection programs, and the training of volunteers in these fields. The Division of Volunteer Participation, headed by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, is responsible for and includes among its duties and proper organization of volunteer service through local Civilian Defense Volunteer Offices. A person experienced in community organization for volunteer service is attached to each of the nine Regional Offices of Civilian Defense. Their services of an advisory nature are available to communities in connection with the Civilian Defense Volunteer Office program. LOCAL DEFENSE COUNCIL Your local Defense Council is the arm of the local government. It was established to coordinate all aspects of the local defense program. IT does not itself operate programs. The strengthening of the established community. 32 Agencies is, of course, a necessary part of the defense program. More and more, Defense Councils are establishing a division of community services, with sub-committees on health, welfare, recreation, education, etc. Some Defense Councils have a separate recreation-education division. Whatever organizational plan is followed, the local Girl Scout organization should have representation. If your local Defense Council does not concern itself with the established community organizations, you, together with representatives of other organizations, should make known to the Defense Council your conviction that the community agencies have a part to play in defense, and that they should be considered in defense planning and be represented on the Defense Council. If there is no Civilian Defense Volunteer Office in your community, try to see to it that one is set up. The Mayor is the responsible person for the Defense Council. Try to see him or the person he has appointed to be the executive of the Defense Council. CIVILIAN DEFENSE VOLUNTEER OFFICE This office, an arm of the local Defense Council, is the community’s clearing house for volunteers and volunteer work. Its main functions are: a. To discover and promote opportunities for volunteers in all types of community services and the protection programs. b. To serve as a clearing house for programs of training and to make arrangements for needed training not already provided for. c. To coordinate the recruiting and enrollment of all men and women volunteers without supplanting the recruiting already being done by such agencies as the Red Cross and city departments, merely asking them to clear with the Volunteer Office. Arrangements are made to use all volunteers who have been trained by responsible existing private welfare and health agencies. d. To interview volunteers and refer them to training or jobs suited to their individual capabilities. The purpose of Volunteer Offices is the same regardless of the size and type of community, and the functions vary only insofar as the presence or absence of organized facilities necessitates. OFFICE OF DEFENSE, HEALTH, AND WELFARE SERVICE (Federal Agency, PAUL V. McNUTT, Director) This office is responsible for nation-wide activities in health, nutrition, education, recreation, family security, and social and legal protection against veneral disease. They are concentrating their efforts on the most congested areas at first, such as industrial boom towns, towns near army camps and naval bases, army maneuver sections, etc. They work primarily through existing community agencies, setting up new ones only where necessary. 33