Harlem's Cadet Corps trains young men for leadership in their own communities.
Article written by : May Okon, New York Sunday News, June 15, 1969
In THEIR SPANKING CLEAN tan uniforms...... white web belting at the waist and crisscrossing the chest, spit-and-polished shoes, shakos with white visors and chin straps.... a line of the New York City Mission Society Cadet Corps saluted smartly with downpointed sabers, their young black faces aglow with pride.
Pride is the key word of the Cadets Corps, a Harlem-based, character-building, leadership-training program for ghetto youngsters that has been remarkably successful since its inception in 1947.
Started by Wilbert E. Burgie, a City Mission staff member, in a local church with nine boys, the Cadet Corps now has 2,300 enrolled members whose military activities jam-pack the four major rooms of their inadequate headquarters, a former church at 531 W. 155th St., from early-morning till after dark.
"We have trouble getting the children to go home at night, "smile Burgie, the low key yet nonetheless dynamic director and commanding officer of the oldest para-military (uniforms, yes-weapons, no) group in the Harlem area. Burgie sees himself more as a teacher and counselor than a military leader.
Article written by : May Okon, New York Sunday News, June 15, 1969
In THEIR SPANKING CLEAN tan uniforms...... white web belting at the waist and crisscrossing the chest, spit-and-polished shoes, shakos with white visors and chin straps.... a line of the New York City Mission Society Cadet Corps saluted smartly with downpointed sabers, their young black faces aglow with pride.
Pride is the key word of the Cadets Corps, a Harlem-based, character-building, leadership-training program for ghetto youngsters that has been remarkably successful since its inception in 1947.
Started by Wilbert E. Burgie, a City Mission staff member, in a local church with nine boys, the Cadet Corps now has 2,300 enrolled members whose military activities jam-pack the four major rooms of their inadequate headquarters, a former church at 531 W. 155th St., from early-morning till after dark.
"We have trouble getting the children to go home at night, "smile Burgie, the low key yet nonetheless dynamic director and commanding officer of the oldest para-military (uniforms, yes-weapons, no) group in the Harlem area. Burgie sees himself more as a teacher and counselor than a military leader.
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