Fourth Ward Health and Educational Center for Youth, Inc.
1415 Taft Street, Houston, Texas 77019    (713)524-2857


LETTER TO ALL PROPERTY OWNERS, FREEDMEN'S TOWN/FOURTH WARD
July 9, 1997



Dear Property Owners and Landlords:

As the founding director of the nonprofit Fourth Ward Center
for Youth, Inc., I am writing to you requesting help for
our youth to acquire property and housing in [the] Freedmen's Town/
Fourth Ward area, in fulfillment of the Youth Master Plan
that they have put together.  Over the past 8 years or so,
our young volunteers have envisioned and developed a plan to
improve the conditions in our historic neighborhood, and have
presented it to local, state, and federal officials, as well
as to the general public at Scout Fairs in 1995 and 1996.

Having served local youth and their families for 27 years
without funding, we have made our best effort to lift one
another out of poverty with the few resources we had.
However, we can no longer afford to go on without facilities
for our growing youth activities and community services.

Thus, our nonprofit organization is requesting tax-deductible
donations of land, buildings, and material resources for all
the following volunteer activities and needs that we serve:

 Adequate office and activity space for local Boy Scouts,
Cub Scouts, and Explorer Scouts operations and equipment

 Building for the Homework Club and Literacy Training until
a school campus and student center is built in Fourth Ward

 Facilities for the Fourth Ward Youth Baseball and Softball
Association and Park Advisory Councils

 Space for a library, including a reference room for Work
Experience Opportunities and Projects

 Storage site for equipment, such as lawn care and
maintenance, for proper upkeep of the neighborhood

 Housing for our 40 or so volunteer/low-income families with
the Fourth Ward Health and Educational Center for Youth, Inc.
and many other worthwhile community projects and services.

We are also open to other suggestions, such as a children's
day-care and cultural art activity center.  Please contact me
if you are able to donate or sell property at a fair price,
in order to help our youth [to] meet their goals of greater human,
economic, and affordable housing development in the area.

Thank you for your consideration,
Darrell J. Patterson