Welfare Officials and Minorities Seek Accord Five- Week Discussions End With Ropert That Groups Are Now Working Together BY JACK JONES Times Staff Writer County welfare administrators and spokesmen for local minority community groups particularly in East Los Angeles--may be starting to understand each other at last with the conclusion of a five-week discussion series. "As of now, we're working together," said Nate P. Cisneros. cochairman of the Mexican American Ad Hoc Committee for Affirmative Action. when the County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) concluded the month-long program on Friday. "Now," added Cisneros, "we can get to work on how to improve the DPSS as a whole so it can really serve the people." Ellis P. Murphy. DPSS director, declared himself "extremely hopeful and impressed" by what he saw as a "sense of commitment" developed by 300 DPSS district officials and other middle-management personnel attending the training sessions. Purpose of Meetings Basically, the series of meetings was designed to orient DPSS executivesheavily Anglo -to minority cultures and problems. It was prompted by approval in September, 1969, by the Board of Supervisors of an Affirmative Action Program aimed at eliminating racial barriers in the hiring and promotion of employes in all county departments. Any 4. 11/0 + Lon Angeles Times The DESS, as the largest county department, was the first to begin implementing the ordinance, with the Executive Minority Program as one aspect. To sensitize DPSS supervisors : and district officials to the andbrown feelings and problems they are so often accused of failing to understand, three weeks of sessions (three days a week with 100 attending each day) were held in Watts, and two in East Los Angeles. Community Participation "We must," said Murphy, "inject a maximum effort to make our bureaucratic activities more human." He noted that the sessions had been largely successful "because of the participation by community people." But much of that participation came as the result of complaints by the ad hoc committee that the community had not been included in planning the sessions. It disturbed the Mexican-American group, for instance, to find that more sessions were held in Watts than in East Los Angeles; or that of the two weeks scheduled for the latter area, only one was to be "open" to the community while the other was marked "closed." Murphy conceded that DPSS had, indeed, shown how insensitive it could be and last week's sessions were all thrown Apron tA the community, That, A 1. spokesman, helped fear away the #ürl "for tire fret. time, we #tarted areing 80 110 inter. Laction between our people and the communi* ty They come back with the kinds of recommendations that prompted Murphy to observe there was 2 new wave of understanding by his executives for the difficulties faced by black and brown people- either as welfarc recipients or cmployes who can produce attitudinal changes in DPSS. There were suggestions, for example, that some way, be found to ease county civil service rules SO that more minority employes can be selected for promotions and that more attention be paid to past performances and ability than to traditional testing. Others indicated that there should be more aggressive recruiting in minority areas, that examinations be written in the vernacular, that bonus points (for hiring and promotion purposes) be given for such things as bilingualism. It also was recommended that DPSS develop trainee or apprenticeship programs in lieu of the examination process, that examination notices speci-: fy the seeking of minority applicants and that minority-group directors be chosen for those areas where few minorities have been hired Montez so far.. advised them to "open your minds to the life styles of other people" and illustrated the frequently insensitive attitudes in officials by recalling one public servant who told a group of Mexican-Americans: "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for us."