Derthick Will Oversee Boston's Welfare Study

Dr. Martha A. Derthick, a member of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of M.I.T. and Harvard and an instructor in Government at Harvard has been named to head an intensive study of Boston's welfare program this May.

George E. Berkley, Chairman of the Boston Finance Commission, said yesterday, "We are grateful for this chance to draw on neighboring academic resources for help in tackling one of Boston's most pressing problems."

"Our welfare program, which will cost $55 million in 1965 and is constantly rising in cost, needs all the attention we can give it," Berkley added.

Reached at her home last night, Dr. Derthick characterized her project with the finance commission as a continuation of research that she has been conducting since last fall. She said her research had been concentrated on the problem of Federal impact on state and local government.

Gargantuan

Berkley described welfare administration in Boston as "a gargantuan problem" that Dr. Derthick and the finance commission would find very difficult to explore. He expressed the hope that Dr. Derthick might have occasion to examine problems that in the past "she may not have gone into," specifically the welfare budget and departmental organization.

Dr. Derthick, on the other hand, described herself as "primarily interested in academic problems." Although she said that her research into rehabilitation centers and the shortage of trained welfare workers will be useful in the commission's investigation, she felt that her work's theoretical emphasis would limit its practical applications.

Actual Methods

Dr. Derthick expressed an interest in the opportunity to study actual methods of welfare administration. She mentioned in particular a 1962 federal act that had shifted the emphasis in federal welfare funds from supporting to rehabilitating welfare clients. Dr. Derthick said she wanted to see just how much the law had influenced the allocation of aid in the cities.