Document Type
Finding Aid
Collection Date
1959-1998
Finding Aid Date
9-17-2015
Identifier
RG 11.2 JamaicaSC: SAC
Description
All physical materials associated with the New England Province Archive are currently held by the Jesuit Archives in St. Louis, MO. Any inquiries about these materials should be directed to the Jesuit Archives . Electronic versions of some items and the descriptions and finding aids to the Archives, which are hosted in CrossWorks, are provided only as a courtesy.
The Social Action Centre was established in 1958 as the St. George’s College Extension School Cooperative Department in a large old residence at 2 Olivier Road, in a suburban area of Kingston, Jamaica. The Social Action Center was a work of the Jesuit Mission in Jamaica. The fundamental aim of the Social Action Center (SAC) was to promote community development in Jamaica through self-help programs. SAC grew out of the cooperative credit union work of Rev. John P. Sullivan, S.J., who was the founding director of SAC. Initially, SAC’s principal concentration was the promotion of credit unions and other cooperatives. In 1973 SAC became involved with the Jamaican sugar workers. During the 1980s, SAC Ltd. was involved with trade unions and training programs focused on business management, financial accounting, and organizational development. As of 2011, SAC continues to work with community associations.
The collection consists of correspondence, training materials, financial information, sugar workers leases, media material (press releases, texts of radio broadcasts and speeches, publications), meeting minutes, reports, and subject files. Please note that reports may also be included with meeting minutes and subject files. A first draft of a history of SAC, The Social Action Center Story, 1959-1998, by a former director, Horace Levy, is also included. The records span 1959 to the early 1980s, and the overwhelming bulk are from the 1970s and related to the sugar workers cooperatives. The records are divided between historical material, records related to the sugar workers and records of other projects, such as, housing, legal aid, a multi-service center and vocational training centers. There are also a few files about the property at 2 Olivier Road.
Recommended Citation
New England Jesuit Province Archives; New England Province of the Society of Jesus; and Social Action Center, Jamaica, "RG 11.2 Social Action Center, Jamaica" (2015). Finding Aids, Record Groups. 20.
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/findaid_nen_rg/20