The Cambridge Model Cities program received a big boost last weekend, as residents of the model neighborhood approved by an 18-to-1 margin its proposed first year program.

Only 142 residents of the model neighborhood--a 268-acre area east of Central Square--voted against the program, which was made up of 29 separate projects aimed at improving housing, employment conditions, and social services in the area. 2639 voted in favor of the whole program, while about 400 chose to cast a separate vote on each project.

Members of the City Demonstration Agency--the resident-controlled board that will control the program--expressed pleasure with the turnout for the balloting, which took place on a bitter December weekend.

Pro-Forma

Now the program goes to the City Council, for a pro-forma approval before it is sent to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for review.

HUD has already reserved $870,000 for the use of the Cambridge CDA if the program is acceptable to Washington. The total cost of the first-year program will probably rise to several times that figure when grants under other federal programs tied to Model Cities are included.

Cambridge is the only one of the nation's 70-odd model cities that guarantees residents control of the CDA and also the right to veto any of its proposals in a referendum such as was held last weekend.