The unconventional approach would do just what the United Front asks--hand over to the black community decisions about resource utilization. Quite specifically, an appropriate share of the funds for the various anti-poverty efforts which are now administered partly by the city and partly by the Federal government would be given to Roxbury to use as it sees fit.

Now the conventional-minded -- and especially the city bureaucrats who would lose control of resources--will point out a hundred problems. They will say the people of Roxbury, like children or underdeveloped countries, need to be brought along slowly to the point where they can help themselves. They will say that it is politically impossible.

The truth is that it is not. In fact, all around the country shrewd administrators understand that demands for Community Control which sound radical and revolutionary can also be wise administrative practice. McGeorge Bundy, for example, moved quickly in this direction in his recommendations for New York City schools (though his approach was severely limited in many respects).

But, of course, taken beyond schools, the concept of community control needs considerable definition. For instance, it is obviously a mistake to give funds to leaders whose claim to represent the community is nothing more than their own say-so.

HOW TO proceed?

The best example of the unconventional approach in action is in Columbus, Ohio. A humane and intelligent Lutheran minister, Rev. Leopold Bernhard, helped set up a "Neighborhood Corporation" in Columbus's ghetto with the help of Washington writer Milton Kotler. The Corporation is, in fact, little more than a simple legal line drawn around a neighborhood of 8,000 people. (Any good lawyer can set one up in a few hours--if a community so wishes.)

The difference between this corporation and others is that its "stock-holders" all live in one geographic area. And, above all, it is controlled one-man, one-vote by the neighborhood. Anyone in the neighborhood can become a member simply by signing up--and has voting power equal to anyone else.

In Columbus, the Office of Economic Opportunity and others interested in fighting poverty transferred funds directly to the Corporation--to be used in ways the community thought appropriate to its self-improvement.

Of course, mistakes were made (as they are in any organization--including the Mayor's office). But in Columbus there is a good way to correct mistakes. The final recourse lies in the fact that these are regular neighborhood meetings and regular Corporation neighborhood elections.

If any one group tries to run away with the community's resources, or to put them to uses which are less than first priority, that group must face the consequences in the open arena of neighborhood politics. There are plenty of community groups and leaders who keep an eye on each other--just as in any other political institution.

There is also the ultimate sanction: if funds are used irresponsibly in one period, they are not likely to be continued or replenished in subsequent periods.

The idea of local control is an old, old idea--and a traditionally American one--despite militant rhetoric which calls the same thing a revolution. Some recall that in the last century Roxbury was, in fact, an independent community--with power to decide many community issues itself.

The Community Corporation concept is only a rehabilitation of that idea; and it is already well-developed in parts of Roxbury. Its basic strength, of course, is the old truth that the only way to achieve self respect is to have true responsibility for the consequences of decisions that affect one's life.

And in that truth, of course, also lies the secret to unlocking tremendous energies for a variety of cooperative community self-help efforts.

The approach, some may note, is also reminiscent of General George C. Marshall's handling of American aid to Europe. Instead of attempting, from Washington, to decide how best to allocate Marshall Plan resources, the General told the Europeans to get together and come up with their own plans. In effect, he said, "Once you have come to conclusions about how best to proceed, we'll help you do it--but the decision is yours, not ours."