At the kickoff Carver founder Ernest Attwell stressed the impact a black community center could have on lowering the community’s juvenile delinquency rate.
Suggesting that “what we term as juvenile delinquency is frequently community delinquency,” Attwell emphasized that Peoria’s black community would be negligent if it failed to support Carver.
Clarence Schroeder, the white Dean of Bradley College, took a different tack, arguing that institutions like Carver were central to enfranchising minority groups and creating real democracy in America.