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[[image - black & white photograph of an African American woman typing]]

Since that time, OIC training centers have been set up in cities throughout the nation, which has been, in turn, divided into nine regions, each with its own Regional Director.  The one hundredth OIC, in Yakima, Washington, commenced operations in December of 1971.  This nationwide movement has trained over 200,000 persons and placed them in gainful employment. Over $121 million has been added to the gross national product in salaries and at least $86 million has been saved in welfare payments through OIC program efforts.

From the very beginning, Rev. Sullivan recognized that many of OIC's trainees would need more than skills alone if they were to get and keep jobs.  Thus, the "feeder" program was born in order to teach attitudes, to instill motivation and to create pride in place of despair.

Today OICs in more than one hundred and twenty-two cities, Africa and St. Croix, Virgin Islands, teach over fifty different vocational courses. They range from Upholstery to Construction Trades; Electrical Wiring to Offset Printing; Computer Maintenance to Merchandising & Marketing; Keypunch to Automative Mechanics; and Welding to Carpentry.  Moreover, OIC's interest has grown to include helping all who need its service.  OIC programs for the Chicano, the poor White of Appalachia, Native Americans, and the disadvantaged and disenfranchised of all races, exist and thrive.  We have turned our attention to the Vietnam veteran, the jobless ex-convict, and others with special problems through courses geared to their needs as well as the job market.

[[image - black & white photograph of a woman using a typewriter]]

The opening of four OIC centers on the African continent marked an historic milestone for the expanding OIC movement. OIC International Centers in Lagos, Nigeria, Accra, Ghana, Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia and Nairobi, Kenya serve as a bridge between Blacks in America and their brothers overseas. Dr. Sullivan attended an all-African OIC Conference in Lagos, Nigeria in 1972 and plans to expand the OIC concept to other African nations as soon as possible.   Already feasibility study teams have been sent to Togo, Gambia, Liberia, Zambia, Sierra Leone and Botswana to explore the possibilities of establishing OIC training centers in these nations. OIC International, with headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania receives funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), a branch of the State Department.

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