The star attraction at the benefit, Jeannie Deva, is a self-proclaimed Scientologist. Her business, The Voice Studio, is listed as a sponsor of the event.
Page 2 of the flyer shows Kelly Preston and John
Travolta, two of Scientology's most frequently-used endorsers. This
image is taken from the main web site for the Hollywood Education and Literacy
Project,
the parent organization of this Boston group. The book Travolta is
holding is Learning
How to Learn, one of the "Study Technology" books discussed in the
expose mentioned
above. Scientologist Anne Archer is another
H.E.L.P. endorser.
Page 3 of the flyer says this scam has gotten money from the city of Boston (see photo caption with Mayor Menino), specifically from the Safe Neighborhood Youth Fund. Tilman Hausherr notes: "Funny thing is that Mayor Menino set April 22 to be World Literacy Crusade day. He explicitly commended volunteers using study methodology based on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard to help improve reading and writing skills among inner-city youth. His spokesperson later claimed not to have known what was behind it." (The World Literacy Crusade is another Scientology front group based in California.)
Note also that the Delphi Academy, where donations are to be sent, is a Scientology school. Read Joseph Mallia's investigative report on the Delphi Academy, published in the Boston Herald, and see how Scientology harassed him for it. And also read this LA Weekly article about the abysmal quality of "Study Technology" and Scientology's attempt to insinuate it into the Los Angeles public school system. In 1997, Douglas Mirell of the ACLU of Southern California was quoted as saying: "It seems like the [Study Technology] books go out of their way to use terms that have a technical definition within the [Scientology] religion." Here's an article on Scientology's attempts to infiltrate Canadian schools.
Why is this Boston literacy program a scam? Because Applied Scholastics' literacy efforts are really just an attempt to win some legitimacy for Scientology's founder, deceased psychotic con man L. Ron Hubbard, and to slyly introduce children to Scientology's jargon and aberrant way of thinking.
Media Coverage:
Boston Herald, February 9, 2001: Scientology-linked project gets city grant
Boston Herald, February 10, 2001: Scientology-linked project to get scrutiny
Read the Boston H.E.L.P. grant proposal submitted to the city.
Complain About Boston's Support of this Cult Scam:
Mayor Thomas M. Menino: 617-635-4500, fax 617-635-3496
Boston government email contacts: click here
Safe Neighborhood Youth Fund: 617-635-2258
Juanita B. Wade, Director, Office of Community Partnerships,
617-635-3140, fax 617-635-3353
Email: cpartnerships@ci.boston.ma.us
Human Services, 617-635-3446, fax 617-635-3496,
Email: HumanServices@ci.boston.ma.us
