This page will be an ongoing compilation of programs and information found in the Dallas Intergroup Archives. One of the programs we will be starting with is our involvement with the Jail Program and C.R.I.P. The next program history will be about AA on the Air. If any member remembers being a part of AA on the Air and would like to add their memories to be considered, please just email the office.
JAIL AND CRIP PROGRAMS:
The Dallas Intergroup has been involved in jail teams providing A.A. meetings at Lew Sterrett Justice Center since 1987. The link below is a history of this program written by one of the founders, Don M.
To get involved with this still vital jail program fill out the form below and send to the individual listed.
The Court Referral Information Program, better known as CRIP, was started in 1991 as a result of increasing numbers of individuals being “sentenced” to Alcoholics Anonymous whether there was a problem with alcohol or not. This policy of AA Groups and members being asked to monitor attendance of court sentenced persons by signing papers that listed names, topics, dates and other information created a great deal of concern about our Traditions on Affiliation, Closed AA Meetings and Anonymity. It was felt that the attendance papers were the policy of the judicial system and not an Alcoholics Anonymous group. As a result of these concerns, an alternative to the flood of court appointed individuals was developed and it was called CRIP. It must be remembered that at this time AA saw a growing presence of people with no issues with alcohol. People were sent for anger management, drug addiction, and many other problems that were not directly associated with alcohol or the desire to stop drinking. The CRIP program included information from Narcotics Anonymous and Al-Anon on a rotating basis. It was a very successful program that was stopped by the court system and not Dallas Alcoholics Anonymous after ten years. Below is a link to the information sheet for this program. (Many thanks to Jo M. for keeping our CRIP archives and donating them to the Dallas Intergroup Association.) CRIP was offered by the Dallas Intergroup Association as an alternative to A.A. meetings for probationers and the court assigned. The program met in the Central Jury Room, at the George Allen Courthouse, 600 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7pm for a total of six sessions. We based the program on one started earlier at the Chicago Area Intergroup Office. At this time many of those “sentenced” to A.A. were aggressively uninterested in not drinking, and created problems for our groups. With cooperation from the Probation Department of Dallas County, CRIP was strictly an informational program. A probation officer was on hand to sign papers and answer questions related to the judicial/court system. This was a free program that depended on volunteers from local groups. Videos from AAWS such as “Young People in A.A.”, “It Sure Beats Sitting in a Cell” and “Hope” were shown and a member of our fellowship gave a 5 to 10 minute lead telling their personal experience. A.A. was rotated with Al-Anon and Narcotics Anonymous over time. Below is the CRIP pamphlet used for the meetings.
This program began as an DIA Intergroup Rep question. Below is the beginnings of CRIP when the question was posed to the Intergroup Reps at the time by the Board of Directors.
Box 459 Primary Purpose 1991 (Vol. 37, No. 2 April/May 1991)
Some of the groups actively involved with the CRIP program were: Preston, Downtown Nooners, Lifesavers, Dallas Central, Freedom, and Addison. (Based on existing Volunteer Lists)
Certainly many court ordered alcoholics became valued members of our fellowship since the shaky beginnings of the AA appointed visits. Below is a copy of our current DIA pamphlet concerning the courts and AA, entitled: “Ordered to Attend AA? You’re Not Alone and You’re Not the First!”
More information on the same issue comes from Service Material available through our General Service Office.
More will be added to this page as the archives are scanned.
*According to a 1970 issue of Scoop, a publication about the groups and printed by the Metropolitan Dallas Intergroup Association, (Vol. 1, No. 3), the very first City Jail Meeting occurred Sunday, July 16th, 1970 through the Penal Services Committee of the Central Office, at the Dallas City Jail. A total of 15 inmates attended and wanted to continue to talk after the meeting. It was considered a wonderful success.
If anyone has a copy of this vital little publication, Scoop, please consider donating it to the Dallas Intergroup. It is invaluable for the Dallas history snippets it contains. Every little bit of history we can find adds to the total story of the groups in Dallas. They are not particularly valuable beyond the small details each can contribute to the whole of our story. We would love to have more issues in our archives.
AA OF THE AIR!
Before the days of instant communication, the Dallas Intergroup Association (then on Midway at Alpha) sponsored a program called AA of the Air. It was styled after the Tucson, AZ program which had been successfully broadcasting meetings via radio for 13 years. The Dallas office began our program in 1989 and according to our files we had several different time slots with KSKY, 660AM Radio. In January of 1990, the time slots are listed as Sunday, 11:30pm and Saturday, 5:45 to 6:20am. A broadcasting contract with KSKY from 3/28/92 reserves a 30 minute time slot on Saturdays from 2 to 2:30pm.
AA of the Air was an outreach program sponsored by the Intergroup Office with the goal of reaching shut-ins, prisoners and any “still suffering” alcoholic who could not get to a meeting, but needed our help with the hope that it might result in 12 Step work.
Various A.A. groups in the Dallas area were asked to volunteer to tape meetings for a month. The people volunteering for the “on air” meetings were asked to have 2 years of sobriety, a sponsor, and to have taken their 5th Step. This was considered necessary to participate in the various topics taped. First names only were to be used. It qualified as an open meeting, with A.A. discussion topics used. Examples were: acceptance, honesty, humility, and the Steps.
In the beginning, the taping was done at the Intergroup Office. After the program got underway the taping was done at the different groups involved. At one point station KFOX, 92.1 FM aired AA of the Air on Sunday mornings at 7am. The notes from this radio station asked us to make sure there were no obscenity during the 28-32 minute taping. The station provided the equipment and tapes for the show. The tapes were then taken to the KFOX offices for the Sunday program after the meeting.
We have some tapes from the program that we hope to have transferred to audio files for future downloads from our website. If anyone was a part of this program and has copies of tapes or would like to provide further information please contact the office. We would love to hear from you.
Before we incorporated as the Dallas Intergroup Association, we were called the Metropolitan Dallas Intergroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous. Below are copies of early group inventory suggestions. They appear to have been used in the early 1960’s.
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