The Topical Files series (1 linear foot) is arranged alphabetically. The materials in the Background and Bylaws files and the paper SOSAD: The Emergence of an Organization to Stop Kids Killing Kids in Detroit, provide the best overview of the history of the organization and its goals and activities. The Activities files are primarily comprised of publicity materials from marches, rallies, and benefits, and transcripts from hearings and workshops. Matters of funding, policy, and administration are documented in the Financial Records and Grant Materials files and in the Minutes from various SOSAD committees, although the runs of the latter are incomplete. The Counseling files provide a very good introduction to those services. The Youth Programs folder contains descriptions of SOSAD programs in peer counseling, conflict resolution, substance abuse prevention and urban farming (Harvest '88). The Questionnaires were handed out to persons attending their first SOSAD meeting and ask about the effects of teen violence on the attendees lives, possible solutions to the problem, and activities they think SOSAD should concentrate on. There is an incomplete run of the SOSAD newsletter, which is an important means of sending the organization's message out to the community and of gathering support. The newsletters include notices of programs and activities, writings by SOSAD members, and information on the work of other groups with concerns similar to those of SOSAD.
Other materials in the Topical Files series unrelated to the day-to-day affairs of SOSAD but nonetheless interesting, include the Collected Materials files of documents from various organizations to which Ms. Barfield devoted her time, and the Children's Essays on Peace written by children (probably grade school) on how to have peace without fighting. The P.E.O.P.L.E.'s Platform is a statement of the group's principles and includes discussion of problems facing Detroit and strategies for coping with them.
The Children's Death Listings, Children's Essays on Peace, and Questionnaires from the Topical series, the chronological subseries of Correspondence and letters from Incarcerated Youth in the topical subseries, and Stop the Madness all provide poignant documentation of the effects of violence, or the threat of it, on the lives of people living in Detroit.