With a focus on Mobilization for Youth (MFY) this paper questions whether community action projects are best administered by public or private sponsorship or by a combination of both. MFY is a private organization financed by an NIMH grant and OEO funds. Since its inception in 1959 it has remained administratively independent, but while this system provides relative autonomy in program implementation, a community action project faces problems of gaining support, as shown by attacks on MFY from the press. As an independent organization it had challenged the traditional power structure of both private agencies and city bureaucracies in the community action field, and, as a result, had cut itself off from any established base of support while remaining dependent on public institutions for funds. In response to public criticism, the city administration curtailed the autonomy of MFY programs and instituted a public investigation of its practices. Interested private groups did not defend MFY's position, and the organization has been compromised. (NC)