The Recreation and Youth Services Planning Council records consist of correspondence, memorandums, meeting minutes, and reports created and compiled by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Recreation and Youth Services Council from its formation in the late 1940s through the early 1970s (the organization's name was changed to the Recreation and Youth Services Planning Council in 1964). The records document the founding of this organization as a result of the "Recreation for Everybody" report (1946; also known as the Sorenson Survey) commissioned by the Youth and Recreation Survey Committee of the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles in 1945, as well as the condition of the region's parks, playgrounds and beaches at the end of World War II; and the efforts of Council members to gather expert advice and set priorities (included are copies of committee correspondence with urban historian Lewis Mumford on the poor prognosis for good recreational values in "tower block" public housing, as then contemplated by Los Angeles City Council). The records also document the various activities undertaken by the Council, primarily through published reports. Topics include studies of facility expansions for branches of the Los Angeles YMCA and a Jewish Community Center in the San Fernando Valley; the role of leisure services and public recreation in the area of mental health rehabilitation; the behavior of youth in recreational settings and in schools; and recreational needs and services for youth.