METCO filed for non-profit status in 1966 with Trilling as the Chair of the Board of Directors. Among those also serving on the original Board of Directors were Paul Parks from the NAACP, arts educator Elma Lewis, Boston teacher John D. O’Bryant, Brookline School Superintendent Robert Sperber, Newton Superintendent Charles Brown, and Newton School Committee member Katherine Jones. The group received grants from the Carnegie Corporation and the U.S. Department of Education and engaged a research group from Harvard to evaluate the program’s initial effectiveness.