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• 2-(. ·~- • S01.!nlc:f1S- ,trnmJ t mTCE n.A r £< , EHl~mf\ 30393 OPENING STATEMENT TO PRESS CONFERENCE ON JUNE 7, 1968, BY WILLIAM W. SUTTLE, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

~---------------------------I am pleased that a compassionate and concerned federal government has given me the .OPPORTlJNITY to ask you here this morning at the time of my appointment as Regional Director, Southeastern Region, Office of Economic Opportunity. I am extremely sorry that our meeting comes at a time when the America we love is once again b eneath a tra:;jic cloud of grief, occasioned by the senseless slayi ng of another great patr i ot. Almost as shocking as the dea th of Senator Kennedy is the dramatic rea liza: tion that the kind of violence that he abhorred is no longer uncommon in our land. We all mourn his passing and pray for continued Devine strength for his bereaved family.' Most imp<:>rtant, however, we must renew our de termina tion that the late Senator Kennedy's dream of a better America , where all men may live together as equals and in p eace, sha ll not die with him. As though it were Buckingham Palace, it might appear that during the past several months the most exciting news to come from this office has revolved around the "changing of the guard." Although this is one trad ition tha t I sincerely hop e we can break, let me assure you that much, much more has trans.pired within these walls than the frequent change of leadersh ip would 1 indic ate. During the twelve weeks that I have been in Atlanta as the Acting Director , I have seen a devoted and capable staff refuse to succumb to the pressures of b e ing undermanned and accept the OPPORWNiTY to serve the poor of our six states in an enthusi astic manner that makes me proud to become one of them. Community Action Agency grant processing is further along today than at any similar time since regionalization of this Agency, and Head Start gran t refusals have dipped to only s even within the Region compared to more than thirty a year ago. Hard work on the par.: of the Atlanta OEO staff has made these things possible in spite of the lateness of funding for the current fiscal year, the recent Emergency Food and Medical program tha t c ast the bulk of its wo rk- load on this �- 2 . ~,...,.... Region, and the necessity of advising with every local agency on the changes necessary to comply with sweeping amendments made last year to the Economic OPPORTUNITY Act of 1964. The Job Corps staff in the Southeastern Region continues to recruit and transport more than one fourth of all the youngsters enrolled in this very excellent human renewal program, and they continually lead all other regions in this vital area of activity. 318 VISTA volunteers work around the clock, seven days each week in thirty-six projects throughout five states in the Region, living among the poor and helping them to find better ways to utiiize the resources available to them. 150 more will be assigned to training centers during this summer. While these valliant men and women devote full time to eradicating the hunger , i gnorance, disease, pre judice and deprivation that is pover ty in America, they typify that the conc ept of volunteerism is just as much alive in this land today as when DeToqueville wrote about it a century ago. The fiscal records in this office are, in my opinion, excellent and comparable to those of any other Federal regional operation in the country. Personnel proc edures here are being "improved and increased ·. to devote more effor t to recruiting, tra ining and caree r development. From the good and bad, and thankful record I am sure you will agree that the re is much that is excellent within this operation. Certainly, all is far from as a new Regional Director there is much for which I can be and proud. However, accomplishments of the pas t are far from suffic i ent , and the challenges of the future have always been -- and will certainly continue to be -- the b eacon that guides this Region and this Agency. I hope you have notic ed from the foregoing }ines of this statement and from the surroundings here this mornlng that , to insure that this Reg ion keeps our goals clear ly b efore us in Qhe months ahead, the accen t will be on OPPORTUNITY. ACTION, not promis.es, will be our objective. RESULTS, not excus e s, must be the products of our efforts. The Vice President of the Unite d States, speaking last J anuary to the Congres s of America ' s Ten Outstanding Young Men, s a id: '~omebody in Washington can 't do it (win the War Agains t Poverty alone), and even if he could, he shouldn't. 11 With these words, Mr . Humphr ey told his audience tha t the fights against "hopelessness and despair " are local battles, and that until every conc erned and socially conscious citizen is given the OPPORTUNITY to engage the enemy at the commun i ty l eve l th e war c annot be won. �3 No one could agree more completely with the Vice President than I do. In framing the Economic OPPORWNITY Act of 1964, the Congre&s directed this Agency to mobilize all available resources in the Wa r Ag_ainst Poverty. My first introduction to the gove rnment service came as a result of a plea that all who wished to serve might be given the OPPORWNITY to meet the challenges facing America today. It is my hope that all who are associated with programs within the jurisdiction of this regional office will acc ept the challenge of tot a l resource mobilization in every community we serve, as well as being effective advocates for all the poor. Recent public opinion polls show that a majority of Americans, regardless of political persuasion, support national programs to stamp out hard-core unemployment and to rebuild our slums. This Agency must see that every one of these conc e rned Americans has the OPPORWNITY t; become a part of the solutions to our social problems. Every businessman and employer must be given the OPPORTUNITY to help place the poor into the mainstream of economic society by providing jobs for the hard-core un~~ployed. Already, through efforts of the National Alliance of Business, large employers iri major cities have shown their willingness to meet this challenge. We must extend that same OPPORTUNITY to every community where there are unemployed poor. Every church and other religious group must be pointed toward the local mission field and made aware that Christmas baskets for the needy are far from enough. There are more than twenty million Americans, created in His image, who need the total resources of the church to assure that their future will not be limited by lack of OPPORTUNITY. We have already begun to call on religious leaders throughout the Region to stimulate greater church involvement in social programs, and their initial response has been gratifying. Every civic, service organization must be ch aillenged to turn from trivial traditional projects to programs that truly serve that community and the disadvantaged . The Atlanta Jaycees have shown what can be done by volunteer groups with their Neighborhood Center and related activity. I will ask these young men to travel throughout this region to stimulate similar endeavors by every civic organization that is willing to listen. The public must be made aware of the problems of· our society and of th e need for total pa rticipation in the solutions. In many instanc es the h earts and minds of men must be changed. We can no longer afford to ha ve the masses confus e OPPORTUNITY with the dole, to believe that being poor is synonymous with be ing lazy, or to think th a t to be diffe r ent is to be second- class . The Pres id en t's CoITu-nission on Civil Diso r d e rs has stated "there can be no higher priori ty for n a tiona l action and no higher cl a im on the na tion's conscience" t han "a compa s sionate , massive and susta ined" attack on the prob l ems o f deprivat i on in our soc i e t y . I fully concur , and I -h ave �- 4 - . ..,-,;_ ,

J faith in Ai~erica to continue to create OPPORTUNITIES from problems and challenges. I have faith in the ability of this Agency to stimulate the kind of massive effort that is necessary, and i am happy to have the OPPORTUNITY to be a part of what President Johnson described in his State of the Union Address as a "time to know the pride and excitement and hope of being an American. 11 . �