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Tci "Whom It May Concern: • As Manpower Representative for Economic Opportunity Atlanta, Incorporated, the private non-profit Community Action Program serving Atlanta, I would like to state my support in principle for • a resident Urban Skills Center for young women. Experiences in the Concentrated Employment Program, Neighborhood Youth Corps and other training programs which we sponsor has consistently demonstrated the need for additional training opportunities for females. I believe a residential program will be essential if a Skills Center is to serve young women from extremely deprived backgrounds in terms of providing a change of environment and to provide in depth Supportive Services on a consistent basis. Economic Opportunity Atlanta, Incorporated, has in existence a well established system for dealing with many aspects relating to the unemployed. We have established a strong working relationship with the Georgia State Employment Service in a coordinated outreach, job referral and job development effort. We also have viable linkage with other community groups concerned with manpower problems such as the Atlanta Urban League, Model Cities, State Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Atlanta Board of Education. Economic Opportunity Atlanta will be happy to cooperate in these and other functions relating to a Skills Center if such a Center is relevant to the needs of low income residents in the Atlanta area. In addition, we would consider coordinating existing training slots in our Concentrated Employment Program and other training efforts provide funding levels are adequate and appropriate linkage to the Skills ~enter could be negotiated. We feel strongly that the Skills Center must provide a meaningful opportunity foi input as to design and functioning on the part of low income residents to be served. Without this the Skills Center will lack creditability in the community it purports to serve and will make recruitment and retention extremely difficult. I am not by this letter endorsing any particular agency or company seeking this contract but intend to convey our desire as an agency to cooperate .constructively with whoever receives the contract and providing that the prime contractor pres ents a program that is relevant to the needs of the people we serve. ~//I-- Clint Rodgers, Associate Administrator for Manpower �