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NEW YORK URBAN COALITION INC., 60 EAST 42nd STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10017 212-697-9202 LINCOLN 0 . LYNCH / Executive Vice President May 20, 1969 The Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. The Mayor of the City of Atlanta City Ha 11 Atlanta , Georgia Dear Mr. Mayor: Recent events on the campuses, in the high schools, and in the ghetto communities across the nation lead us to conclude the Summer 1969 may be fraught with danger for the major cities of our nation. The recent Federal and state cutbacks in funds available to the cities, the severe budgetary problems now faced by the cities themselves, together with the inability of the private sector to employ out-of-school young people during the summer make it imperative that the Federal government be persuaded to commit additional funds to the Neighborhood Youth Corps in order to provide many of these youngsters with a meani ngful summer job rather than allow them to roam the streets with all the dangers inherent in their idleness. As you know , t he United States Department of Labor has made a decision to fund the Neighborhood Youth Corps in Summer 1969 at the same level as in 1968 . This , in effect , means that t:rewer youngsters will be employed i n 1969 as were in 1968 , if one t akes into cons i deration the fa ct that t here will be more young people out of school in 1969 than there were in 1968. For exampl e, here i n New York, it i s estimat ed that there are 150 ,000 hi gh school and coll ege studen ts whose family income f all within t he poverty gui deli nes . We al so es ti ma t e th at t here are an additio nal 100 ,000 students whose families are living on the borderline of poverty and will be seeking jobs this coming summe r . In Summer 1968 it is estimated t hat New Yor k was abl e t o provide jobs f or some 77 ,000 young peopl e. At t he 1969 f undi ng l evel , which has al ready been announced by Secretary of Labor Schultz , New York Ci ty wi ll be ab l e to provide some 55 ,000 summer jobs , 22,000 fewer than i n 1968 . The Manpower Task Force and the Board of Directors of the New York Urban Coali t ion have pl aced top pri ority on efforts to pers uade the Admi nistration to request sufficien t supplementa l appropriations from Congress , and Congress to grant such supp l emental requests for t he Neighborhood Youth Corps to enabl e the cities to provide employment for a significant number of young people out of school. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Christian A. Herter, Jr., Vice President, Mobil Oil Corporation; Chairman • Evelina Antonetty, Executive Di rector, United Bronx Parents • Humberto Aponte, Member, Counci l Against Poverty • Morris D. Crawford, Chairman, Bowery Savings Bank • Leon J. Davis, President, Local 1199, Drug and Hospital Employees Union • Wil liam Donaldson, Pres ident, Donaldson , Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. • Edwin Greenidge , Chairman, South Bronx Commun ity Corporation • Matthew Guinan, President, Transport Workers Un ion of America • Wil l iam Haddad, President, United States R and D Corp. • Andrew Heiskell , Chairman, T ime i nc. • Roger Hu ll , Chairman, Mutual Life insurance Company of New York • Charles F. Luce, Chairman, Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. • David B. McCal l, President, LaRoche , McCaffrey & McCall • Herbie Miller, Urban League Street Academy • Roswell B. Perkins, Partn er, Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates • Alan Pife r, President, Carnegie Corporati on of New York • Jacob S. Potolsky, President, Am algamated Clothing Workers of America • T . George Sil cott, Asst . Professor, New York University School of Social Work • David Spencer~ Executive Secretary, i.S. 201 Planning Board Complex • Louis Stuiberg, President, Intern ational Ladies Garm ent Workers Union • Frankl in A. Thomas, Executive Director, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp. • Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. , President, Ce ntral Labor Council • Isidro Velez, Director, East Harlem Tenants Council • Saul Wal len , President, New York Urban Coalition • Thomas A. Wilcox, Vice Chai rman, First National City Bank �NEW YORK URBAN COALITION INC. , 60 EAST 42nd STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017 212-6 97-9202 The Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. May 20, 1969 Obviously, it is unlikely that individual cities will receive increased grants for this purpose unless the national total is itself increased. This would suggest that a national campaign be undertaken to secure a very significant increase in the amount of Federal funds made available to provide summer jobs for youths. As the Mayor of a very important city, and as one who recognizes the problems of the cities and the dangers of thousands of idle young people roaming the streets, you are urged to join with us in asking the Administration and Congress to increase these funds quite substantially. While we believe that the provision of jobs for young people during the summer will not in and of itself insure a peaceful summer , we strongly believe that risk will be significantly minimized. I am sure you will agree with us that it is far more desirable to use our resources to insure that young people are gainfully employed than to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to repair damages caused by idleness and frustration . For your information we are enclosing a list of Senators and Congressmen on the Appropriations Committee and urge that you take such steps as you see fit in helping to resolve what could be a grave national crisis. I am , LOL:gw CC : Hon . John V. Lindsay And rew Hei ske 11 Saul Wallen Gary Lefkowitz �
