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~(f~ ~ ' Economic Opportunity Atlanta, Inc.__ • 101 Marietta Street Bldg. William w. o Aclanta, Georgia 30303 • Allison E xe cutive Administrator December 18, 1969 Mr. Dave Houser Arthur AndP.rsen & Company 25 Pryor Street Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Dear Dave: In response to our conversation resulting from my previous discussion with Al Bow.s on the Administration's proposed Manpower Training Act of 1969, I am attaching a draft copy of the Bill along with a summary of the provisions and a cover letter by Secretary of Labor Schultz. I received the draft earlie:c this year at a one day staffing sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington as Mayor Allen's representative. Subsequent to this staffing, a committee from the U.S. Conference of Mayors/ U.S. League of cities held an interview with Secretary of Labor Schultz expressing the concerns of the Mayors of ma jor cities relative to the Bill. I am also attaching copies of two s~tuna ries of such concerns res u lting from ma npower conferences which were sent to city Hall after my return from Washington. This morning I also h a d the opportunity to review the brochure prepare d on the coordi nat ion of manpower efforts. I e .x;press e d to Al Bows my fe e ling t h at such coordina tion is not feasible unless . done through a po l it i c a l me cha nism. I further sugg e sted that the att a che d Manp ower Act would pres ent this opp ortunity provide d that the city governme n t has b oth th e d e sir e and commitme nt to take on ·t h i s task and mak e i t work. A few ma jor c oncern s I have about the propos ed Bill are a s follows: 1. That it is abso l u tely e s s e ntia l that the city governme nts r eceive unin cumbe r e d g ran t s f r om the Sta te for ma n p ower �_I - Mr. Dave Houser Page 2 December 18, 1969 needs in the SMSAs. Most state governments especially in the south are still basically dominated by rural interest and political power, and based on past experience can not be expected ·in the immediate future to address themselves voluntarily to urban needs. 2. The formula for computing training allowances under this act is basically the same as under MDTA and is totally inadequate. 3. City governments, however, assuming a manpower role under this Act must be unincumbered in their objective evaluation and selection of agencies and techniques to be utilized in all aspects of manpower programs. This may mean the non selection of some traditional agencies working in this area. 4. The Bill should be carefully watched to insure that an appropriate concerned local government official is selected as Prime Sponsor and that the mechanism for this selection not allow for capricious designation of irrelevan t officers . 5. Recently Preside nt Nix on indicated that this Bill was on what he termed his "red light" list of legislation. This was int e rpr e t e d to me a n that items on this list would not be press e d f or legi s lative action this congres s ional year. I hope the se points c a n s e rve as a b e ginning point for our di s cuss ion on th e r e l e v a nce of this proposed legislation for the pur pose and intent o f your wo rk towa r d r ea li s tic coordination and c ons olida tion ef f o rt s. Sinc er ely, C!L~ Cl i nt Rodger s Deputy Adm in istrato r CR: a At ta ch ments �