.MjcyNw.MjcyNw

The Urban Coalition I Federal Bar Building West/ 1819 H Street, N. w. Washington, D . C. / 20006 Steering Committee Co-chairmen: Andrew Heiskell/ A. Philip Randolph January 12, 1968 NATIONAL COORDINATORS WEEKLY REPORT At a meeting in Washington the night of January 8, the CoalitiDn Steering Committee authorized the creation of an Executive Committee and charged i t with the responsibility for making an early recommendation on a permanent organizational structure for the Coalition. The 15-man Executive Committee will be composed of representatives of all groups active in the Coalition. Membership will be allocated as follows: labor, civil rights, city government--two each; church groups--three; business--four. The Co-Chairmen of the Steering Committee will also serve on the Executive Committee. Each group will select its own representatives for the Executive Committee, subject only to the condition that each person selected must agree with Coalition support of a three-point set of principles: (1) What the private sector can do on its own; (2) What the private sector can do in concert 'With government. (3) What the government must do to meet needs beyond the reach of private efforts. LOCAL COALITIONS The Task Force Committee that the proce ss o f and that there on Local Coalitions r eported to the Steering local coalitions h ave been organized, or are in b e ing organized, in 2 7 citie s (see attached list) i s acti v e i nterest in 16 other cities. Steering Committee Co- Chair ma n Andrew Heiskell commented: "I find it e x t remely encour aging that a ll sections of the country are r epre sen t ed i n the list. Thi s i s real pr ogr ess. We rave fe l t all a l ong t hat the dev e lopment o f stro n g local g r oups is of prime i mp ortance. " Indicative of the g e o graphic s pread of l o ca l c oalition s was t wo trips made during the week by the National Coord inator s t o meet with local groups. John Feild went to Fresno, California, Ron Linton to Bridgeport, Connecticut. National Coordinators : John Feild/ Ron M. Linton Telephone 293 -1530 �-2- On Friday, some 350 representatives from 82 cities in 21 states met in New York City for the third in the series of meetings on Mobilizing Local Coalitions. The interest was high, the speakers were excellent, and the overall staff consensus was that it was the best meeting held to date. Speakers included Co-Chairman Andrew Heiskell, the Most Rev. John J. Maguire, Administrator of the Archdiocese of New York, Equitable Life Assurance Society Board Chairman James F. Oates, Jr., Rabbi Joseph P. Sternstein, Christian A. Herter, Jr. Chairman of the New York City Coalition, Mayor John Lindsay, Dr. Edler G. Hawkins, AFL-CIO Legislative Representative Ray Denison, and National Urban League Executive Director Whitney M. Young, Jr. LEGISLATION The Steering Committee authorized the release of a strong statement of legislative goals of the Coalition to coincide with the opening of the new session of Congress (see attachment). The Washington Post commented in its Sunday edition: Much of the impetus for any crisis legislation will come from the civicbusiness-labor-and civil rights forces organized as The Urban Coalition, which yesterday warned Congress that "the hour is late." �