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~ THE URBAN COALITION ACTION COUNCIL 2700 M Street, N .W. • Wa shington , D . C. 20037 (2 02) 293 -7625 JO H N W. GARDN ER Chai rm an ANDREW HEIS KELL A. PHILIP RAN DOLPH Co-chairm en LOWE LL R. BECK Execu t iv e D ir ecto r December 24 , 1969 The Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. Mayor of th e City of Atlanta Ci ty Hall Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Dear Ivan: Several days ago the Senate voted 53 to 35 to allow foundation funds to be used for voter registration programs, thus overriding the Finance Committee's move to prohibit the use of tax-exempt funds for this purpose. We had asked your help on this important issue, and many of you responded. Two weeks ago the federal anti-poverty program was threatened by a move in the House of Representatives to channel all federal anti-poverty funds and programs through state governors. Thia amendment would have had a serious impact on many urban programs . A delegation from our Policy Council called on Secretaries Finch and Shultz, OEO Director Ru...~sfeld, and several members of Congress to urge continuation of the present anti-poverty program. In addition , telegrams signed by each Policy Council member attending last week's meeting were sent to President Nixon and each member of Congress. Local coalitions were urged to support the campaign to save OEO. Many local coalition officials contacted their Congressmen immediately. These efforts capped the very effective work that many policy Council members and their rep resentatives, together with other organizations, had been doing for several weeks. We are very pleased to report that on December 12 the House rejected the amendment which we opposed and voted to extend present OEO prog~ams. The last two weeks have shown us what can be done when m ny work together to accomplish a common result. We are grateful to those who took part in this effort. Sincerely,

John

w. Gardner Chai rman �