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THE CITIZENS a SOUTHERN NATIONAL BANK ATLANTA, GA . March 16, 1967 Mayor Ivan Allen> Jr. City of Atlanta City Hall Atlanta, Georgia Dear Ivan: You very kindly agr-eed to talk with the Board of the Commerce Club at their next m€eting about the Community Council and its role in the life of the city. You asked me to brief you. Here goes. The letter attached gives you my general feelings as to past accomplisru~€ nts anu future purrose of the Council. At a m~eting of leading foundations yesterday anrJ the Council 's o.m Board of Directors today, the position taken in this letter was reaffirmed with one exception. B~th groups felt the Council on its own initiative should not be an im~lementing b~dy in the future. I very mu ch agree. The im~lemen ting role of the Council was ~ne as sumed in the past because there was no other place to lodge certain idea s for action . The principal i mplementing forces in our COffiilUrlity s hou ld be local g~vernn1,e nts and the Cow'lll.mity Chest . The War on Poverty belongs to the local CO!n!!lunity, not to the Federal Government. It has been working and should c:>ntinue to work through local groups. Officials of the Corrm.mity Chest, the War on Poverty and some l oca l goverP.ments have spoken out str~ngly about the need for a professional fact finding and social planning resourct: f or t he gr€atc r Atlanta area, one that is auequately staff ed t o do t he j ob and independent enough to call a spade a spade. This sort of council not only can help get more federal and state money for the city but also by good planning can assume tha t ir.oney sp-e n t en programs goes as far as possible. ,· - �THE CITIZENS & SOUTHERN NATIOt~AL BANK ATLANTA . GA . Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. March 16, 1967 Page Two To keep planning within t he ·control of t'ie loca l community, b asi c o pe ra tin g funds for the Corr,muni ty Council s hou ld cof!"c from 10°: al r a t he r t ha n federal sources . Officials of the Commun ity Chest in genera l c1re L--i agreement with their r espons ibility for increasing Cb.est st1p p or t and for sha ring the Council's b asic o pe rating buuget with loca l governments. Loca l governments, which t wo yf>,n·s ago gave no unrestricted fu nds for the sup port of the Council, t h is ye ar are contributing $27,500. This bc:se must be ex.p ar.ded to include othe r c~mnties rind cities in t he metropolitan Atla nta area . A service you could d:, the corrmunity and the Council is to affirr.1 the need for a strong professional plann ing council and the res pons ibility of public and private bodies f0r s e eing tha t the Council i s adequa tely fi~anced to do its basi c job. After t he base budget is funded , the Council rapidly ,,;ril l get in a better posi ti:m to contract with the ci ty, counties, f~undations and other local groups to do special prcgrmr.lil ing and other work . Since I shall be out of town the next couple of weeks, Duane Be ck can furnish you other data which you ma y want before the meeting of the COl"rroerce Club Board. Cordially> James P. Furniss ... JPF/as Attachment P. S. Some of the places where the city of Atlanta and Corrmuni ty Co>J ncil have worked most closely together a r e listed en the attached sheet. J.P. F. �