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.. ' ·, i C ITY O F DEPARTMENT A -. of L'-\ N TA PARKS Office of General Manager Atlanta, Georgia 30303 JACK C. DELIUS GENERAL MANAGER ' TO: FROM: June 27, Mayo~ Ivan Allen Mr. Tom Chri~tens on, Director, Operation Champ" SUBJECT: Program of "Operation Champ" Atlanta's "Operation Champ", sponsored · jointly by Atlanta Parks and Recreation Department and the Economic Opportunity, Atlanta, is a spor.ts and cultural program provided for locations in twenty-three crime infested and racial trouble areas. The ideal of the program is to aid · the children to develop social soundness, emotional stability! cultural interest, and physical fitness. In addition the aim is to curtail indirectly the high crime rate and racial tension. This ideal is approached by providing supervised recreation and cultural trips far the areas. The program is headed by a project director and assistant who coordinate the activities of the 23 areas and plan all cultural and s wimming trips. Four program supervisors directly supervise the 23 areas which are divided into four ge neral districts in the city. They act as go-betweens between the project director arrl the area counselors. Each area has t wo recreation leaders who work as counselors in the individual area and keep the area supervis e d Monday through Saturday from 10:00 A.· ~ - to 9 P. M. The 1nd1 v1dual · area activities inolude mass games individual 1nstruot1 onal games , ar t s · an d cr af t s , drama t ic prodwti ons , f olk dan01ns, ~htthm1o~l s~rn ~. ~eup sin gin g , and fi var-1ety of other ac t i vities , depending on the i ndi vidua l t a l e nts of the recreationa l s uper vis ors. Many areas work clos el y with the Gir l Scouts apd the Boy Scouts in an attempt to establish new t r oops that wi l l conti nue t hrough the year. Spe c i a l are a events suc h a s bicycle r ode os, pet s h ows, and tr ea3ure hunts en c oura ge the children t o devel op a f ee ling of fellows hip. The childr en should en joy t he a f ternoon snac k of milk and co oki es de livered da ily. Be oa. ua e of the · tremen dous ·c ooper a t i on and the dona ti on of time by many people, a variety of educational trips has been planned for the areas . Each area goes for a. "free II swim tw1 ce a week for s 1 x weeks • Many of our children will receive free bowling lessons from city establishments. The ,Atlanta Braves and Chiefs c ooperate with us by pr6senting periodical sports clinics and providing ~ ... 1...: --~ XERO lr.OPY ,. t.:: �·. . ..: \ Mayor tv~n A11~n unlimited tickets to both Brave and Chief ball games. Our children will bear-lecture! by the curator of the zoo, the Atlanta Horticulturist, and our Entomologist. New ideas and projects will be followed up by the area leaders through activities such a., transplanting flowers in the housing projects, collecting and mounting insects, identifying trees and birds o . . . The children will travel to various local industries, amusement parks and local entertainments including the Coca Cola Bottling Company, Mathis · Dairyf the Atlanta Journal, Chastain Park, childran 1s theaters, Cyc orama and Grant Park Zoo, and Grant Park green house. On ma~y of the trips the children · will be provided with a bot lunch. Hopefully the many experiences created by the cultural trips will add greatly to the underprivileged children's education. "Operation Champ" undoubtedly.. will not solve all of the problems of the high-crime rate, underprivileged areas 0 But through our personnel's combined efforts to provide supervised recreation and cultural trips, we hope to benefit the background of some of these children. Respectfully submitted, ~O~~- Tom Chris tens on Director · Operation Champ TC/~h enc. cc: Mr. Jack Delius, Genera·1 Manager City .of_Atlanta Departme~t of Parks Miss Virginia Carmichael, Director City of Atlanta Department of Recreation ~ ROI ,~l'H·•y ) �