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/ October 20 , 1967 Mr. Erwin St evens., President Citizens Cent\' · 1 Advisory Council 799 Parsons Stre t , S . W . Atlant , Geol"gla De i- MT , Stevens; 1 am sure that you . re we.re of the movement et the national level to dev · lop strong c oalition of urban intei-ests in an effort to x rt mo1,'e influence in national programs and priorities £01" the benefit of our citi·e e . R present ·tives of busines , l bor, civil rights, religion, educ tion d Mayo,: of I.Ul'ban citi s have joined tog ther in n Urb n Coalition to provide coordin t d machinery for getting the story of our big city problems cttoe to the n tion. I am tt dung som information xn terial Th e will -xp1-in the b ckgi,ound and go com.mitt e . on tho Urb n Coalition. of th n tional ste ting It be n ..- cognl ed £,:-om th beginning that in ord i- to b ££, ctive , loc count l"•P rt co Utlon mu t be dev loped in p rt of th count#y to support th goals . It l my belt £ th ti foi, y J'S Atl ni h s b n ble to gtow and pro,p r thl'ough n eUectiv nd inform coalition r lationship ol bu lnee nd gov rnmenl nd with th upport of th oth r re of int r st whlch l' p rt of the n tio coalition effort. I believe, however,, that w need to i-ecognl a Uttl · mor formally th co lltlon which keep oul' clty movtn nd al o to develop loc co litton • 1 ion• ship wlth the national Urb Co ition. �Mr. Stevens Page Two October ZO, 1967 It is my thinking that an initial step would be for us to get together the top rep:resentatives of these key interest gi--oups to form a local cl>alition steering committee an~ invite the participation by othe:ir org nized groups. The initial steex-ing committee could be composed of the Mayor~ as chief elected official of the c;:ity, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the President of the Atlanta Labor Council, the President of the Atlanta Christian Council., the co ... Ch ia,rnan of the Summit Le dersbip Confei-ence; the Supel'intendent 0£ public education,. and the Chairman of the Citizens Centl"al Advisol'y Couneil, who is the' elected repi-esentative of p -rtlcipants in the Economic OpportW'lity program. 1 have drafted statement which might be considered by this group which recognizes the need for a local coalition - d endorse the d cl l' don of principles of the national coalition. A copy of th principl · of the n tional co ition is · so att ch d for your consld r tion. By recognizing th · Jtist nee of co litlon we will be ble to b tter corrununic te urb n probl ms nd focus max.imwn re outc s upon their olution • Ol'd r that we might consider this proposal I h v, invited th following p opl to me.et with mo t my otilce t City Hall on Wednee Y; Oetob .. 2.5, t 10;00 • m .: ln Mt" .. A~ H. St rne, Preaid nt Atl Chamb , of Comm re R v. S mu l Williams C o.Cb 1"man Summit Le der hip Conf r Mr.B obnJ.Butl .Pi: Atl · L boJt Council nc ident �Mr. Stevens Page Three October 20, 1967 Rev. Bevel Jones, President Christian C ouncil of Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc. Dr. John W . Letson Superintendent Atlanta Public Schools Mr, Erwin Stevens,_ President Citizens ·centr 1 Advisory Council Economic Opportunity Atl nt , Inc. Sincel"ely yours. Ivan Allen, Jfl. Mayor IAJr :fy �