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GUIDELINES FOR LOCAL COALITIONS The Emergency Convocation of The Urban Coalition has issu e d an urgent appeal to all concerned American citizens to join with the Coalition in efforts to fashion a new political, social, economic , an d moral climate tha t will make possible the breaking of the viciou s cycle of the ghetto. Action at the community level must now follo w. As leaders in your community, your commitment and ingenuity are now called upon to muster the support and involvement of your fellow citizens for a ma ssive reordering of priorities and programs in the face of the urban emergency. The national Steering Committee of The Urban Coalition is already at work developing strategy and programs to achieve the goa ls it has set for itself. But its focus is primarily on national decision makers and national priorities and programs. This will not be enough. There must be complementary action a t the local level where ultima te responsibility rests and where urban problems are most clearly perceived. The Urban Coalition therefore looks to you to initiate formation of a loca l coa lition in your city or metropolitan area to work in concert with the n a tiona l Steering Committee in pursuit of common objectives. OBJECTIVES At the conclusion of the August Emergency Convocation , The Urban Coa lition a dopt ed a comprehensive Statement of Principles, Goa ls a nd Commitments. It i s this document which charts the cours e for our mutual e f fo r ts. (A copy of the Statement is enclosed) . You wil l not e f rom th e Statement that the Coalition h a s identi fie d s even s pec i f i c a re a s of urban affairs calling for conside rat ion and �-2action by the Coalition and the country. Emergency Task Forces have been created reflecting these problem areas through which the substantive efforts of the Coalition will be channeled. They are: 1. Emergency Task Force on Public Service Employment 2. Emergency Task Force on Private Employment 3. Emergency Task Force on Educational Disparities 4. Emergency Task Force on Reconstruction Investment & Urban Development 5. Emergency Task Force on Equal Housing Opportunities 6. Emergency Task Force on Corrnnunications 7. Emergency Task Force on Local Coalitions The designated urban concern of each Task Force demands irrnnediate attention and action. But while such a division of tasks is essential for efficient organization of the Coalition's endeavors, the very real functional inter-relationships between the major urban problems must not be overlooked. It is the position of The Coalition that given current urban American conditions, the key to resolving these inter-related problems is a massive emergency work program of at least one million new public service-type jobs, developed and financed by the Federal Government, including new training opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed. The elements of such an emergency work program are described in the Statement. Such a program is a prerequisite to the restoration of economic health to our cities and hope to the lives of millions of urban Americans. Equally important is the fact that in the absence of such a governmentally-generated emergency work program even the most enlightened and massive efforts to improve public education, housing, an -.:1 health an d we lfare services wi ll meet with failure. The pervasive social and economic costs of continued high levels of unemployment and underemploy- �-3- ment in our citie s can spell sure disaster to our society. The alter- native is to implement a crash national employment program of the character The Urban Coalition p roposes . The business o f The Urban Coalition is to induce a complete revision in the allocation of talent, time, money and resources to meeting the basic needs of America's cities. While special emphasis has been g iven in The Coalition's Statement to the basic need for f ull employment, this is not to minimi z e the urgent needs for new capital investment, revita li zed public educa tion, substanti al increa s es in the housing supply, more and better urban services and facilities, and enhanced equal opportunity in housing. The Statement states that the "nex t order of business ... sha ll be the devel opment of a broad program o f urban reconstruction ... including the g oa l of rehabilitation and construction o f at l east one million housing units for lower-income families annually ." All sectors o f Ame ric an s oci e t y have a rol e to pl ay in a ccomplishing t h e goa ls The Urban Coa li tion h a s propos e d . Awak ening t hos e s e ct ors to the emergency at hand and mobilizing them for appropriate action is the immediat e t a sk. Essen_tial to The Urban Coalition's perform- ing tha t t ask i s the f orma ti on of loca l coa li ti ons wh i ch , we hope , wi ll fir st, p l e dge the ir s upp ort of the Sta t emen t of Principl es , Goa l s and Commitments, an d second , work i n concert wi th t h e nation a l St e ering Committee, with a ll resources ava ilable to them , to accompl ish thes e goals. STRATEGY AND AGENDA FOR LOCAL COALITI ONS As an i n itia l t arget, t h e Stee ring Committ ee o f The Urban Coalition is r e spondi n g to the r e quests of commun it i es in at l east f if t y major urb an a r eas for a s s i s tance in the formation of l ocal coal i t i ons by Novembe r 15 , 1967. In each o f t h e f i fty communiti e s , a sma ll organi z- ing committee o f local l eaders is be i ng cal led together. As is the cas e with the Steering Committee , the l ocal organi zing committee wil l �-4be made up o f r ep r e sent at ives from the c ommunity's business, organized labor, religious, civil rights, educational, local government , and · communications leadership. It is important that the sectors repre- sented correspond with those represented on the national Steering Committee so as to be broadly representative of the life of the community. In some cases, it may be that coalitions have already been forme d around such i ssues as jobs, schools or housing. These groups may wish to identify with and work with The Urban Coalition. The loca l or ganizing commit t ee and oth er existing coalit ion groups are being invited to des i gnate representatives to attend a one-day Local Urban Coalition Pl anning Session to be held on Tuesday, October 17 1967 in Chicago , Illinois. The plaming session , convene d by the ~ational Steering Commi tt ee, wi ll dea l ex clus i v e ly with organi za t ion a nd progr amming o f local coa l it ions. Further informa tion will be furnished to you shortly on the subject of the planning s e ssion. I n no ev en t, h owev e r, s hould t h e organi za t ion of local coalit ion s be defe r r e d pendin g t h e Chicago p l anning s e ssion. Time i s of t h e ess ence. Where a gen eral , a s contrast e d t o a sing l e i s s ue, coa lit ion is be ing f orme d the fi rs t orde r o f busine ss for the organi z ing c ommittee is t o round ou t represent a tiv e p a rt i cipa tion on a loca l St eering Committ ee . Secondl y, the St e erin g Commi t t ee should devel op a dra f t Sta t ement of Princip l es , Goal s , and Commi tments whi ch endorse s the na t ional Sta t emen t and broa dens it to i nclu de ma j or local concerns. Nex t, conv ening of an emergency c onvocation of the l oc a l c oa lition t o rev iew and a dopt a Sta t emen t of Goals and devel op pl ans for i mp l ementa tion mi gh t be under taken . Thi s convoca tion , patterned a f t e r the n a tional Eme r gency Convocat i on he l d i n Au gu s t , s houl d be c a lle d a s soon as pos sibl e, h opefu l ly, no later t h an mid-Nov emb e r . In those cities wh ere several sing l e issue coalitions a l ready exist, t h ey may wish to j oin tly conv ene such a convocation. �r -5It is strongly recommended that, both in the initial organizational phase as well as the post-convocation phase,where new coal i tions are being formed,the local organizing corrnnittee arrange for a t least one staff person to work full time on the local coalition. It is expected that this staff person could be borrowed from the staff of one of the participating leaders. THE LOCAL EMERGENCY CONVOCATION The local convocation will serve to bring together the significant corrnnunity leadership and will serve both as an organizing device as well as a vehicle for arousing and educating the community to the urban emergency. The convening of the convocation and the endorsement of a Statement of Principles will have local and national significance to the extent t hat the convocation enjoys the participation of the corrnnunity's leadership representing the same constituencies represented in the organizing committee . This is an enterprise requiring as much citizen support as possible so that community leadership involvement must be broad and numerically substantial. The convocation can be focused on the problems of a single c i ty er on the pr obl ems of the metropolitan area in which it is located, whiche ' e r is f easible and appropriat e . It is fully expected that the local c oa l ition and th e convocation will invo lve representatives o f maj or employers an d un i ons whether their constituents and/or func ~i ons are in the city or the suburbs. While the nationa l Urb an Coalition is not able to offer an:· finan cial ass i stance to loc al organizing committees, it wi ll provide assistance i n p reparing an d convening the local convocation. che~ In this regar d, the October 17th planning conference in Chicago will offer ori e~ t at ion and counsel on a range of factors pertin ent to succe s sful �-6local coalitions. In addition, the Steering Committee has accepted an offer by the National Institute of Public Affairs to furnish, where des ir e d, technical assistance to local organizing corrnnittees in programmi ng of the local convocation and subsequent siminars and workshops. The national Steering Corrnnittee will also provide speakers, where needed and requested, in any or all of the substantive areas under consideration by The Ur ban Coalition Task Forces mentioned earlier. A necessary outcome of the convocation is endorsement of a minimal organizational structure to pursue the goals and commitment 6 adopted. With respect to newly-formed local coalitions, the local structure should include a steering corrnnittee and a minimum of three t ask forces to deal with legislation, expansion of private employment,and public information, respectively. Beyond the substance of these three task forces, local groups may set up other work groups. The nat i onal Urban Coalition, however, is presently going through program dev e lopment with its other task forces and will be prepared to coordinate other local task force action areas in the near future. Finally, it is contemplated that the local coalitions will pa r t icipate in and help shape the programs of The Urban Coalition . �