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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ATLANTA - MODEL CITIES PROGRAM The Regional Economic Development and Business Serwce.1Center Atlanta University The objective of this report is to provide Atlanta I s Model Cities officials with a working tool to assist in the planning for Economic Development activities in the Model Neighborhood Program Area. Rather than wait until the Center's work on this subject is complete, we have prepared a preliminary description of two ite ms : One is the various problems and conditions affecting the lives of business people in this area. this area. The other is the reactions of these business people in To what they feel, rightly or wrongly, are the conditions under which they live. A full understanding and empathy with what they face and what they feel is a prerequiste to improving current socio-economic resource and developing new ones. It is also neces - sary in order to plan effective for economic development in the area. The style of thi preliminary report, therefore, was deliberately chosen to communicate this under tanding. In order to facill t the use of socio-economic information use in other studies conducted by the Center at the same time , it was necessary to anticip te our final results. analy i This has been done through an of all our vailable local data and where necessary, an inter .. polation of thia data baaed on the results of re earch conducted elsewhere. �z The local data has been developed from three major sources. First, we held nearly fifty individual interviews with businessmen ope rating a business in the program area. During these interviews, the problems. attitudes, and reactions to exis ting services and conditions were investigated. The second source of data was developed through using graduate students attached to the Center's staff who spent a total of about sixteen (16) weeks primarily in the five different neighborhoods (one or two blocks in size ). Their work involved the use of informal and unstructured interviewing techniques as well as simply continous observation of day-to-day movements. This se c orld a p proach provided us with much more depth of understanding than could be obtained through more typical survey techniques. The third source of data is the available local stitistics on income, employment, family characteristics, health, and other factors. Most of the local data that we have thus far collected is from the program area. This area of approximately 3, 000 acres containing slightly less than 50, 000 residents is bound by the East Expre sway on the north, the Central of Georgia Railroad on the west, Atlanta and West Point Railroad on the south and east. The six communities of Grant Park, Summerhill, Mechanicsville, People town, Pittsburgh, and Adair Park compose the target area . Some of our investigations, howeve r, have been conducted in other areas of Atlanta. On the baeia of thb comparative information, we feel that, while there are �3 differences among different areas , most of the preliminary conclusions in this report are applicable to other low income areas of Atlanta. In the overall view of needs and assigning priorities to these needs, it is immediately evident that these represent problems of substantial magnitude for the marginal and sub-marginal businesses in the Model Cities Area. The provisions of the Model Cities Program, theoretically, created an ideal situation for the small entrepreneur in a relocation situation. At first glance, it would i\ppear that, by and large, these persons would be anxious to relocate in modern, well planned facilities; as opposed to the dilapidated, dingy and antiquated structures in which they presently operate. We have had an opportunity to converse with many of these businessmen, white and black, within the inner city, and the reaction has been less than pleasant anticipation. Many realize that their problem' is that of selective or captive patronage. This is coupled with the lack of managerial capacity to appeal to a tot 1 market. If they are required to move to a new location then they will for all practical puJr.poses, lose their patronage. Many further feel that if they are eventually moved back to th ir present location , they feel that the financial requirement necessary to acquire modern furnishings and fixtures would be prohibitive. Mo t �4 persons who have operated for some period of time are of the opinion that they would not be able to be more than marginal operators. The reasons given are age, financial resources , and lack of academic training . Attention to a report submitted by a consultant for the Regional Economic Development and Business Se rvice Center, indie cates similar findings as a result of a study conducted in a similar area. At this point the Center recommends the assigning of top priority in these cases and make the development of managerial training course an integral part of the transition period. It is felt that such a program would contribute immensely to assisting these persons enhance their managerial skills, as well as demonstrating the advantages of appealing to a total market. Even con idering those who would return to present sites, it would do much in improving the ability to render service in his given area. This is presently lacking in most of the small, individual pro- prietorhsips in the area. This could be done through the Center conducting manage rial eminara on campu seminar sit s and/or in the various communities. could be conducted and attendance requirement made of the reloc tion subsidy which the e persons would receive a of the Model Cities relocation provisions. The part a part �5 These seminars would serve to assist in making many of these persons aware of the various government programs available in easing the adjustment of relocation. The foregoing recommendation would consist of programming the general managerial needs of these neighborhood enterprises. This would include choosing and improving sites , exposure to the various marketing techniques useful to small business , raising of capital, record-keeping and personnel management. Program should be de- signed to include the above items , but not limited thereto. Coordination of such a program could be implemented by the Cen ... ter. Personnel could be selected from the School of Business of Atlanta University, as well as the cooperating universities in the Atl anta area. This would make for a comprehensive program of Economic Developme nt and Technical Assistance . It should be empha .. sized that these programs and seminars · would be geared to the level of academic preparation brought to the seminar by these entrepreneurs of the communities in question. This would be in oppostition to many pro- grams heretofore developed which would not lend themselves to meaningful participation by such persons due to limited academic or comm rcial preparation. It would be further recommended that the Center would use contact resources to encourage on-going industries to locat in these reas. would be well to empha ize that such indu tries would initially install lt �6 their own management personne l with efforts made to train and promote local personnel to these position in phases . The Center could initiate progra ms which would fa cilit ate the u p -. grading of t he l ocal pers onnel in the direction of fi r st ...line management . There could be further efforts , e nga ging t he s ou r c es of the C ent er, to seek out and determi ne the feasi bilit y of the expansi on a n d / or c r e a t i on of service industry enterprises t hat indicate a p o ssibility of succes s operat ing or based in these a r eas , but again, not limit ed to the respe ctive communities . There is an imme d iate need for the foregoing provisions . There could be immense benefits derived fr om such an undertaking , and i t is felt that from these a meaningful program of Economic Development could be designed for these communit ies wit h long - term implications . �