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ECONOMIC OP PORT UMITY ATLANTA, INC. 101 MARIETTA STREET BLDG, ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303 525-4262 TWO AND ONE-HALF YEARS A brief summa ry of programs fund ed through Economic Opportunity Atlanta, Inc. from Janu ary 1965 to July 19 67

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During th e past t wo and one-half years Atlanta's community action progr am has moved with great spe ed . It has, in many ways, become a model for the nation. Th ous ands of Atlanta citizens and many agenci es and organizations have particip a ted in planning the variety of opportunity programs now available. NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE CENTERS Twelve multi-servic e neighborhood c e nt ers have b een established in Atlanta and Fulton County. Two additional c e nters serve families in Gwinn e tt and Rockdal e counties. The 14 neighborhood cent e rs ha ve held a total of 116,203 intervi ews . Employme nt couns e lors located in neighborhood c e nters pl a ced 7,630 individuals in jobs, not including Job Corps, Ne ighborhood Youth Corp~ etc. Of th e centers' total intake, 72% wanted jobs. Social Service workers have made 71,938 referral s to put families in touch with agencies offe ring appropriate help, in a:idition to th e numerou s cas es completed at the n e ighborhood c e nters. Resid en t Participation: Two democratic elections hav e b een con du ct ed t o select r ep r esentatives of low-income n eighbo rh oods for EOA commi tt ees. Nea rly 12,000 p eop l e voted in the 19 67 EOA elections. Approximately 10,000 people participate in 200 block organizations and other EOA committees. More th a n 500 low-income citiz e n s are serv ing as elected block captai ns and representatives to neighborhood c e nt er advisor y councils, a city - wide adv isory council and t he EOA Board o f Dir ec t ors. On e -thir d of th e EOA BDard of Dir ectors is composed of low-income cit izens. Neighborhood Services Aides: Low-income r esidents of n e ighborhoods served by EOA have been trained and em~loy ed by EOA to assist wi th its programs. Ai d es (21 4 before 1967 budge t reductions , ..._! �-2- 145 now) have conta cted 124,004 families to discuss opportunities available through EOA. They have provided continued contact with 53,697 famili e s. Aides also assist with community organization and the work of the neighborhood centers. CHILD DEVELOPMENT Summer Head Start classes hav e provid e d cultural enrichment for 3,000 children each of the last three summers. Nine Day Care Centers provide supervised recreation and enrichment for 700 children of working parents. C01"1MUNITY SCHOOLS Twelve Community Schools have provided education and enrichment in the afternoons and evenings for a total enrollme nt of 70,482. Funds for this program were cut 82% because of 1967 budget reductions. NEIGHBORHOOD YOUTH CORPS (Out-of-School Program) Eighty-nine agencies are cooperating to provide jobs for approximately 650 youths. In two and one-half years 3,620 youths have participated in the program. Another 3,000 youths have participated in a Ne ighborhood Youth Corps program for high school students administer e d by the Atlanta Public Schools. JOB CORPS EOA recruits boys from an eight county area for the Job Corps. To date, 1,654 have been accepted for Job Corps training, 658 are known to be employed or in the military service. Recruiting for the Wome n's Job corps is handled by WICS. To date, 270 girls have b e en accepted for training. LEGAL ASSISTANCE Attorneys from the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, under contract with EOA, have s e rved 21,502 cases and ha v e closed 2,760 court cases. PLANNED PARENTHOOD The Plann e d Par e nthood As s ociation , unde r c o ntract with EOA, has se r ved 4 , 184 indi v iduals. . . -;! �-3- FOSTER GRANDPAREN'ES DEMONSTR..~TION PROJECT Forty-one me n and women over 60 years of age are employed to work with children at thre e institutions. PROJECT ENABLE Ove r 300 low-income p a r e nt s h ave p ar ticipa t e d in a group discussion progr a m de s ign e d to incr ea s e motivation for self-help . .MULTI-SERVICE CENTERS FOR THE. AGED Recr ea tion, s ocia l s e rv ices a n d d ay ca re a r e b e ing provi ded f o r a t ota l of 1,7 94 fa~i l y u ni t s in t h r ee apar t men t buildi n gs for the aged. ATL._~ TA EMP LOYMENT EVALUATION AND SERVICE CENTER This i s a c e ntr ali ze d ser vic e , th e fi rs t of it s k i nd in the country, t o di a gnose a n d e v a luate wo rk p o t e nti a l a n d training n eeds of difficult cas e s. Appro x imate ly 40% of tho se who ha ve b een evaluate d are now employed. SUM~IER RECREATION City-wi d e r ecr ea t ion p rogra ms we re con d u cted in th e summe rs of 1966 and 1967 with fun d s fr om OEO. The total 1966 attenda nc e .at i umme r r~cr e ation programs was 277,000. ATL._~TA CONCENTRATED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM Th is i s a n e w pro g r a m d es i g n ed to pla c e 2 , 500 con s i stently un e mp l oyed or un deremploye d peo pl e in jobs or tr a ining during the n ext yea r. Appro x ima t e l y 70 Atl an t a b u s in esses a nd soc i a l a gen cies have volun t eere d to remove u nnecessary entry l eve l job qua l ifications so tha t n e wl y t rain e d p e opl e might be c ome e mployed. Ma ny busin esses wil l a l s o coope rate in t rain i n g e nro ll ees . PRI CE AREA HEALTH CENTER A n ew h eal th c e nt er will provide comp l e t e me dica l s e rvic es , ~xce pt h o sp itili~at i o;, : for 22 , 000 l ow-in come p eopl e living in th e Pric e n e ighborhood: Th e Fulton County Me dica l Assoc i ati on , Emory Unive rsi t y Schoo l of Me dic i ne and 1 5 o t her h e a l th a nd planning agencies are coope r a ting with EOA to estab l ish t h e c e nter . �-4- VOLUNTEER TASK FORCE More than 200 loc a l volunteers have b een trained and p l aced in 19 locations to assist with Atlanta's war on poverty. VOLUNTEERS IN SERVI CE 'I'O AMER ICA (VI STA) Forty-two VISTAs work with EOA. DISCONTINUED PROGRAMS Due to Congr ess ion a l requctions in 1 967 OEO funds the following progra ms were delet ed : Bees-Bi z : job tra~nin g for unemployed, out-of-school you th s . Small Business Development Ce nt e r: closed as of July 31, th e Center int erv iewe d and counseled 850 indi viduals , approved 300 lo ans tot a lin g $326,225. Home Man age me nt Training: cl asses and demon s trations by qualifi e d p erso nn e l to t ea ch cooking, budg e ting, s ew ing, child car e , hygien e , consume r buying, hou se-keeping. Neighborh ood Cen t e r Recreation Pro g ram s : qualified p e rsonn e l help ed r es id e nts develop neighborhood recreation programs. Homemake r S erv ic es : substitute home ma kers were provided for low-income households during emergencies . Public Hea lth Program: four Public Health nurses worked with EOA neighborhood service cent ers . ADDITIONAL INFORM..ATION Fifty-on e loc a l ag e ncies hav e contract s with EOA to administ e r EOA program s . Total community support, including both cash and non-cash contributions, repr e s e nts 19½'/4 of all program s coming unde r the 7' appro x imat e l y $17,000,000 CAP umbr e ll a . Ca sh contributions. from the city and county governments total $137,744. in 1 96 7 . ·_-EOA employs 427 p eop l e (145 Aides an d 282 regular employees ). Before 1967 budget reductions EOA emp lo yed 574 people (214 Aides and 3 60 re g ul ar employees). �-5- The City of Atlanta has placed four city employees, called City Services Coordinators, in EOA neighborhood centers. 'l'he Fulton County Commissioners have authorizE'!d decentralized voter registration at EOA n e ighborhood ceriters and have trained and deputized 65 EOA employees as a s sistant registrars. More than 1000 people registered to vote at EOA neighborhood cent e rs the first month this program was in operation. · The Atlanta Police Department has placed 10 Crime Prevention Officers in EOA neighborhood centers. Numerous other agencies, as well as businesses, churches, civic clubs and private citizens are cooperating with EOA in a wide variety of projects. �