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NEWS OF THE CORPS
Atlanta Urban Corps
30 Courtland Street, N. E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
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VOLUME III, 1969
INTERNS INITIATE PROGRAM
Wheat Street Baptist Church, pastored by
Reverend William H. Borders, has for many
years served its congregation as one of many
Baptist churches in Atlanta. Recently, how-
ever, Wheat Street Baptist has been making con-
certed efforts to meet the social as well as the
spiritual needs of its people. Serving in the
Church's Wheat Street Garden and Community Center
are six Urban Corps interns. Under the super=-
vision of Reverend John Howard, Associate Pastor
and head of the Education Center, interns Karl
Paul of Georgia Tech, Sandra Mincey of Spelman,
Cynthia Knight of Clark College, Joanne Mitchell
of Morris Brown, and Phyllis Atkins and Linda
Robinson of Georgia State, are coordinating pro-
community relations,
aids from EOA and nine-
Corps students, the Urban
Corps interns work five days a week and often in
the evenings to provide the children of the Wheat
Street area with constructive experiences in
recreation and to investigate the social needs
of the community. Karl, Sandra, and Joanne
concentrate their services in the area of recre-
ation while Cynthia, Phyllis and Linda work in
the community learning from residents their needs,
complaints and suggestions for a better community.
The Urban Corps interns have found that the
children in their charge are not at all accustomed
grams in recreation and
Assisted by three youth
teen Neighborhood Youth
to participating in even the most limited pro-=-
grams of recreation and social stimulation that
middle-class children take for granted, In an
interview with Karl Paul, who serves as recreation
director for the Center, it was learned that the
interns and Wheat Street Baptist are attempting
to offer some alternative to this situation.
After meeting in committee with area super=
visors from the city Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment, Karl found that there are virtually no
arrangements in the city for sports leagues for
youngstwrs, As Karl said, "Most of us have grown
up in towns where softball leagues for kids were
the expected summertime recreation arrangement==
and here in the hnner city where leagues would
be so valuable there is only one league established,
On Friday, June 27 a meeting of Parks and
Recreation supervisors was held at 10 A. M,
i. Dan Sweat, Jr,
Director of Government
Liason ( Mayorts Office)
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Recreation programs were discussed, and it was
at this meeting that Karl Paul learned of the
lack of organized sports leagues in the city.
By 3 P. M. that same day Karl had organized a
meeting at Howard High School to begin work
on drawing up such leagues. Seven of the fif-
teen Parks and Recreation Department supervisors
attended. Over the week-end Karl compiled the
informationsand ideas that came out of that meet—
ing and by Monday had made arrangements for the
‘American League® and the 'National League',
As Karl pointed out, there will be differences
between these newly formed teams and the typical
eoftball leagues of Hometown, U. S. A. There
will not be any freshly laundered suits with
matching caps. Neither will there be an abund-
ance of regulation equipment,
There is a lot more to community relations
than a kid's participation in a softball league.
There is atlot that can not be accomplished by
the Urban Corps interns at Wheat Street Baptist
Church Garden and Community Center this summer.
But there is now operating a recreation program
that did not exist before these interns took the
initiative. And there are numbers of Atlanta's
inner city children participating in a constructive
team sport who until now hardly knew that the
opportunity for such programs could be made
available to them,
Wheat Street Baptist Church is making an effort
to answer the needs of its people,
interns are helping. It is in programs such as
this one that the opportunity to learn and serve
becomes a personal and meaningful reality.
STREET THEATRE OPENS
The first season of the Library Urban Corps
Street Theatre opened during the past week with
the performance of "A Soul Gone Home," a play by
Langston Hughes. The play was presented on July 7
and July 8 drawing crowds of 125 at the first per=
formance and 75 at the second, This same play
was presented July 11 at the Trinity Methodist
Church, Directied by Arthur Pellman, instructor
of drama at Clark College, the Street Theatre will’.
present short plays throughout the summer on street
corners, in churches, and anywhere that it is
thought a crowh will gather spontaneously, Five
Urban Corps interns will perform with the theatre:
Urban Corps
They are Andrea Frye of Spelman, Young Hughley
of Atlanta University, Christine Smith of Georgia
State, Michael Stublefield of Morehouse and
Gary Enck of the North Carolina School of Per-
forming Arts,
MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMISSION
The Community Relations Commission has re-
leased information on upcoming meetings to be
held throughout the month of July. The Urban
Corps feels that it would be to the interest of
interns, supervisors an others concerned with
our urban problems to attend one or several of
these meetings, Therefore, CRC's schedule is
included in The Link for the purpose of making
known to its readers an excellent opportunity
for becoming acquainted with the Commission:
July 14 University Homes Area (8:00 P, M.)
Flipper Temple A.M.E, Church, 580 Fair
Street S. W.--an initial meeting to hear
the problems of the neighborhood,
July 16 Buckhead Area (8:00 P. M.)
The "Hall of Bishops," Cathedral of Saint
Phillip, 2744 Peachtree Rd., N. W.-=a
city-wide meeting to discuss "What are the
responsibilities of whites in improving
human relations in Atlanta?"
July 22 Perry Homes Area (8:00 P, NM.)
Perry Homes Community Center, 2125 Clarissa
Drive, N. W.--a return meeting to report to
the citizens on action taken as a result of
CRC's June meeting,
July 25 (2:00 P. M.) ORC's regular monthly
meeting in Committee Room No. 4 City Hall.
July 29 Bellwood Area (8:00 P, M.)
Central City BOA Neighborhood Center
840 Marietta Street, N. W.--an initial
meeting to discuss the problems of the neigh=
borhood,
PROGRAM TO CONTINUE
Plans are being made for the continuation of
the Urban Corps intern program in Atlanta beyond
its summer 1969 employment structure, As more
specific information is made available, The Link
will keep its readers up-to-date with the pro=
jected plans, All interns, supervisors and
others who are interested in continued involve-=
ment with the Urban Corps should remain in close
contact with the office and should make their
intentions known as soon as possible,
FINANCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO VOLUNTEER INTERNS
£11 volunteer interns working with the
Atlanta Urban Corps program are advised that
they will receive payment of the first half
of their stipend on July 16 and the second
half on August 27. This announcement comes
from the office of Inmond Deen, Director of
Finance, Interns should plan to pick up their
paychecks between the hours of 1:00 P. M.
and 5:00 P, M. in the Urban Corps office on
the days stated,
WATCH FOR W.M,R,A.RALLY
SERVICE-LEARNING” CONFERENCE SPARKS INTERN PESPONSE
Much could and has been said of the Atlanta
Service-Learning Conference which was held -
June:30S—July 1 (See Vol. II, The Link).
were speeches and panel discussions, work groups
and informal sessions. Some people in attend-
ance felt that they knew quite well what the
service-learning concept involves.
there to find out, For the Urban Corps interns
who attended the two-day conference the experi=-
ence meant different things and carried varying
degrees of credibility. The following are re-
sponses from six interns gathered a week after
the Conference thus allowing a period of reflec-
tion on overall opinions:
(1) Diane Lewis (Spelman) Atlanta Girls Club:
"I'm afraid I was not very impressed by the Con-
There
Others were
ference, It sounded to me as though it was
simply a chance for the Conference to pat itself
on the back,"
(2) Rudine Arnold (Spelman) Kirkwood Center:
"I enjoyed the Conference and especially the
discussion which pointed out exactly what it is
that the student interns are doing in the city.
The talk sessions were more valuable than the-
speakers,"
(3) Raines Carrol (Morehouse) City Personnel
"The Conference was generally pertinent, but the
students wanted to know more about what is going
on in our own city now."
(4) Janice Snider (Univ. of Kentucky) Mayor's
Office: ' The morning sessions were dull,
terns were not really a part of the Conference,
Hopefully the tiext Conference will be more
meaningful. Frankly, I would have rather stayed
at work,"
(5) Anne Mayeaux (Emory) City Personnel
"I wish the Conference could have been more con=
crete,
In-=
The whole thing was more related to pub-=-
lic relations than to the interns. However, it
is difficult when a conference is planned in ad=
vance, as it must be, to relate content to the
people who are actually to participate, I felt
that the audience was more liberal than the
speakers and that there was a sense of restless-=
ness in the audience, It would have been good
if more student organizations could have been
represented, I especially enjoyed the chance to
get together with the other interns, After all,
we can learn so much from one another,"
(6) Sally Cantor (Lake Forest) Service-Learning
"Among the most important elements of the ASLC
was the fact that numerous service oriented agen=
cies were able to put aside their own individual
points of view and focus on the larger dimensions
of serviceslearning. Due to the nature of my
Urban Corps assignment I feel that greater at-
tention should be focused on the learning aspect
of the Urban Corps assignment. Interns need to
think out the meaning of their experiences, ..
and what it tells them about themselves, their
goals ‘and their society, The service aspect is
easier to realize, but the learning aspect must
have equal focus, The first part of the Confer-
ence contained this element.