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CITY OF ATLANTA
COMMONITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
CITY HALL @G8 MITCHELL STREET, S.W. BATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303 @ 522-4463
gyar, City of Atlanta
WARN ALLEN, JR. August 10, 1966 : GEORGE L. ALDRIDGE, JR.
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
BOARD OF ALDERMEN
PODNEY M. COOK,
Crairmin
— GRESORY GRIGGS,
"ce-Cr airman
ROBERT S. DENNIS
E A. CILLIAM
eases Mrs. Eliza Paschall
‘Gere Executive Director
Havoc cou Council on Human Relations’
R EARL LANDERS of Greater Atlanta, Inc.
Amun Asst to the Mayor, Chairman
WYONT B.
Planning
5 Forsyth Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
CHUARLES L DAVIS ¥
Comptrotter
WILLIAM S HOWLAND
recut -e Director, CA CUR Dear Mrs. Paschal l;
|
WLAN WOEFORD Thank you for your recent letter concerning personnel policies
ae ee relative to the undertaking of the Atlanta Community Improvement
tig Program and specifically to the employment of Negroes. Your letter
Fiebre srmunity Counc of atints Offers US aN Opportunity to report on sound progress in this regard,
GLENN E. BENNETT
Frecutve Director, A.R.M.PC
One of the clauses appearing in the contract between the City
of Atlanta and the United States of America for the federal grant
Dr. J.F HACKNEY
Co HILDEBRAND gs funds reads as follows:
PAUL B IVEY
f a JACOBS ".,.Equal Employment Opportunity. -- In the carrying
WWeRBENT T JENKINS out of the work covered by this Contract, the Public
GG, RERPER Body will not discriminate against any employee or appli-
ae cant for employment because of race, creed, color, or
ConrmmAPCUPB : national origin. The Public Body will take affirmative’
* es i "ny Poni Enginvar action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that
pe Ae ee employees are treated during employment, without regard
Bs. Pat Hat, Deka Co to their race, creed, color, or national origin, Such
poerrcein cet UB action shall include, but not be limited to, the following;
employment, upgrading, demotion, or transfer; recruitment
or recruitment advertising; layoff or termination; rates of
pay or other forms of compensation; and selection for
training, including apprenticeship. The Public Body agrees
to post in conspicuous places, available to employees and
applicants for employment, notices to be provided by the
ATLANTA'S MUNICIPAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Mrs. Eliza Paschall -2- ‘August 10, 1966
Government setting forth the provisions of this nondiscrimination clause.
The Public Body will, in all solicitations or advertisements for employees
placed by or on behalf of the Public Body, state that all qualified appli-
cants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race,
creed, color, or national origin. The Public Body will incorporate the
. foregoing requirements of this paragraph in all of its contracts for work
covered by this Contract, other than contracts for construction and
contracts for standard commercial supplies or raw materials, and will
require all of its contractors for such work to incorporate such require-
ments in all subcontracts for work covered by this Contract..."
In retaining the services of professional consultants ‘to undertake the sundry
work items contained in the format of the CIP, subsequent contracts have been
executed, Each contract drawn between the City of Atlanta and the professional
consultants contains the same language set forth above.
The Community Improvement Program has a permanent staff of six persons in
addition to the director. All are City employees - paid by the City of Atlanta
and subject to the City's personnel policies, These six persons on the permanent
staff consist of two professional planners, two assistant planners, an administrative
secretary and a Clerk III. The Clerk Ill isa Negro. He is but one of three
appointments on the permanent staff made by the director since he was employed.
Prior to my arrival the entire permanent staff had been selected and were on the
job working. Although the positions Clerk Ill and Assistant Planner are sub-
professional classifications, the potential for moving up to professional levels is
wide open, depending on experience, education and abilities. Concerning
salary ranges for these positions and any others in which you may be interested,
we suggest that you address your questions to the City of Atlanta Personnel Depart=
ment,
Due to the nature of the Atlanta CIP, it has been necessary for the City to
employ temporary college and high school students. During the summer and early
fall of 1965, the CIP staff assembled a task force of approximately 70 people to
undertake a city-wide inventory of parcels of land in Atlanta and compile 38 units
of information about each parcel (e.g., building conditions, ownership, land use,
zoning classification, etc.). This inventory was undertaken in conjunction with
the installation of the City's electronic data processing equipment. In assembling
the "task force't, we sought a combination of college students from the local area
and high school students enrolled in the In-School Program of Economic Opportunity
Atlanta, Inc., the local anti-poverty program. The Atlanta Personnel Department
sent notices to all colleges in the metropolitan area and the response by the college
students for approximately 40 jobs was overwhelming. White and Negro college
Mrs. Eliza Paschal! August 10, 1966
students applied, Recruitment, testing, screening and certification were handled
through and supervised by the Atlanta Personnel Department. Selection of the
40 college students was the perogative of the CIP staff. The result was a bi-racial
group of college students which constituted a large portion of the task force.
Economic Opportunity Atlanta, Inc., provided us with 25 to 30 high school
students through their In-School Program - all of whom were Negroes. Although
we are not recruiting at the present time, our record speaks for itself insofar as
recruiting Negroes is concerned, Our experience in employing Negroes and
whites in a team effort has wrought meaningful results,
In response to your question concerning the "policy: working board",
apparently you have reference here to the Board of Aldermen of the City of
Atlanta. As you know, this is a 17 member board, one of whom is a Negro,
Mr. Q. V. Williamson of the Third Ward.
As mentioned earlier, each of our consultants are bound by a contractual
clause relative to equal opportunity in employment. To our knowledge each has
offered Negroes employment and are living up to this contractual requirement.
The City's contract with each consultant is not predicated on their submission of
detailed payroll records or substantiated by racial composition relative to payments
for work performed. Instead, each consultant bills the City based on the percentage
of work he has completed in proportion to the total cost of the contract. Should
you have evidence that the aforementioned equal opportunity in employment clause
is being or has been violated by one of the City's consultants on work contracted for
under this program, we would appreciate your forwarding it to us for investigation.
The time limit for completing all of the work items contained in the Atlanta
Community Improvement Program is twenty-seven months. We are currently in the
twentieth month of the program. As | mentioned in my letter to you of February
4, 1966, we have worked very closely for some time now with two citizens groups
as the CIP has progressed. These are the Mayor's Citizens Advisory Committee on
Urban Renewal and a CIP sub-committee of that group. Both of these groups are
bi-racial. For some time now, the City along with the citizens groups mentioned
above have recognized the need for broader citizen involvement, thinking and
reaction to CIP findings and recommendations. Generally speaking, such citizen
involvement in other cities having undertaken similar programs has awaited the
completion of the entire program. Early this fall, prior to the completion of the
rogram, the City of Atlanta is planning to conduct, on a city-wide level, and
fen perhaps for local neighborhood associations, civic organizations, etc., a
series of four seminars on the Atlanta Community Improvement Program. These
four seminars will treat the topical areas:
Mrs. Eliza Paschall , August 10, 1966
(1) Government and law
(2) The physical environment
(3) The economic environment, and
(4) The people
These seminars should serve to promote broader understanding of the City's problems,
its resources, what the future holds for.the City of Atlanta = and the role of Atlanta's
citizens in that future.
Once again, thank you for the opportunity of reporting on what we consider a
good record in bi-racial employment practices. We are looking forward to this fall
and to our seminars with the citizens of Atlanta.
GLA, Jr/lm
€e3
The Honorable Robert Weaver
Secretary
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Washington, D. C.
The Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr.
Mayor
City of Atlanta, Georgia
The Honorable Q. V. Williamson
Alderman, Third Ward
City of Atlanta, Georgia
be:
Rodney Cook
Dan Sweat\/
Earl Landers
Collier Gladin
Rebert Lyle