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Business
to Solve Cities’ Ils,
Beet Jobs, 200 Businessmen Hear,
By ALEX COFFIN
More than 200 top business-
men, most of them from the
Southeast, gathered in Atlanta
Wednesday and generally agreed
thal it’s simply good business to
expand job opportunities and
help solve urban problems.
_ The regional conference—busi-
ness, rather than ‘social wel-
fare’ oriented—was held at the
American Motor Hotel by the
National Urban Coalition in co-
operation with the Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce and city
government. ;
4 slide presentation, speeches
and workshop discussion cen-
vered on the words of the key-
nole speaker, Gerald L. Phil-
iippe, chairman of the hoard of
General Electric Co., who said:
“What this situation boils
down to is that at a time when
business sees a wide need for a
' nore effective labor force, the
urban labor market will provide
us with less than ever in terms
of quality and quantity.”
“The cities are going to be his
principal market place, and,
more importantly, the prime
source of his labor supply.”
Rodney Austin, personnel
manager for Reynolds Tobacco
Co., said. “The point of the
Urban Coalilion is that you can
change things.” But, Austin,
warned, business should “‘ciean
up, eliminate duplication, then
fill the gans.” in the field of
employment.
Austin, who headed one of
the workshop discussions, told
of Winston-Salem, N.C. Mayor
M. C. Benton's urging the busi-
ness community to be informed
realistically concerned, com-
mitied and massively involved.
Phillippe said it this way:
The Urban Coalition “is
trying to see if it can generate
more action at all levels of the
business community — some-
thing tantamount to a national
head of steam — to try and turn
this ghetto silualion around.
“If we businessmen are not
going to take major role in
tackling, and eventually solv-
ing, the problems in our cities,
then who will?
The frequently heard probd-
lem of gelling the jobs and
the people together got a full
airing. Also, the problem of the
underemployed.
Phillippe said that effective
program must be geared to the
ghetto, even the neighborhood
in the ghetto. And, he said, real
work opportunities must be pro-
vided. “What we should offer
is a hand-up, not a hand-out,”
he said.
New hiring techniques and
practices must be used—iaking
into consideration the prior ex-
periences and present attitudes
of the urban dweller of today,
_| Phillippe said.
Dr. Lawrence D. Reddick,
executive director of Opportuni-
ties Industrialization Center In-
stitute in Philadelphia, said
earlier in the day that employ-
ers must be concerned with
those unemployed who have
given up looking, those who
work full time for part-time
pay and those who work part-
time but want to work full time.
Skils that are marketable
must be provided, Reddick
said.
In. some wf sole J.
Forth of General Electric. said,
firms ean lessen skill require-
ments because of recent tech-
nological advances. ‘Also, the
skill of the worker can be in-
creased,” he added.
The morning workshops fea-
tured a film prepared by the At-
Janta Chamber of Commerce,
Atlanta city government, the
Community Council of the At-
lanta Area and Economie Op-
portunity Atlanta,
The film pointed to the para-
dox of the existence here of
“jobs needing people” and
‘neople needing jobs.”
And while white-collar jobs
will increase greatly in the
years to come, the great in-|
crease in the central city popu-
lation will be among the un-
qualified.
“Unemployment can stop
growth in its tracks”
creasing the tax drain” were
other points made by the film.
concern |
Several expressed
that not enough businessmen in-
volved themselves in the oper-
ation of the schools—who supply
the “most important raw ma-
terial,’’ according to Eugene
Rowen, administrative director
of Pians for Progress. ‘‘They
(businessmen) remain aloof
and allow what they wouldn't
from other suppliers.”
William Flynn, director of the | warned those
and |
“strengthen the market by de- |
p-
Bhs aie ee
Urban Talks to ] Draw 250 |
Some 250 business leaders are
expected at a regional National
Urban Coalition job conference
at the American Motor Hotel
Wednesday,
The major address will be by
Association of Manufacturers,
STEP program of the National, earlier in the day:
Co., at the luncheon.
noon sessions.
“Attending conferences is not
in attendance | a substitute for action following
the conference.”
Gerald L. Phillippe, chairman je National Urban Coalition
of the board of General Electric ue formed last fall to serve as
a super lobby for urban areas
Workshops on various phases |and to inform the public about
of employment opportunity will urban problems.
be held at morning and after-
Mayor Ivan Allen formed a
local coalition a few weeks ago.