Box 15, Folder 11, Document 49

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Box 15, Folder 11, Document 49

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City OF ATLANTA

DEPARTMENT of PARKS

Office of General Manager

Atlanta, Georgia 30303



March 29, 1968



JACK C. DELIUS MEMORANDUM

GENERAL MANAGER



Ks Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr.
Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders

FROM: Jack C. Delius, General Manager of Parks and Recreations A)

In accordance with your instructions of March 29, 1968, entitled
"Requested Action To Be Taken By City Departments And Public
Agencies," I wish to advise you of the following.

e are in continuous meetings with EOA, private agencies in the
field of recreation and social and cultural enrichment, and the
Atlanta School Department, preparing a detailed proposal to be
submitted to Economic Opportunity Atlanta probably by April 4,
1968 and certainly by April 19, 1968, which will in fact comply
with the most recently available guidelines from the Office of
Economic Opportunity in Washington.

Our proposal is to, beginning June 1, 1968 and running through
September 1, 1968 to operate approximately 134 centers, schools,
playgrounds and parks. Heavy emphasis will be placed on teenage
activities, such as social dances, civic councils, field trips

to our Lake Altoona property, and work experiences. Every neighbor-
hood has been carefully inventoried from the viewpoint of the
availability of either a school or a park and recreation facility.
It is anticipated that not all of the currently existing forty

odd playlots will be staffed; however, those not staffed will be
adjacent to operational schools.

Heavy emphasis will be placed on employment using in-school and
out-of-school neighborhood Youth Corps enrollees, as well as
additional young people who come from disadvantaged areas.

Tentative plans were developed as to what we would do in terms

of programs in disadvantaged areas if we received no federal funds.
The staff had estimated that upwards of forty-four permanent
employees could be diverted from daffluent areas of our community
to the less fortunate areas. The plan was voted down by the
Aldermanic Parks Committee on March 12, 1968. However, the
Committe planned to contact the Mayor and arrange a meeting to
Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. =_ 2 = March 29, 1968

discuss in depth what additional City funds might be available
in the event the City did not receive OEO financing.

A master map has been prepared showing all school and park
locations which will be operational. The Director of the Atlanta
Youth Council has had emphasized to him the importance of the
City of Atlanta Park/School Program receiving the substantial
amount of any EOA funds this summer. The matter has also been
mentioned briefly to Mayor Allen, as well as to the Members of
the Park Committee, and has been discussed at some length with
the Director of EOA,

A central headquarters will be established at Central Junior High
School adjacent to the City Hall Annex and not too far distant
from City Hall. A director will be hired at the earliest possible
time (immediately if funds are available from the $30,000 HUD
Grant sent to the City for Youth Coordination). The Director will
assume the technical responsibility of coordinating all recreation
in the Metro area where EOA funds are involved since we understand
that the Vice President's $30,000 grant to the City was to provide
Metro-—wide coordination and was not limited to the confines of our
City limits.

We would like to have available and on the staff no later than

May lst a director, associate director, accountant, secretary,
telephones, desks, mimeographing machines, etc. in order to

establish our base of operations and to begin in-service training.
The central office, like our entire program, will remain open at
least six days a week from 9:00 o'clock in the morning until approxi-
mately 10:00 o'clock at night. Possibly, the central office will
remain open on Sunday to receive inquiries and give out information
on activities, etc.

The entire summer program will be heavily publicized, using all
news media and, if necessary, paid advertisements in the press.
We are calling upon people in the theater, art world, etc. to
participate and to add to the diversification of the program this
summer.

In summary, we will attempt to have a comprehensive program going
some twelve hours a day, six days a week that will provide
recreation and cultural enrichment, as well as education in every
identifiable neighborhood within the hard-core target areas
established by EOA,

JCD: jw

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