Let's Talk

Abstract

At Wingspread, the original City Care conference steering committee, and delegates named by City Care working groups agreed to pursue a "coordinated program of regional conferences, common advocacy and joint action projects" concerned with urban social welfare, environmental quality and health. The group defined itself as the "City Care Action Committee" and asked the Urban Environment Conference and Foundation staff in Washington, D.C., to coordinate the following plan of action:

As a private operating foundation, The Johnson Foundation has as its principal activity the planning and carrying out of regional, national, and international conferences at Wingspread. Program areas include International Understanding, Educational Excellence, Intellectual and Cultural Growth, and Improvement of the Human Environment. Topics of recent Wingspread conferences have included: County Government and Neighborhood Justice, Disaster Response in the United States, The Changing World Climate, and the United States Stake in Expanding World Trade.

NOTE: During the Wingspread meeting, June 6-7, two radio programs were recorded for The Johnson Foundation's public affairs radio series "Conversations from Wingspread."

Urban, civil rights, and environmental groups are moving to form new coalitions to improve inner-city conditions. The coalition concept was the theme of an April 1979 conference convened in Detroit by the National Urban League, the Sierra Club and the Urban Environment Conference and Foundation.

The April conference, called City Care, drew over 700 participants from all parts of the United States. At Detroit there were repeated calls for multi-interest efforts at local, regional and national levels to improve inner-city conditions and create new jobs in the process.

Delegates from the City Care conference met here June 6-7 to move forward plans for carrying out the mandates of the Detroit meeting. The follow-up meeting took place at Wingspread, the educational conference center of The Johnson Foundation in Racine, Wisconsin.

At Wingspread, the original City Care conference steering committee, and delegates named by City Care working groups agreed to pursue a "coordinated program of regional conferences, common advocacy and joint action projects" concerned with urban social welfare, environmental quality and health. The group defined itself as the "City Care Action Committee" and asked the Urban Environment Conference and Foundation staff in Washington, D.C., to coordinate the following plan of action:

-- Convening of some ten smaller City Care conferences gathering regional and local social equity and environmental interests around their own urban environmental concerns in various parts of the country.

-- Establishment and funding of a program to provide continuing communications among City Care participants and others through a newsletter, telephone communications network, or other means.

-- Initiation of broader efforts to expand public awareness of urban environmental needs and opportunities, and

-- Cultivation of new local and regional coalitions of civil rights and environmental interests to act jointly on urban environmental problems.

Amefika D. Geuka, representing the Rochester, New York, Center for Environmental Information, was designated interim chair of the Action Committee, with staff assistance to be provided by Paul Danels of the staff of the National Urban League and Neil B. Goldstein, National Conservation Representative of the Sierra Club.

The Action Committee a reed to reconvene in the fall of 1979. Organizations, institutions, and agencies represented at the Wingspread meeting included:

-- The Trust for Public Land, Newark Land Project

-- Urban Environment Conference and Foundation

-- National Urban League and League affiliates in Indianapolis (Indiana), Jacksonville (Florida), Seattle (Washington) and St. Louis (Missouri)

-- Sierra Club

-- Center for Systems and Program Development, Washington, D.C.

-- Center for Environmental Information, Rochester, New York

-- Los Angeles Housing Authority

-- Colorado Coalition for Full Employment

-- Lord Associates, Washington, D.C.

-- Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, Louisville

-- Victor Gruen Center for Environmental Planning, Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, California

Also attending were observers from two of the federal agencies that provided partial support for the April City Care Conference:

-- United States Department of the Interior - Heritage, Conservation and Recreation Service

-- United States Environmental Protection Agency

The City Care follow-up meeting at Wingspread was convened by the Urban Environment Conference and Foundation, the National Urban League, and the Sierra Club, in cooperation with The Johnson Foundation.

The Urban Environment Conference is an alliance of labor, minority and environmental organizations. The affiliated Urban Environment Foundation provides research, information and educational services to equip diverse groups for common action on urban environmental issues.

The National Urban League is an inter-racial, non-profit community service organization which works to secure equal opportunity for black Americans and other minorities. Urban League President, Vemon E. Jordan, Jr., recently called for alliances between the environmental and civil rights movements to work together for improvement of the total human environment, physical as well as economic, in the nation's cities.

The Sierra Club, founded by John Muir in 1892, has grown into one of America's most active and effective national environmental organizations. Today, the Club's 175,000 members comprise a grassroots network to explore, enjoy, protect and restore the nation's resources of parks, wilderness and cities.

As a private operating foundation, The Johnson Foundation has as its principal activity the planning and carrying out of regional, national, and international conferences at Wingspread. Program areas include International Understanding, Educational Excellence, Intellectual and Cultural Growth, and Improvement of the Human Environment. Topics of recent Wingspread conferences have included: County Government and Neighborhood Justice, Disaster Response in the United States, The Changing World Climate, and the United States Stake in Expanding World Trade.

In its role as convener, The Johnson Foundation does not take a position on the topics discussed at Wingspread.

NOTE: During the Wingspread meeting, June 6-7, two radio programs were recorded for The Johnson Foundation's public affairs radio series "Conversations from Wingspread."

R-612. City Life - An Environmental View Participants: Neil B. Goldstein, National Conservation Representative, Sierra Club; and Paul Danels, National Urban League

R-613. Minorities and Life in the City Participants: James E. Lopez, Director, Community Education, Colorado Coalition for Full Employment; and Michele A. Tingling, Field Coordinator, Urban Environmental Conference

These programs in cassette form are available from The Johnson Foundation, Racine, Wisconsin 53401.

Article copyright Washington Informer.