The oldest of the NUC's forerunners was the American Planning and Civic Association (APCA). APCA was organized in 1935, when the American Civic Association (ACA) merged with the National Conference on City Planning (NCCP). The NCCP dated from 1910, and the ACA was itself the offspring of a merger in 1904 of two urban planning organizations, the American League for Civic Improvement (ALCI) and the American Park and Outdoor Art Association (APOAA). APOAA had been founded in 1897 and in the following seven years had merged with a variety of small, like-minded groups, always retaining its original name. A strong administrative continuity linked the organizations formed by these mergers and in later years APCA generally marked its origins in the founding of APOAA. APCA regarded Dr. J. Horace McFarland as its first president although he retired in 1925, ten years before APCA was formally organized. McFarland was president of ALCI before its merger in 1904 with APOAA; he subsequently served as president of ACA for more than two decades. Frederic A. Delano, McFarland's successor, was president of ACA and its successor, APCA, until 1937. He was succeeded by Horace M. Albright (1937-1947) and General U.S. Grant III (1947-1960). For thirty-eight years, however, the daily business of the association was administered by its secretary (later executive secretary) Miss Harlean James, whose tenure began in 1921 and ended in 1958.
At about the time of James's retirement, APCA entered a period of economic austerity during which it shared facilities and contacts with similar organizations but endeavored to retain its separate identity. APCA had always worked closely with the National Conference on State Parks, which had nearly become a participant in the merger of 1935. Most of the documents and correspondence in the APCA series of the NUC collection date from the period (1947-1958) when General Grant was an active and visible president and Harlean James was APCA's competent executive secretary. After 1960, financial problems and the organization's uncertain future left APCA without a president for about a year. The well-known urban planner Harland Bartholomew then took over the presidency until 1964. He was succeeded by Stephen R. Currier, who also eventually became president of Urban America Inc. when it was formed in January 1965 as a more robust continuation of APCA. Currier also headed the Taconic Foundation, Inc., which had given APCA a new lease on life in 1964 when it supplied a sizable grant to help APCA administer the publication of the magazine Architectural Forum. Time, Inc. had offered the magazine to APCA and the association was glad at that point to take on a major new role and a large subsidy. Urban America continued to operate Architectural Forum after 1965.
APCA was by no means only an “urban” organization. In general it saw its mission as to arouse public opinion and influence the thinking of legislators in the causes of rational planning and conversation. They were especially proud of the role of Dr. McFarland in promoting the establishment of the national park system. Although the board members of APCA typically were prominent professionals in the fields of land planning and environmental conservation, APCA was much more truly a grassroots organization than any of the other of the NUC's antecedent groups. It did not sponsor major research or redevelopment projects and it did not aim for the status of national institution as the NUC apparently later did. APCA's function was broadly “educational” and its effectiveness depended on the active interest of its small staff and the combined attention of legislators and their constituents.
The next oldest of the NUC's forerunners was the ACTION Council for Better Cities. ACTION was founded in April 1954 as the Better America Council Inc., by businessmen who were encouraged by the Eisenhower Administration's support for neighborhood redevelopment. The founders always intended that the original name would be used only until one better suited to catch the public interest could be chosen, and in September 1954 they agreed on the American Council to Improve Our Neighborhoods (ACTION). In 1959 the name was changed to Action Inc., the National Council for Good Cities, but the subtitle was generally not used and was subject to variations. Early in 1965, Action Inc. became The ACTION Council for Better Cities.
In its organizational structure ACTION remained almost exclusively a businessmen's organization; in fact, it enrolled only holders of the highest executive positions. The only important exceptions were academics whose research on urban problems ACTION sponsored and published. Not withstanding various ingenious methods of enlisting the support of prominent businessmen and corporations, ACTION was never entirely secure financially. In large part this insecurity only reflected ACTION's ambitious plans for expanding its services and its staff. As a general rule, ACTION aimed to suggest to builders, redevelopers, and financial organizations how to overcome obstacles to profitability. Although an organization by and for businessmen, ACTION's most active members and professional staff were also interested in public policy and social effects of urban change and redevelopment. ACTION's earliest focus was on neighborhood improvement, and its public appeals were directed to home-owners and public-spirited citizens generally. By its later standards these local and comparatively populist perspectives seem quaint, but they reveal the origins of ACTION's consistent sympathy for at least a measure of social reform along with its commitment to private-sector solutions to urban problems.
ACTION's main administrative offices in New York City carried out its fund-raising, publicity, and promotion of general good will functions. James E. Lash, ACTION's executive vice-president from 1956, carried out these highest-level public functions with an impressive appetite for the company of powerful men (women appear in ACTION's papers almost only as the “wives cordially invited”). ACTION's early research projects tended to be sponsored studies administered by a part-time director. As a result, the “research department” changed location to suit changes in the director's career or identity. Specific publicity projects were not attempted after the mid-1950s, when the focus of ACTION's appeals shifted almost exclusively to the business community. Much of the substantive work of practical use to the membership was distributed via presentations and publications at the frequent meetings of ACTION's board and member-ship and the meetings of its constituent divisions. ACTION also maintained an extensive list of contacts in towns throughout the country. True to form, these “local associates” (local planning agencies and firms could also become “group associates”) were usually either influential businessmen with an interest in development and planning or the top-ranking public executives, mostly city managers and planning department heads. These local-associate contacts raised public awareness of ACTION's programs at the highest local levels. The associates were also obliged to contribute money to ACTION.
In 1963 ACTION established an office in Washington, D.C., for the first of its divisions,the Urban Redevelopment Division of ACTION (URDOA). URDOA conducted a variety of clinics, seminars, and conferences on specific themes throughout the country. It also organized task forces to study the problems of certain cities. These task forces were requested and partly financed by the localities themselves. URDOA was by far the most successful of ACTION's divisions. Others were formed even later in ACTION's existence, when organizational and financial uncertainties constrained their development. The Division of Local Development Services, financed initially by a very large grant from the Ford Foundation, had the primary function of advising businessmen on setting up local funds to finance development and redevelopment. Under ACTION's aegis the division achieved its original funding, mission, and personnel, and its activities were continued after ACTION's merger with Urban America Inc. late in 1965.
Two other divisions were proposed but never put into operation: the Urban Transportation Division (UTDOA) and the Neighborhood Rehabilitation Division. UTDOA's failure was a major disappointment to James Lash, who had worked on the idea for three years before it was abandoned in the 1965 merger. Lash was never able to raise much money for UTDOA or to hire a director for the division. Partly underlying his frustration over these problems was an interesting weakness in ACTION's reliance on corporate sponsorship. Lash's business contacts could not agree on the balance to be struck within UTDOA between advocacy of expansion of the road network and promotion of mass transit as the solution to urban transportation problems.
ACTION lost its autonomy and most of its public identity in December 1965, when it merged with Urban America Inc. and the name Urban America was retained. A large proportion of ACTION's staff continued to work for Urban America, however, including James Lash, who served as Urban America's executive vice-president for a year before his retirement.
Urban America Inc., as organized by Stephen Currier in 1965, had as its general purpose the improvement of man's surroundings, with its major attention devoted to man-made aspects of the environment -- architecture, rehabilitation, and redevelopment of urban areas, and city planning and urban design. Because public information and education programs were especially important to the organization, Urban America sponsored national and local conferences, demonstration projects, traveling architectural exhibits, and specific programs and publications for architects; assisted local citizens' groups, and worked with educational institutions.
With the addition of the programs and staff of ACTION late in 1965, Urban America expanded its scope of activities by establishing several “centers,” many based on similar divisions within ACTION. ACTION's URDOA division became the Redevelopment Division of Urban America, while the Nonprofit Housing Center replaced Local Development Services. The Housing Center's function was to assist communities, churches, and other groups in organizing private funds for housing development; as such the Center sponsored several city and state demonstration projects and studies. The Business and Development Center conducted seminars for business executives on the subject of urban development, acted as a clearinghouse for urban information, and generally worked to help business influence the quality of urban life. ACTION's research functions became part of Urban America's Urban Policy Center, which conducted urban studies, and the Urban Information Center, which published the magazine City, coordinated the work of the Local Group Associates, conducted public relations, and maintained the library and resource center. The major educational functions of Urban America were delegated to the Urban Design Center, through its contacts with municipal authorities and its assistance to cities and developers in designing urban plans. The Urban Economic Council enlisted economists to provide the statistics and other information regarding cities necessary for urban designers and researchers.
In response to the outbreaks of violence and turmoil in many American cities during the late 1960s, several meetings of national labor, civil rights, civic, business, religious, and government leaders were organized by Urban America and were held throughout the late spring and early summer of 1967. The series of meetings culminated in the formation of the Urban Coalition in Washington at the end of July. Among those organizing the new group were Whitney Young, representing the National Urban League; John Lindsay, Mayor of New York; Joseph M. Barr, Mayor of Pittsburgh and President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors; labor leaders Walter P. Reuther and George Meany; businessmen Henry Ford and David Rockefeller; and William L. Slayton and Stephen R. Currier of Urban America. At the July meeting Currier issued a call for an Emergency Convocation of all U.S. leaders, to be held August 24 in Washington. Over 1200 prominent individuals gathered for the sessions, to press the federal government to provide greater assistance to the cities and to create jobs for ghetto residents, and to plan ways that local officials could meet urban problems.
Although Urban America and the Urban Coalition retained separate identities until formal merger in 1970, Urban America gradually redirected its objectives toward those of the Urban Coalition. Rather than concentrating on urban design and city planning, Urban America began to develop relatively long-term alternative solutions to urban problems, through research and analysis, and by emphasizing the restructuring of government to make it more responsive. Its programs were aimed not at the general public, but at civic and government leaders and proties until formal merger in 1970, Urban America gradually redirected its objectives toward those of the Urban Coalition. Rather than concentrating on urban design and city planning, Urban America began to develop relatively long-term alternative solutions to urban problems, through research and analysis, and by emphasizing the restructuring of government to make it more responsive. Its programs were aimed not at the general public, but at civic and government leaders and professionals -- those who made decisions.
In August 1967, the States Urban Action Center, Inc. (SUAC) was organized in response to a resolution by the National Governors' Conference. Creation of such a center was recommended by the Republican Governors' Policy Committee, which was alarmed by the summer 1967 urban riots. It was hoped that SUAC would help “to develop state leadership, particularly at the governors' level, in solving the underlying problems of the urban crisis.” SUAC acted as a clearinghouse for information on action programs for all states, although before the Center itself could take direct action, a specific request for assistance from the governor of a state was required. SUAC was especially active in identifying and subsidizing the services of consultants on specific urban problems. In this role the Center conducted a survey of mayors of the nation's major cities following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., to gather data about the responses to riots and civil disorder following King's death.
Adequate funding was always a problem for SUAC. Initially it was supported by grants from the Rockefeller Brothers' Fund, Standard Oil of New Jersey, and the Ford Foundation. SUAC operated independently, however, only through 1968, and on January 1, 1969, it merged with Urban America and functioned as one of Urban America's partly autonomous “centers.” When Urban America was absorbed into the Urban Coalition in 1970, SUAC's separate identity disappeared.
Initially, the work of the Urban Coalition was financed primarily by grants from major foundations and businesses, and was carried out by its steering committee and task forces on economic development; education; health; housing, reconstruction, and investment; local coalitions; and communications. Under the chairmanship of John W. Gardner, the Coalition became a national movement with programs and activities in more than 150 communities in 42 states. Before Gardner's resignation in September 1970, the Coalition completed its merger with Urban America, becoming the National Urban Coalition. The National Urban Coalition absorbed Urban America's programs and divisions, and charted a wider course for the 1970s. Among the new programs were the National Priorities Project, which resulted in the Counterbudget, an alternative to the U.S. national budget designed to redirect federal and local efforts to solve domestic problems; the Commission on the Cities in the 70s, formed to assess progress in attacking urban ills described in the 1967 Kerner Commission report; the Minority Contractors Assistance Project; and the Health Manpower Development Program; as well as major efforts in the fields of criminal justice, school desegregation, and low-income housing Urban America's Nonprofit Housing Center, its publications, and the States Urban Action Center were incorporated directly into the organization of the National Urban Coalition.
