In response to urban problems of poverty and race in the United States, in November 1966 Congress initiated the Model Cities Program. The program's objectives were to reduce social and economic disadvantages in designated neighborhoods, provide training and employment opportunities, and establish health services for residents. Financial and technical assistance was made available to cities through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Seattle Model Cities Program (SMCP) was administered by the City's Executive Department with the assistance of the Citizens Advisory Council, headed by Charles Vernon Johnson (b. 1928) an attorney and head of the local NAACP chapter who later served as King County Superior Court judge from 1981-1998.
In this image members of the Citizens Advisory Council of the Seattle Model Cities program pose together after council officer elections. One member of the Citizens Advisory Council served on each of the nine Model Cities task forces. The individuals are identified from the left as: back row, Tom Kennedy, physical planning and housing; Robert Jones, law and justice; Charles V. Johnson, chairperson; Lloyd Jackson, employment; Don Berrysmith, citizen participation; front row, Marian Patterson, assistant secretary of the council; and Jeanette O'Connor, council secretary.
Caption information source: "Seattle Model Cities Program Records, 1967-1975," Seattle Municipal Archives, retrieved from http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv22921 Caption information source: "Model Cities Advisory Council Re-elects Head," The Seattle Times, January 15, 1969, p. 50. Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
