UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

PHILADELPHIA 19174

RICHARD M. CARTER

Director
Corporate and Foundation Relations                                 

The Franklin Building 3451

    Walnut Street 16 

Ms. Marjorie Brown

Office of Housing and Community Development

1324 City Hall Annex

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Dear Margie:

On behalf of President Martin Meyerson and other members of the University family I want to thank you for assisting us in our efforts to stage a successful centennial celebration of black presence here at Pennsylvania.  Your recommendations con­cerning the strategic involvement of various business and community leaders, and equal skill in energizing these re­sources on our behalf, has substantially enhanced the value of this program to the campus community, the City of Philadelphia, as well as selected scholarly constituencies outside the Delaware Valley area.

Of course, the results of your enterprise do not surprise me in the least.  I recall so well the innovative programs you developed during your tenure as Executive Director of the Tioga Community Youth Council.  Your pioneering efforts to engage the participation of business firms in (what were then) highly con­troversial areas of corporate involvement, e.g., police/community relations, criminal rehabilitation, etc., were singularly influ­ential in raising the consciousness of local corporations toward the problems of inner-city dwellers. More importantly, you con­vinced many of them that the intelligence and initiative required to solve these problems could be found within the urban neighbor­hood itself.  It was no small achievement to obtain the cooper­ation of an essentially conservative Philadelphia corporate leadership in helping you prove your point.

As regional director of the Sears-Roebuck Foundation at that time I can attest to your persuasive skills and superior grasp of the complex human dynamics that inevitably spell the difference between success and failure in ventures of this sort. I believe the corporation I represented then and the community to which you were so committed gained much from the relationship.

I did not intend to go on this way, but in thanking you for your latest assistance I could not resist telling you once more how much I admire and respect your professional ability and very special personal qualities.

Sincerely yours,

Richard M. Carter

RMC:smm