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(This Article, the Last Written by Whitney M. Young, Appeared in The New York Times of Saturday, March 13, 1971.)

THE GHETTO INVESTMENT

The statements of concern and the rhetoric of "involvement in the community" that emanated from so many public relations departments of major corporations a few years ago seem to have given way, if not to a retreat, then to an orderly withdrawal, from the problems of society.

In many quarters, the "great involvement" in the social arena is beginning to look like the "great cop-out". In fact, our business leaders sometimes act like restless college kids, flirting first with civil-rights action, then speaking up against the war, and now, clutching the new-found environment issue to their collective bosoms. 

That sound, hard-headed businessmen are reflecting the same qualities they find so reprehensible in others- lack of saying power and dilettantism- is a rough charge, but a very deserving one for some inhabitants of executive suites.

The period of corporate activism in social concerns coincided with two phenomena of great importance- a booming economy and the spread of urban rioting. On the one hand, companies were rolling in record-high profits; on the other, they perceived civil disorders as harming the good climate for business and as demanding responsible civic action from the corporate citizen.

Corporations that had never put their toes in the muddy waters of urban problems plunged in, not nearly as deep as they should have, but at least enough to get their feet wet. Now, crying that the water is too hot, many are clambering back to shore. The result of this unseemly dash to the beach is that the motives of many corporations are called into questiion, and their pullback has endangered worthwhile programs, increasing the frustrations of the ghetto.

A good case in point is what happened in the New York Urban League's street Academy Program. This program, which has taken high school dropouts and, through intensive innovative educational techniques, has placed many in the best colleges in the country, is having its troubles. Some of these are related to administrative and other causes, but the root cause of the problems is fiscal-not enough dollars. Some of the academies have had to close their doors because corporate sponsors dropped out, refusing to fund them for more than the initial years or two.

One company blamed its pullout on the recession. "When the red inkshows," said an executive, "anything that is not of direct business nature is the first to go." Another corporate official showed the complacency that drives so many critics of business up the walls: " We've done our share," he said. "We've put in $100,00."

The same businessman will pour many millions into research and development of new products. He'll only expect a 5 per cent return, even though he's dealing with known chemical and physical properties.

But when he's trying to help solve social problems 400 years in the making, created by the racialist attitudes of companies and unions like his own, he suddenly expects fast returns and instant successes.

It is beginning to look like business, in its attempt to become part of the solution, is once again becoming part of the problem.


MAY 15, 1970 TESTIMONIAL

SERVICES REWARDED - Accepting seemingly endless accolades and thunderous applause is Mrs. Ruth Allen King, Placement Officer, Program Operations, National Urban League. The always gracious Mrs. King stands center amid the overflowing gathering that met recently in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to pay tribute to her. She was honored during a six-hour-long testimonial in recognition of her forty years of services with the Urban League. During that time she waged and won countless campaigns against the evils of hate, and prejudice. The above birdseye photo shows only a portion of the huge dais made up of local, city, state and national dignitaries. They all came together to say "Thank you, our dear, dear Ruthy." Throughout the evening, which was highlighted by the reading of numerous poems and salutes dedicated to Mrs. King, the honoree was plied with many awards and gifts. Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton summed up everyone's feelings when he said, "Dear, sweet, wonderful Ruthy, we all love you very much."