A letter to President Carter from Coretta Scott King – We are writing to you today about a matter of great importance and consequence to this administration and., 8/14/1979

King, Coretta Scott Folder Citation: Collection: Carter White House Central Files: Series: Name Files; Folder: King, Coretta Scott: Container 1776 Dg + NRN Mrs. Marlin Luther King Jr. 234 SUNSET AVENUE, NORTHWEST ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30314 August 14, 1979 file Mr. James E. (Jimmy) Carter, President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 EXECUTIVE Dear Mr. President: PR13/9TN FE20-8 We are writing to you today about a matter of great importance and consequence to this Administration and PRT to minority people wherever they may be in the country. On May 4, 1977 Secretary Juanita Kreps announced the appointment of Dr Randolph T. Blackwell to direct the Office of Minority Business Enterprise. We who have known Dr. Blackwell were especially pleased with this appointment based on his commitment and performance over the past sixteen years, during which time he served as Field Director of the Voter Education Project, as Program Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and as Executive Director of Southern Rural Action, Inc. Just as we expected, shortly after Dr. Blackwell became the OMBE Director, he became the national advocate of new directions for OMBE in the form of growth industry development; contending that it was also possible to continue to do the traditional OMBE management technical assistance programs. The growth industries program as advocated, we perceive as being in line with your growth industrial pronouncement of September 1977. We certainly agree that if significant economic change is to occur in the minority community the communities must go beyond the "mom and pop" single proprietorships. In spite of certain handicaps within the OMBE structure the growth industries program grew rapidly in national popularity. Growth industry demon- stration projects for youth, veterans, rural people, senior citizens and the like were quickly accepted. Perhaps the most widely known of all of these projects is one in Selma, Alabama, a project that OMBE under Dr. Blackwell's leadership funded in 1977 as the first federally funded grass roots gasohol project. This project is being viewed by hundreds of rural people as their first ray of hope in a long time. From Maine to Hawaii, Alaska to Florida, proposals poured in suggesting growth industry demonstration projects. As time progressed and the new programs developed the need for a special growth industries demonstration office became more apparent.