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Seattle Model Cities Program Records, 1967-1975

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Seattle Model Cities Program
Title
Seattle Model Cities Program Records
Dates
1967-1975 (inclusive)
Quantity
104.2 cubic ft., (221 boxes and 6 volumes)
Collection Number
5400
Summary
Records of the Seattle Model Cities Program, 1967-1975. Included are administrative files, correspondence, reports, task force files, and program and project files.
Repository
Seattle Municipal Archives
Seattle Municipal Archives
Office of the City Clerk
City of Seattle
PO Box 94728
98124-4728
Seattle, WA
Telephone: 2062337807
Fax: 2063869025
archives@seattle.gov
Access Restrictions

Records are open to the public.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

Model Cities Program

In response to urban problems of poverty and race in the United States, Congress passed legislation in November 1966 to initiate a demonstration effort known as the Model Cities Program. Called the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Act of 1966 PL 754, the primary goal of this legislation was to improve the quality of urban life. The Model Cities Program goals and objectives were to reduce social and economic disadvantages in designated neighborhoods, provide maximum 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, to ameliorate social, economic, and physical conditions in needed neighborhoods. City agencies were required to coordinate their efforts and the program emphasized the citizen participation. The goals of the program were to coordinate and concentrate federal, state and local resources, develop innovative programs, and to involve local residents in the planning and development process.

Eligible cities received one-year planning grants to prepare Comprehensive Plans. Implementation and on-going planning occurred over a five-year demonstration period. Seattle was the first city chosen to receive federal funds. The planning process involved creating a Comprehensive Plan in the first eight months, quantifying five-year objectives for the Model Neighborhood Area and developing first-year action plans and programs.

An extension of the Model Cities program was launched August 1, 1972 by the Nixon administration to provide for more review, involvement, and cooperation by various levels of local government and citizens, with less review at the federal level. Nixon approved $2.3 billion to fund model cities from 1969 to 1973. Model Cities funding was terminated June 20, 1975.

Seattle Model Cities Program

The Mayor and City Council supported an ad hoc committee, which first met in November 1966, to prepare a grant application. The committee defined the Model Neighborhood as the Central Area, Pioneer Square, and the International District. The population of this geographical area comprised about 10 percent of the city's population and about 61% of the city's non-white population. The initial application stated "Seattle is a city which is still short of the crisis situation of the older urban centers…The Model neighborhood is in the initial stages of decay, not the final stages….It is because we do still have time that we have developed the sense of urgency to attack our problems now."

The program was administered by the City's Executive Department. Walter Hundley, 38, was announced as the program director in December 1967. Hundley came to Seattle in 1954 to serve as a minister of a nondenominational church and later joined the State Department of Public Assistance. In 1967 he was Director of the Central Area Motivation Program, an anti-poverty project in Seattle. Hundley was chosen by a 10-member citizen's committee, headed by Charles Brink, Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Washington.

The major components of the administrative structure for SMCP consisted of an Advisory Council, Steering Committee, staff, and task forces. The Advisory Council consisted of over 80 members representing organizations within the Model Neighborhood.

Task forces worked with staff on planning. Based on work done by the Task Forces, Hundley reorganized and rewrote the drafts and submitted to HUD. HUD announced in December 1968 that Seattle's First-Year Action Program was the first to be approved for funding. The First-Year Action Program proposed projects in nine areas which corresponded to the focus of each task force. The areas included: Arts and Culture, Education, Employment and Economic Development, Health, Housing, Law and Justice, Physical Planning and Environment, Welfare, and Youth. From 1968 to 1971, the SMCP was successful in planning, developing, and implementing a variety of effective programs. Programs were developed in collaboration with the model neighborhood, which included, community activists, and a variety of agencies at local, state, and federal levels.

In 1971, Seattle was one of 16 cities chosen to participate in the Planned Variation or city-wide expansion. The Seattle Model Cities Program received $5.2 million in federal funds and the program was expanded to include three additional neighborhoods: north Seattle, southeast Seattle, and southwest Seattle. Walter Hundley was appointed to a city-wide post by Mayor Wes Uhlman and Louis C. Warner was appointed manager of the east branch, the city's original program. Jim Hurd and then George Clark were managers of the Southwest Branch; John Ybarra, Jr. was manager of the Southeast Branch; the North Branch manger was John Mitsules.

Seattle's Model Cities funding ended in 1974 and the program was transferred that year to the Department of Human Resources for closeout. Following the loss of funding, many projects were continued under the auspices of community organizations, larger institutions, City agencies, and other governmental entities. Some received ongoing funding through the Community Development Block Grant program.

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Content Description

Records of the Model Cities Program are arranged in two sub-groups and date from 1967 to 1975. The Administrative records measure 57.2 cubic feet and are arranged in 19 series. The Program and Project files measure 44 cubic feet.

The Administrative Records provide details of SMCP from many different perspectives. The largest volume of records are those of Director Walter Hundley. His correspondence with HUD, City officials, state and local government officials, community leaders and SMCP employees offers a detailed view of the issues and complexities presented by SMCP. Records from each piece of the administrative structure: the Advisory Council, task forces, and Branch Offices complement Hundley's records to provide a very complete picture of the difficulties and successes of SMCP. Correspondence with officials in other Model Cities programs throughout the country provides a national perspective on the Model Cities Program.

The two largest subseries within Administrative Records are the Central Administrative Files (5400-03) and the Task Force Files (5402-04) and would be good beginning places for research on the Seattle Model Cities Program. The Central Administrative Files include correspondence and reports at all levels of the SMCP. The records provide a good overview of the main participants, projects, and working relationships in the SMCP, and other participants at the local level as well as the regional, state and national level.

The Task Force Files provide information on how the work within SMCP was accomplished, the projects undertaken as well as the difficulties and successes are discussed in Weekly Reports and Correspondence. The breadth and scope of projects is apparent in these records. The records can also be used to learn about the cooperative nature of SMCP projects, between citizens, community groups and government agencies.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[Item and date], Seattle Model Cities Program Records, Record Series 5400-[xx]. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Administrative Files of the Model Cities Records (Subgroup I) are arranged in nineteen series:

Series I (5400-01): Director's Correspondence

Series II (5400-02): Housing and Urban Development Correspondence

Series III (5400-03): Central Administrative Files

Series IV (5400-04): Press Clippings

Series V (5400-05): Press Releases

Series VI (5400-06): News Report

Series VII (5401-01): Social Indicators Report

Series VIII (5401-02): Reports, Studies, and Evaluations

Series IX (5402-01): Citizen Participation Division Files

Series X (5402-02): Advisory Council

Series XI (5402-03): Task Force Minutes

Series XII (5402-04): Task Force Files

Series XIII (5403-01): East Branch Model Cities Neighborhood Office Records

Series XIV (5403-02): North Branch Model Cities Office Records

Series XV (5403-03): Southeast Branch Model Cities Office Records

Series XVI (5403-04): Southwest Branch Model Cities Neighborhood Office Records

Series XVII (5403-05): City-Wide Program and Proposals

Series XVIII (5405-01): The Administrative Commission

Series XIX (5408-01): Financial Reports

The Program and Project Files (Subgroup II) are arranged in ninety records series and grouped together by program area (such as Housing or Health).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

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Subject Terms

Corporate Names

Geographical Names

Other Creators

Finding aid prepared by Anne Frantilla, Scott Cline, and Shannon B. Lynch
2004

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