American Council to Improve Our Neighborhoods (ACTION) is the former name of a non-profit organization focused on housing, revitalization, and neighborhood renewal in the United States.
ACTION was formed in the early 1950s. Downtown development, made possible at the expense of low-income neighborhoods, was becoming a political issue. In November 1954, the White House recommended creating a non-profit publicity and research organization to promote these policies. ACTION was then founded in a 15 November 1954 announcement by Dwight D. Eisenhower at the
Mayflower Hotel
The Mayflower Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., located on Connecticut Avenue NW. It is two blocks north of Farragut Square (one block north of the Farragut North Metro station). The hotel is managed by the Autograph Col ...
. It featured prominent land developers on its board of directors including
Andrew Heiskell
Andrew Heiskell (September 13, 1915 – July 6, 2003) was chairman and CEO of Time Inc. (1960–1980), and also known for his philanthropy, for organizations including the New York Public Library.Institute of International Education, 7 May 2003 ...
of Time-Life and
Richard King Mellon
Richard King Mellon (June 19, 1899 – June 3, 1970), commonly known as R.K., was an American financier, general, and philanthropist from Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and part of the Mellon family.
Biography
The son of Richard B. Mellon, nephew of ...
. The program was funded early with a $250,000 grant from the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
.
In 1955, ACTION released a 13-minute film promoting urban renewal viewed by 22 million people that year and 60 million by the end of 1958. The same year, former
FHA employee and mortgage banker
James Rouse
James Wilson Rouse (April 26, 1914 – April 9, 1996) was an American businessman and founder of The Rouse Company. Rouse was a pioneering American real estate developer, urban planner, civic activist, and later, free enterprise-based philanthr ...
became president after promoting the nationally marketed privatized urban renewal project,
The Baltimore Plan
The Baltimore Plan was an urban planning initiative to remove urban blight.
History
Prior to WWII, Baltimore had little housing codes with segregated services. The most notable early code was the 1910 J. Barry Mahool ordinance No. 610 prohibiting ...
.
ACTION changed its acronym to "Council for Better Cities". In 1964, ACTION turned toward creation of Community Development Corporations with a $575,000 grant. In 1968, the Ford Foundation granted $690,000 toward non-profit housing projects.
In 1965 ACTION was merged with Urban America, and again with the Urban Collation in 1968. The Urban Collation's mission ironically was started as a group to mitigate effects from urban renewal projects.
References
External links
YouTube Video – Man of ACTION PR video from 1955
Urban planning in the United States
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