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Urban Coalition is the greatest thing that ever could be and the only thing that can save the country.” I turned to John and I said, “Honest to God, I didn't put that guy there.” [laughter] But I did tell John that if he took it the funding would be assured, at least for a while. And then I went to Mac and I said, “I think I got John hooked. Does your promise hold if I've got John?” And he said, “Yep.” So I then suggested to John that he go see Mac to assure himself of the support. And then John took over and became a very effective chairman/spokesman for the cities, in terms of getting people to do things. Of course, what we were trying to do, and some of it we'd already started before John came, was to create local coalitions because that's where the job gets done. I had gotten a New York one started with a young Chris Herter who was a vice-president of Mobil and resigned to take this one on. And quite a few others had been started. Anyway, by the time we really going, and John really got going we had something like, depending upon your definition, somewhere between twenty-five and thirty-five coalitions in twenty-five to thirty-five cities going. And many of them are still going now, including the New York Urban Coalition, which has a budget of eight million dollars, and is doing very good work. What is that now? Twenty years later. As a matter of fact, this, year, we're celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the National Coalition and the New York Coalition. And I think I'm getting an award, or something
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