ABSTRACT
National housing policy prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act played an important role in creating hostility between ethnics and racial minorities. The National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs was organized in 1970 to specifically relate race, ethnicity, and class to the problems of urban America and to lobby for just solutions. The Center attempts to develop pluralist neighborhood coalitions and thus ease the conflicts between European and minority ethnics as they compete either to maintain or expand their urban space. Helping community organizations get federal grants for community revitalization and educating neighborhood groups in coalition-building for political effectiveness is a top priority for the Center. Public policy lobbies, such as the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, the National Council of La Raza, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, the National Urban League, the Center for Community Change, and the Civic Action Institute form its board of directors.
