Planners for Equal Opportunity records

Planners for Equal Opportunity was established in 1964 by a small group of professionals in the housing, planning, architecture and social work fields as an organization through which planning skills and concepts could be used to work for equality among minorities. The group encouraged professional planners to serve as civil rights advocates and to work for the change of policies and practices they considered racist. It published a periodic newsletter, Equalop, which ceased publication in 1971. At its zenith the organization had over 700 members in the United States and Canada with chapters in several regional and urban areas. Under the Planners for Equal Opportunity banner, advocacy planning was conceived, nurtured and to a limited degree, legitimized. The organized disbanded in 1976.