By Thea Jarvis

Georgia Action is one of 195 self-help projects across the country to receive a national grant from the Campaign for Human Development for 1982.

The 2,000-member, non-profit group, which is Atlanta based and focuses on the needs of low- and moderate-income individuals, was awarded a $30,000 grant by the CHD. The organization is affiliated with the National Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), presently claiming member groups in 26 states. ACORN affiliates in Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Florida and Arizona were likewise recipients of 1982 CHD grants.

Georgia Action's goals include organizing people with similar needs and interests, frequently in neighborhood settings, in order to improve situations perceived to be unjust or unfair. Locally organized units are both led and trained in effective methods of confronting and influencing traditional power structures so their voices may be heard and answered.

In the modest Georgia Action offices housed in the old Tonceana apartment building on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta, staff member Bruce Dorpalen recently surveyed a desk strewn with the vestiges of past victories and the assorted memoranda of current projects.

"We do a lot with the money," Dorpalen said of the CHD grant, adding that Georgia Action/ACORN had applied for Human Development funds three times before but only received them on the fourth go-round.

The monies will be used in Georgia Action's ongoing organizing efforts. Day-to-day expenses are covered through direct door-to-door canvassing around the metro-Atlanta area. Individual donations and private funding insure Georgia Action's complete independence from outside political or special interest pressure.

The soft-spoken, bespectacled Dorpalen downplayed the involvement of the small Georgia Action/ACORN staff, calling the group more "membership oriented." But he was, nonetheless, proud of the achievements they have garnered over the past four and a half years they have been active in the state.

A memorable success came after a pitched, three-year battle with Southern Bell and the Public Service Commission, during which Georgia Action protested phone rates that laid a heavy burden on senior citizens and those on fixed incomes.

Major confrontations were continued between public servants and senior citizens until the PSC conceded the "lifeline rate," so called because without a telephone, necessary medical assistance is often beyond the reach of a stricken senior.

The lifeline began on a trial basis -- 25 local calls for a fee of $6.50 per month, with a 10-cent charge for each additional call. The rate is now permanent, though up somewhat from the original figures, and allows the elderly to afford the modern invention that has grown from a convenience to a necessity.

"If you didn't use your phone a lot -- and seniors didn't -- it cut your bill in half," observed Bruce Dorpalen, emphasizing that the former life-threatening situations were all too real and numerous.

Neighborhood problems in the Center Hill and Grove Park areas off Bankhead Highway in Atlanta illustrate the type of challenge Georgia Action frequently meets and the way the group encourages local folks to be a major force in solving their own problems.

Residents around Bankhead Highway were faced with a score of problems, not the least of which were flooding, abandoned buildings, and deteriorating storefronts and businesses. The community wanted to stem the tide of the obvious decline, but needed direction to meet its goals. Georgia Action provided this.

"In a span of seven weeks," Dorpalen recalled, "we had a series of organizational meetings and the residents put together an agenda with priorities." Then they made a bus tour around the Bankhead area to identify neighborhood problems that needed intermediate attention. People divided into teams and inspected local grocery stores, discussing complaints with owners. Surprisingly, most were eager to cooperate.

More recent plans call for meetings with city council members, property owners and business people over the next several weeks to resolve differences and work towards restoring a safe and attractive neighborhood.

In 1980, Georgia Acton/ACORN was instrumental in helping elderly metro-Atlantans get a fair shake on the MARTA system.

When rates began to rise, routes were changed and senior discounts limited (half-price from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; full fare otherwise), Georgia Action organized sizeable numbers to air their complaints at MARTA board meetings and legislative gatherings.

"We marched regularly on the MARTA board," said Bruce Dorpalen, and also brought grassroots pressure to bear on city government.

As a result, senior discounts were continued, some key bus routes were reinstated and bus shelters were installed. One of the most meaningful successes of the effort was the expansion of the half-price time schedule for seniors from 9 a.m. through the evening rush hour.

This was a big win for our folks," Dorpalen enthused, "because they're not out before 9 a.m.," but often find themselves returning home after the former 3 p.m. cutoff time.

The most current of Georgia Action's projects will be coordinated nationally with other self-help groups and will highlight the cutbacks, layoffs and general hard times afflicting many in the country today.

"Reagan Ranches," patterned on the Hoovervilles of the thirties in which people set up tents and shacks in vacant lots and parks because they had nowhere else to go, will appear in the open space behind the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta October 23.

Present plans call for 48 tents to be on-site through November 2, drawing a "mix of people," Bruce Dorpalen stated. He sees the effort as a springboard for action, focusing on the nation's genuine economic needs and hopefully, moving officialdom to do something about them.

"I'll be there every night in my pup tent," he said, indicating that the group will include Georgia Action members concerned about equitable housing as well as street people who lack permanent shelter.

Without doubt, Georgia Action can generally be found wherever the "little guy" is being pushed around by the powers that be. Battles over increasing utility rates, inadequate housing, inaccessible transportation and deteriorating neighborhoods will continue to be waged by Georgia Action/ACORN and its membership. The organization's long-range goals, however, are directed at more sweeping institutional reform.

"We want to do things that give permanent changes to we don't have to fight the same fights year after year," Bruce Dorpalen indicated.

With a little help from the Campaign for Human Development, Georgia Action might succeed in doing just that.