78-15-B5

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Self-help in the Neighborhoods

Transcript Ever since President Lyndon Johnson launched his "War On Poverty" in 1964, Washington has buzzed with schemes to channel federal dollars to inner city organizations. But many of these efforts--notably the OEO community action programs and the HUD Model Cities program--have been disappointments at best, and scandalous failures at worst. After 14 years of often bitter experience, many Members of Congress of both parties have become critical of any new proposals for federal aid to stimulate self-help in the cities. Thus, when President Carter asked Congress last March to create a new "Neighborhood Self-Help Development Fund" as a key part of his national urban policy, the idea got a chilly reception on Capitol Hill. The Carter proposal called for a modest initial annual budget of $15 million. The Department of Housing and Urban Development would make grants with the concurrence of city governments to neighborhood organizations with proven track records (and, naturally, with the proper political connections). While well-intentioned, the Carter proposal is certain to founder on the same shoals that proved fatal to previous federal programs to stimulate self-help. There is the question of the legitimacy and responsibility of groups claiming to be the true representative of the neighborhood's people. There is the problem of holding grantee organizations accountable for funds received, a process which orients the groups more to Washington than to neighborhood people and their needs. And, there is the problem of the selected group selling out to city hall and Washington to keep the funds coming, thus robbing neighborhood people of an effective, independent voice in the urban political process. Now comes a concerned urban Republican Congressman, Rep. Joel Pritchard of Seattle. Pritchard served 14 years in the Washington legislature and six years in Congress. He has learned well the inherent problems of the direct federal grant approach. He knows that the appetite for federal money will inflate the President's initially modest proposal into a budget-breaking bureaucratic behemoth within a few years. So Congressman Pritchard has offered a radically different alternative. Instead of funneling tax dollars through a host of politicians and bureaucracies, why not simply put the tax dollars back into the hands of neighborhood people and let them decide which neighborhood improvement organizations best serve their needs. At one stroke the Pritchard proposal slashes through the bedeviling problems of legitimacy, accountability, and sell-out. It makes the people the judge. It lets them vote their own tax dollars to support their own choices. If the three-year test program suggested by Congressman Pritchard is successful, any number of federal grant programs could be converted from bureaucrat-choice to citizen-choice. Now a lot of city and federal bureaucrats and their friends in the white-collar welfare industry won't like Pritchard's idea, because it will put them out of business. But the people of urban neighborhoods will like it, because it will restore to them their lost power of choice. America is going to hear a lot more about Joel Pritchard's neighborhood improvement plan. It makes a lot of sense. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-15-B5 Production Date 10/31/1978 Book/Page Online PDF Audio Youtube? No
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