Editing 78-15-B5 (section)

= Self-help in the Neighborhoods =

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=== 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.

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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>10/31/[[Radio1978|1978]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[rrpl:2024-07/40-656-7386263-014-011-2024.pdf#PAGE=46|Online PDF]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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