Area Redevelopment Agency

The Area Redevelopment Agency was a Federal government agency created in 1961 (signed by JFK on May 1) charged with regional economic development. The government felt that certain areas of the country were commercially underdeveloped due to a lack of available funding for businesses. The agency would provide loans, subsidies and public works projects to stimulate new business.

The ARA was closed in 1965, but resurrected the same year by the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 as the Economic Development Agency.

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Speech Relevance

In 'A Time For Choosing' Reagan that draws an audible gasp from the audience when he tells them about Rice County, Kansas:

For three decades, we have sought to solve the problems of unemployment through government planning, and the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan. The latest is the Area Redevelopment Agency. They have just declared Rice County, Kansas, a depressed area. Rice County, Kansas, has two hundred oil wells, and the 14,000 people there have over $30 million on deposit in personal savings in their banks. When the government tells you you're depressed, lie down and be depressed.

For comparison purposes, that roughly $30 million is now the equivalent of $208 million.

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Source Links

Economic Development Agency History

American Social Policy in the 60's and 70's

Inflation Calculator

JFK signing the Area Redevelopment Act (YouTube)