By Eugene Lowe
February 14, 2005

"Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), as we-ve known for over 30 years, will no longer exist if the budget proposal that has been made is adopted...." Conference of Mayors President Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic said to a wall to wall crowd as he opened a press conference at the National Press Club on February 8, one day after the release of the 2006 federal budget.

Joining Mayor Plusquellic were two past presidents and an advisory board member of the Conference of Mayors, leaders from the National League of Cities (NLC) and the National Association of Counties (NACo), and a coalition of locally appointed officials and business leaders. All participants came with compelling arguments to denounce the proposed elimination of CDBG, the signature program of cities, counties, and states for revitalizing communities.

In the Administration's budget, CDBG would be transferred from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the Department of Commerce and consolidated with 17 other programs into a new program, called Strengthening America's Communities Grant Program. While it has not yet been fully defined, the program's funds would be significantly less than the current funding level of CDBG and its activities far different than the 30-year old block grant program.

The program would be funded at $3.7 billion. Last year's funding level of the combined programs (including CDBG) was approximately $5.6 billion; CDBG's funding alone comes to $4.7 billion. In its place, the budget proposes a formula grant program which would be targeted to "economically distressed communities and regions" and a competitive grant program which would provide bonus funding to communities which have successful in "attracting businesses, ... improving schools, reducing regulatory barriers to business creation and housing development, and reducing violent crime rates."

This new proposal" Plusquellic said, "is totally unacceptable and we-re extremely disappointed that this tactic is being used to so-called consolidate and to improve efficiency, which is really an excuse to eliminate CDBG..." The coalition of mayors, county officials and business leaders contended that for the future of this nation, CDBG must not be eliminated, nor suffer any major cuts to the program. "CDBG is an effective program that helps millions of Americans by investing in our communities. We will take our message to Capitol Hill to fight for our federal and local government partnerships that have been successful for over three decades, "Plusquellic concluded.