By Rhonda Spears Bell
March 28, 2005

The fight to save the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which is threatened to be eliminated in FY 06, has moved well beyond the capital beltway. Mayors and city leaders around the country are mobilized around this issue and are speaking out by holding press conferences and rallies denouncing the plan to eliminate CDBG.

Below is a small sample of activities around the country:

Miami: 5,000 Children, Elderly & Disabled Persons Rally To Support Community Development Block Grants

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and leaders from throughout South Florida — Cities of Miami, Hialeah, Miami Gardens, Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County and the Miami-Dade League of Cities — joined more than 5,000 men, women and children to fill the Coconut Grove Exposition Center on Wednesday, March 23, to celebrate the successes of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and voice their support for a program in danger of being eliminated in the President's proposed budget for 2006.

"We are sending a clear message to our lawmakers in Washington that CDBG is a program that must not be cut," said Diaz. "Our children, elderly and disabled need these funds. Those who have a dream of owning their own home need these funds! Miami needs these funds! I promise that we will succeed — that we will save CDBG!"

Providence: Providence Holds "Save CDBG" Rally

Providence Mayor David Cicilline along with other Rhode Island political leaders held a rally on Wednesday, March 23 with more than 300 people supporting the Community Development Block Grant program at the John Hope Settlement House.

"In 2004 alone, the Community Development Block Grant program assisted more than 21,000 Providence residents by supporting and making available a wide range of services such as employment training, domestic-violence prevention, day care and services for our seniors," Cicilline said.

Boston: Menino Joins Nonprofits in Defending Grants

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, joined by nearly 50 heads of local nonprofit organizations, urged the community to mobilize and lobby against President Bush's budget proposal, which they fear will slash $23 million from Boston's social services.

--If the grants are cut, they-ll have a devastating effect on working people and lower-income people," Menino said. -'society's neediest is being forgotten once again." (Boston Globe)

Independence, MO: Critics Assail Cuts In Federal Grants

In Independence, on the lawn of a transitional-living facility for homeless families, Mayor Ron Stewart told an audience that cuts to the Community Development Block Grant program, also known as CDBG, would devastate efforts in his city to help low-income families. "Mayors all around the country are rallying today to ask the president to take another look at this," Stewart said. "It's a shame. It's sad."

Stewart was joined at Hillcrest Ministries in Independence by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who said that after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, it was federal block-grant money that helped clean up and rebuild the area around the World Trade Center. (Kansas City Star)

Toledo: Ohio Mayors Pledge to Fight Cuts in Bush's Budget

Many Ohio mayors, Republicans and Democrats, are outraged at the proposed elimination of many Community Development Block Grants and a plan to transfer remaining ones from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Department of Commerce.

Conference President Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic, said the plan is "totally unacceptable" and pledged the nation's mayors would fight it. He said the mayors need the block grants to help blighted inner cities clean up, refurbish housing, and help small businesses get on their feet.

Toledo Mayor Jack Ford said the city is getting about $8.5 million a year from block grants and wiping that out would dramatically delay or end the rebuilding of inner-city housing. (Toledo Blade)

San Francisco: Mayors Cry Foul at Bush Plan to Cut $4.7 Billion Aid to Cities

Bay Area mayors joined a chorus of complaint Tuesday over Bush administration plans to slash the $4.7 billion federal community development block grant program, which cities rely on to help pay for programs such as low- cost housing, neighborhood business development and day care.

"This is a direct strategy to dismantle the social service system in this country,-- charged San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as he attended the annual winter meeting of the Conference of Mayors in the nation's capital. "I don't see how you can be a mayor and not be jumping up and down about this.-- (San Francisco Chronicle)

San Leandro: Federal Funds Fill Variety of Needs

Like all cities across the country, San Leandro is looking ahead at its future revenue sources. City officials are very concerned about the possibility of losing federal Community Development Block Grant funding if it's scaled back by the Bush administration in 2006. Mayor Shelia Young said if the program is slashed, San Leandro's share of the funds would nearly be cut in half, giving new meaning to the "trickle down" effect.

Fayetteville: Mayor Leads City Delegation to Washington to Lobby for CDBG

Fayetteville Mayor Marshall B. Pitts Jr. led a delegation of city council members to Washington (DC) to lobby the city's congressional delegation on items ranging from the Community Block Development Grant Program to federal transportation funding. Pitts said, "Several months ago, I wrote an article about the expanded duties of local elected officials. I said then that a mayor's responsibility today is more than kissing babies and cutting ribbons. Instead, mayors and council members are responsible for their city's interest on a state and national level." (Up & Coming Magazine, NC)