Bogging Down the Neighborhood

Abstract

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) was passed in 1974 and is a major source of federal funding for urban social services. While social planning, e.g. planning with attention to community well-being, is often regulated to the margins of the field, there is a relationship between the process and outcomes of social planning for the effectiveness of urban policy as a whole. This paper reviews the implementation of community participation and social service provision and finds that the incorporation of multiple stakeholders is a key component of effective participation and policy implementation. The differences in priorities between local residents, activists, service providers, and leadership should not be ignored. Social service provision became a dominant activity because of the dominance of service providers in community participation. This paper concludes by offering suggestions for urban policy in a renewed era of participation.