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Devolution Of The Small Cities Cdbg Program In Mississippi, Dale Krane

Public Administration Faculty Publications

In 1982 responsibility for HUD's Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program was transferred to state governments as part of President Reagan's New Federalism initiatives. Devolution was designed to (1) implement a new vision of American federalism, (2) shift control over a significant source of financial resources for nonmetropolitan areas, and (3) end the bypassing of state government officials in community development decisionmaking. This article uses the eleven year (1975–1985) history of Small Cities CDBG awards in Mississippi to assess the consequences of the program's devolution. Changes in the pattern of state CDBG awards indicate that the program's devolution produced …