David’s Book List

ONE THUMB UP, ONE DOWN for Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

Ahamed describes how the relationships, mutual decision-making and wrong turns of the principle finance ministers from England, France, New York and Germany escorted the world into the Great Depression. The book also goes into why some nations fared better than others after 1929. I learned a few things about economic policy from the book.

Reviews of the book were good, but on a scale from one to ten, I’d give it a six. My test of a book happens after I shut the back cover. If I put it down and miss it, I’d recommend it. If I am glad it is over and am anxious to get on to the next book, it doesn’t quite make my recommendation list. I’m not sorry I read it, but I would not want to spend another week of my life reading it again.

NOTE: If you're new to the NCAF Community Action Blog, click here for other books I’ve read recently. I have also started my own Google Library, so if you would like more information about the books I discuss here on the NCAF Blog, check it out. Have a comment or a book to recommend? Share it in the comments section below. I'd like to hear from you.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington

Answering the Big Questions

During every meeting I've been a part of for the past three months, everyone has asked one question: "How are stimulus dollars going to be spent?" As we prepare for appropriations season, I believe Congress will be looking closely at programs that were contained in the stimulus.

In recent meetings, a couple senior congressional staff members questioned the Community Services Block Grant data and did not seem happy with how its results are proven. I think we have not only an opportunity, but also a responsibility, to come back to the Obama Administration with concrete ideas for taking the CSBG program forward.

There are some big questions that we should be prepared to answer by the fall: What impediments exist to doing a more effective job? How can Community Action better report its performance? How can we be more of an advocate in the community? How can Community Action become more involved in community development, professional development and training? What vision do we have for the Office of Community Services? What would a direct local relationship look like? How could we overhaul CSBG to reward entrepreneurship and create a federal laboratory? These are just a few good, fundamental questions that we are exploring to help strengthen Community Action.

There’s an obvious difference between engaging in these questions now versus five years ago. The Obama Administration wants to work with us on the answers. This administration clearly wants to challenge the status quo, which is just fine with me.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington

David's Calendar At a Glance

My days are filled with events and appointments on behalf of Community Action. Following is a preview of some recent activities:

-- Last week I talked to the person in charge of stimulus funding in the Department of Energy about weatherization accountability and results. DOE has hired 75 readers to review the 52 state weatherization plans. I don't know what the readers' instructions are, but more than a couple people are curious about how that process will work. I do hope the Department will review all state weatherization plans carefully.

-- I will be headed to Detroit in about a week to launch an agreement with General Motors to buy American-made vehicles for Community Action's weatherization efforts. We are ready to roll and so are they. Stay tuned for the official announcement.

-- We have reached a definitive agreement with Southern New Hampshire University to create a master’s degree program in community economic development. The 39-hour program, which will be conducted mostly online with some on-campus weekends, should roll out in the fall of 2009. I hope this is the first of many university programs that will be developed to help Community Action personnel and others in this arena.

-- Last week we held a successful four-day workshop on the history of the war on poverty last week in St. Petersburg, Fla., and I'm off to Texas this week for another history workshop.

-- We are planning a combined Community Investment Futures and NCAF Energy Conference Nov. 2-6 at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, Fla. The week will feature joint sessions where energy and community economic development intersect, as well as a series of separate tracks.

-- I continue to field press inquiries about the Weatherization Assistance Program and Community Services Block Grant stimulus dollars. This week I had an interview with the The Wall Street Journal on weatherization, so watch for that article in the days to come.

-- I had breakfast this week with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. I'll share details in a future blog.

This is just a snapshot of some of the things NCAF has been working on. Stay tuned for more.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington

Deep Discussions with the Administration

National Community Action Foundation has had many discussions with the Obama Administration concerning Community Action’s core programs. Where necessary, NCAF and others possibly may be challenging some state weatherization and Community Services Block Grant stimulus plans.

Recently, we expressed some concern about some of the potential state weatherization plans, and we have found key people in the executive branch are sympathetic to the points we have raised. Our impression is that there is more White House interest about how weatherization dollars are spent than a lot of other programs included in the latest economic stimulus package.

It looks like CSBG dollars will be available locally around the first of July if all goes well. There is much interest in watching how Health and Human Services responds to state CSBG plans.

I cannot overemphasize how important accountability and results from the weatherization and CSBG stimulus dollars are to the administration and to the Community Action network. If we fail to prove its effectiveness, we are in for some problems ahead.

We have been having some interesting discussions with individuals within the administration concerning the future of Community Action. I carefully raised questions about the current system of funding delivery, questioned whether or not a block grant still made sense and offered some alternatives. I have been dumbfounded at how quickly various administration officials also said they were questioning block grants in general, and ours specifically.

We are finding out that some of the long-held beliefs are not necessarily the assumptions going forward. The Obama Administration is willing to look at several areas that have been off-limits to us for some time.

I feel very comfortable in looking at strengths and weaknesses of our programs with this administration in order to set Community Action programs up to be the best they can be in the future.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington