Looking to 2010

Health care, education, energy and appropriations remain high on the congressional agenda, yet there is a small window for focusing on these big issues. Issues affecting Community Action programs may be best addressed in 2010.

Recently, I have been having quite a few interesting political discussions with congressional members. Many of the key campaign people are wanting to begin talking through the current political environment. There are races starting to pop up on the radar screen that I didn't expect.

If the economy doesn't recover, or sinks again, Democrats are very worried what that might mean for them politically in the fall of 2010.

Stay tuned for more.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington

Focus on Getting Stimulus Money Out

My CBS News interview finally aired. Only a couple seconds of the 45-minute interview ended up in the story. The focus of the piece was about the stalled distribution of weatherization stimulus dollars. (Click here if the embedded video doesn't show up below.)



The Department of Energy had hopes of a quick turn-around, and we expect weatherization news from the Department every day.

The Office of Community Services seems to be a little further behind on getting the stimulus money out for Community Services Block Grants. In my Hill meetings, appropriators are surprised about the lack of progress. In a future blog, I will report about this week's meeting with Health and Human Services about this.

In every way, managing stimulus dollars expectations is a full time job. As I have said before, it is an especially difficult situation now that appropriations season is upon us. There is a fine line between pushing too hard and not pushing hard enough. We have to be careful.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington

What’s David Reading Next?

Books are my friends. They allow me to escape, decompress, relax and dream. Unfortunately, I’m at a point in my life in which I need to change my reading habits and, I must say, it is a very uncomfortable feeling.

Things are so competitive and my plate is so full that I may need to put aside the enjoyable reading for which I’m known for an undetermined amount of time to focus on policy and politics as it relates to that policy. I also may need to devote reading time to research on a writing project I’m considering.

I have been asked several times if I would ever consider writing a book about my personal experiences and knowledge of the history of the war on poverty and the history of Community Action. I have been kicking the idea around for the past six months. I’m still weighing the potential interest with the commitment of the next three years of my life to complete this kind of a project.

Historians and writers think the war on poverty ended with Nixon, others with Reagan. Yet, the history we have had for the last 28 years is just as exciting and challenging as any we have ever had. Some of the behind-the-scenes action that I have been privileged to be involved in has been pretty neat stuff.

I am currently re-reading some historical books that are inspirational to me as formats for such an undertaking. One of these books is In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War. David Reynolds does a good job of outlining how Winston Churchill wrote his World War II memoirs, how he organized his research teams and how the project consumed him for six years.

This writing project would be a way for me to pass on the history in which I’ve been personally involved to the current Community Action network and to those who follow.

As someone who regularly reads my blog, what do you think? Would this type of a written history of Community Action be of interest?

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington

New NCAF Staff Hired to Meet Growing Workload

National Community Action Foundation is staffing up to meet the growing demands of our network and its programs. This week two new staff members have joined the NCAF team.

Caitlin Wolf is the new legislative assistant for NCAF. After months of interviews, I am confident we finally have found the right person to fill the position vacated by Marci Phillips, who now serves as director of public policy and advocacy for the National Council on Aging.

Karen Skeete has been hired as project director for the NCAF and ExxonMobil “Reenergizing America’s Workforce” partnership. We recently received the $5 million check from ExxonMobil and the partnership is moving forward nicely. Requests for proposal for innovative weatherization training programs should go out in the next couple months.

In addition to the project director, there is also a 12-person advisory council for this partnership and a management team with two ExxonMobil and three NCAF representatives that meet monthly to steer the project.

NCAF is increasingly busy with appropriations season upon us, the energy and health care debates, stimulus accountability, event planning and increased media exposure. In addition, we are finishing up miscellaneous projects such as the Southern New Hampshire University community economic development master’s degree program and an agreement with General Motors to equip weatherization teams with American-made vehicles.

With new staff members on board, we hope to be able to keep our Community Action network more informed than ever before. Stay tuned.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington

Congress Back in Session Following Memorial Day Break

I had breakfast last week with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. This week I will meet with various other members who are back from a Memorial Day break. I am interested to see what they saw in their communities and what they are thinking about our programs in relation to economic recovery.

We are plunging fully into the congressional appropriations season, but during my Hill visits it is a little awkward when members ask how the stimulus work is going when both the Weatherization and Community Services Block Grant dollars are not out in the communities yet! Imagine talking about funding needs when billions of dollars are still sitting in the bank account. I’m unsure how this will play out, but it clearly complicates my life.

Also, we are working our way through some modifications to the House energy bill to make it friendlier to low-income energy consumers. Politically, this is pretty tricky. The House is clearly on a fast track to move this legislation out, but I’m not sure when the Senate will mark up their version of the bill.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington