CISNEROS PRESENTS FIRST CLINTON ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL URBAN POLICY REPORT
The first National Urban Policy Report to reflect the policies
of the Clinton Administration, Empowerment: A New Covenant with
America's Cities, was presented today to President Clinton by HUD
Secretary Henry G. Cisneros.
"This report presents an approach to the problems and
opportunities of our nation's cities that is dramatically different
than that taken by any previous Administration, Democratic or
Republican," Cisneros said in his letter to the President.
"Today, many of America's cities are in trouble," the HUD
Secretary added, "and our challenge is to embrace change by offering
people and communities the opportunities they need to benefit from
new sources of prosperity."
The National Urban Policy Report explains that the Clinton
Administration's urban agenda is grounded in four basic principles:
It links families to work: It rewards work by bringing
together tax, welfare, education, job training, transportation
and housing policies that help families make the transition to
self-sufficiency and independence;
It leverages private investment in America's cities; It works
with the market and private businesses to build on the natural
assets of urban communities, through key program efforts such
as Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities, the Economic
Development Initiative, Small Business and Economic
Development Administrations, and through unique proposals to
support workers and businesses in distressed communities by
reformulating the Federal contracting system;
It is locally driven: It promotes solutions that are locally
crafted, not "made in Washington, D.C.," and encourages the
growing network of community-based organizations,
entrepreneurial public entities and private groups to
implement solutions.
It affirms traditional values: It recognizes that family,
hard work and self-reliance--and not government alone--must be
a part of the solution to problems of many inner-city problems
such as teen pregnancy, drug abuse and the break-down of the
family.
"The polarization of urban communities--isolating the poor from
the well-off, the unemployed from those who work, and minorities from
whites--frays the fabric of our civic culture and acts as a drag on
our national economy," the HUD Secretary said. "Your
Administration's National Urban Policy is about building communities
that work for people and for America."
Cisneros went on to criticize Congressional actions including
budget resolutions and appropriations bills that he said would draw
jobs, private investment and income out of inner cities. He cited
the reduction, by half, of HUD's economic development loan guarantee
authority, which helped create or retain as many as 125,000 jobs in
1995.
He also said that Congress was targeting the deepest cuts to
programs that serve urban communities and low-income families. There
are $100 billion in 'unspecified' savings from means-tested
entitlement programs, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Aid to
Families With Dependent Children, Supplemental Security Income, Food
Stamps, child care, and child nutrition programs, he added.
Finally, Cisneros said that "the President's National Urban
Policy is based on a sensible deficit reduction plan. It maintains
the critical focus of the Community Opportunity Agenda on linking
poor people and poor communities to work.
"Our National Urban Policy rejects extreme plans to eliminate
the deficit at the cost of incalculable damage to cities, the
nation's social safety net," Cisneros maintained.
(Copies of the Clinton Administration's National Urban Policy are
available from HUD USER: 1-800-245-2691 [metro Washington 251-5154]
A limited number are available for news organizations from HUD Public
Affairs.).
Content Archived: January 20, 2009
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