volunteers will participate in all three of these programs. With a measured expansion this volunteer force will grow to 79,000 volunteers in FY 80. To support and direct the work of these volunteers ACTION will need 82 new positions when the programs are operating on the national level. There will be no additional staff required in FY 79. - The urban volunteer programs we propose to fund are small. They are geared to meet small needs of small groups in small areas the neighborhoods of large cities. They are responsive to the small but important needs of neighborhood residents. How does elderly Mrs. Smith, who lives alone, survive on the social security check she now receives when the cost of living is increasing so rapidly? How does a small struggling neighborhood group develop proper accounting procedures so that they can be eligible for a state or federal grant? These are the needs we hope to address. Our urban programs will continue to remain small. One of the lessons we have learned is that if you expand any program too rapidly you increase the risk of error and waste. ACTION's urban programs are well tested. For the past two years, ACTION has partially funded two technical and management assistance demonstration projects. In Cincinnati, 70 professional volunteers are helping approximately forty community groups. One volunteer, an accountant, spent six months designing a bookkeeping system for a non-profit, neighborhood food and clothing distribution center for the poor. Since 1975, ACTION has sponsored a fixed income consumer counseling demonstration project in Denver, Colorado. In the last three years, over 300 volunteers have provided 25,000 poor and elderly people direct and personal counseling in health, nutrition, pre retirement planning, estate planning and the drawing up of wills. A good example of a Good Neighbor type project would be a small grant to a community group to establish a tool lending library. In many cases poor people who want to rehabilitate their houses are unable to because they lack the proper tools. A small grant would enable a neighborhood group to purchase the tools for the community as a whole, thereby saving every resident the cost of keeping his or her own set of tools. Sharing tools can be the first step that leads neighborhood residents to share in other community activities. Another example of a GNF type project would be a small grant to Anyone in a distressed neighborAnyone who lives on a low income a neighborhood group that wanted to protect its elderly residents by establishing a 24 hour hotline and by developing neighborhood projects which would encourage the elderly to be full members of the community. Our urban programs are inclusive. hood will be allowed to participate. and is in need of financial counseling will be able to seek it through our FIC program. Our program guidelines will require that sponsoring organizations specifically include the poor, the elderly, blacks, Hispanics, and the handicapped in the organizational decision-making process. ACTION in the last two years has made an affirmative effort to recruit blacks and Hispanics to its headquarters and field staff. We are proud of our record. We will do no less with these new programs. Our urban programs are preventive in nature. They attempt to help people before there is a necessity for an expensive and drastic cure. Today, the South Bronx is a symbol of urban decay. An interagency coordinating committee chaired by an assistant to the President is now required to address its needs. Our aim is to prevent other neighborhoods from sharing the same fate as the South Bronx. Strong neighborhoods make for prosperous cities. Those cities that have had the most success in revitalization Baltimore, Boston, Seattle, Hartford are the cities which have supported the efforts of neighborhood groups to rebuild their neighborhoods. Neighborhoods are the foundation on which cities are built. More importantly, neighborhoods are the place where people's values are shaped. The programs we propose are rooted in old values - self-reliance, trust, generosity, and a sense of responsibilty for one's neighbor. The reinforcement of those values at the neighborhood level can only help our nation in the long run. People are less likely to destroy what they themselves have created. Our urban programs will not duplicate other Federal efforts to help the poor. Special provision has been made in our legislation to require close co-ordination with CSA (The Community Service Administration). As members of the committee may know, Graciela Olivarez and I have worked closely to increase our joint programming capability. VISTA volunteers are beginning to work with the CAP Incentive Program and the regional directors of both CSA and ACTION met last October to discuss specific ways that our two agencies might cooperate. As you will note in the legislation, before regulations for the new urban programs are promulgated, the Director of CSA will be consulted. In addition, CAP agencies will receive specific advance notice of the selection process for lead agencies and a special requirement has been included that lead agencies (if a CAP is not the lead agency) will work with CAP's to avoid any duplication of effort. We believe that the urban programs described Corps and the Good Neighbor Fund - are needed. They can provide the federal government with a powerful instrument for appealing to the best instincts of the American people. These programs are targeted, antiinflationary, non-bureaucratic, well tested, small, inclusive, preventive, and do not duplicate other federal efforts. Most neighborhood groups form in response to an immediate concern: an increase in crime; a decision to rezone; the inability of a city to provide essential services. Often, however, these groups break apart because they lack an understanding of how to help themselves. A study of 400 voluntary groups compiled by the American Institute for Research of Behavorial Sciences indicates that almost one out of every five fail in the first 15 to 18 months of their existences primarily because of poor management. We believe that our Urban Volunteer Corps can help these groups survive. If a new foundation is to be created for our cities these groups need to remain active and provide the stability and direction every neighborhood needs. We ask for your support of these programs. A substantial reduction in programs will be noted by members of the committee in three areas. The funding request in FY 80 for ACTION'S service learning program has been reduced from $1,724,000 at the supplemental level to $873,000. These funds are being requested for our National Student Volunteer Program to continue to provide technical assistance in the promotion of a service-learning concept in high schools and colleges; and to offer demonstration grants which will test service learning as a way to help juvenile offenders, who in the past have not been included in these programs. Like ACTION'S other proposed initiatives, this initiative is based on the success of previously funded demonstration grants. A second reduction will be noted by committee members for funding a study of the concept of a National Youth Service. $2,736,000 is requested for developing this concept in the supplemental funding for FY 79. No new funds are necessary in FY 80. Let me now turn to the University Year for ACTION program. We are proposing to fund existing projects through the third quarter of FY 79. Our proposal does not include funds for UYA in FY 80. Instead we are asking for some time to evaluate and test new approaches for this program. We do not believe that the current program meets all of its objectives and is the best use of taxpayers' money. We believe new models of service learning should be tested which can be the basis for a better program. Last September, four demonstration grants were awarded to test a new approach which gives community-based organizations greater control over the program and the work of the volunteers by making these organizations rather than the universities the grantees. Among the groups funded to test this new approach are the National Conference of Black Mayors and ALCOR (Appalachian Leadership and Community Outreach). We are determined to manage all of ACTION's programs economically. We believe, as President Carter stated in his State of the Union message, that it is a myth "that we must choose between compassion and competence." We have improved our budget control system. We have revamped our recruitment reservation system through automation. Our efforts to improve our management capability will continue. |