Before the witness begins, I would like to inform the committee that I received a letter from Gov. Terry Sanford, of North Carolina, in which he endorses title VII of the bill. And in addition we have received a number of letters from prominent deans and educators supporting title VII. And without objection I would like to insert all of these letters in the record at this point. (The letters referred to follow :) Hon. ALBERT RAINS, STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, GOVERNOR'S OFFICE, Raleigh, February 13, 1964. Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing, Committee on Banking and Currency, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: I understand that you are about to consider the Housing and Community Development Act of 1964. I should like in particular to endorse title VII of this bill which provides for matching grants to States for programs of training and research in connection with housing and community development programs. There are presently in the State of North Carolina about 50 public housing programs and 18 active urban renewal programs. Most of these are just getting started, and I feel that we should and probably will have many more such programs in the future if we are to deal effectively with our problems of slums and blight. However, I am told that recruitment of personnel with adequate training and experience constitutes a serious problem. In many cases staffing compromises must be made in order to staff at all, and in such situations good results are problematical. From where we sit the need for in-service training and for additional pre-service training for personnel to staff housing, urban renewal, and other local community development agencies is clear and urgent. As I have noted above, I believe that the State will move ahead in coming years to tackle its problems of slums and blight. Obviously, research will be needed to establish needs and priorities so that realistic programs may be formulated. Federal grants to assist with such research would be of tremendous value and assistance to us. May I therefore urge that you give careful and favorable consideration to this title of the omnibus housing bill? With best wishes always. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE RAINS: If the universities were turning out a stream of trained persons to handle the difficult tasks of planning, developing, rebuilding, providing housing and transportation, and managing our cities, the big expenditures of Federal, State, and local governments in these tasks would have far greater mileage. We made a national inventory of educational programs for these urban fields, and found the supply of trained personnel a small trickle compared to the need. The situation is clearly told in a recent, hard-hitting, factual account by Action, Inc. called: "What American Cities Need Most : Brains." Title VII of H.R. 9751, the training title, recognizes this plain fact and does something important and useful about it. Authorization of $5 million, rising to a more adequate $25 million in the fourth year, is a constructive needed, measure. This university gives enthusiastic support for this vital program. The title has leverage. It demands matching by the States. And it calls for allotments to States based on urban population, to upgrade essential technical and professional personnel and urgently needed research. This school provides professional graduate training for men and women for responsible work in community development. This fall we registered 59 stu Then This dents in urban affairs programs. We first trained city administrators. we were the first to offer a program in urban renewal, including housing. past year we launched a new program in city planning. We also train persons to deal with metropolitan problems, transportation, etc. Based on solid experience, we can assure you that financial assistance is needed if the universities of the country are to train enough superior people for responsibility in housing, urban renewal, and community development. We have been abe to increase enrollment only as we have found fellowship money to pay living expenses and tuition, plus supplementary income to cover university costs not covered by tuition. Without such aid many highly qualified candidates will not enter the community development professions and persons of limited income cannot consider it. As this university, and others in Pennsylvania have long demonstrated, it is feasible for private universities to participate in programs of governmental support for education. The University of Pittsburgh now receives helpful financial support from the State in fields of public concern, and I would advocate that it do so in the vitally important field of community development. Be assured then that our experience indicates that title VII provides a useful formula for what American cities need most: Brains to man their community development programs. Sincerely yours, DONALD C. STONE, Dean. Hon. ALBERT RAINS, RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY, Chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: I am writing in support of the provisions of title VII: Federal-State training programs of the new housing bill on which I understand your committee will be conducting hearings on or about February 18. This bill would make a good start toward meeting certain needs that I have observed as director of the Urban Studies Center of Rutgers, the State university during the last 3 years. National economic and social forces are causing an increasing concentration of population in urban areas. This movement, which is imposing new burdens upon both central cities and upon suburban and fringe area communities, has been so sudden and catastrophic that very few of these communities or the States that are responsible for them have the trained personnel or knowledge required to deal with them. Title VII would provide much-needed assistance to the States in developing workable programs for training and retraining personnel and engaging in problem-oriented research to support the orderly and health development of what appears destined to be an increasingly urban nation. I suggest that such investments in urban research and education to be carried out under the auspices of the States by qualified institutions will pay very heavy tangible and intangible dividends to the whole country (1) by promoting the conservation and better use of land and other resources that are endangered by unlimited urban sprawl; (2) by enabling State and local governments to participate more effectively in the national war on poverty, especially in the older central cities as well as in surburban and fringe areas; (3) by protecting our heavy investment in physical renewal by assisting States and communities to give more attention to the human aspects and consequences of renewal programs and thus to strengthen the whole urban renewal process by keeping it consistent with its basic humanistic and social goals; (4) by strengthening the ability of our State and local governments to compete in the market for knowledge and talent so that they may play a larger and more responsible role in guiding our country through the urban revolution. I see a grave danger that the superior ability of both the National Government and large corporate enterprises to attract talent and engage in research may, in the absence of a conscious effort to redress the balance, put State and local governments at an increasing disadvantage in the setting of goals and policies for their own future development. It seems to me that no one, whether he lives in a city, suburb, or rural community. can look with equanimity upon such a trend. Sincerely, JOHN E. BEBOUT, Director. RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY, Hon. ALBERT RAINS, DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: I am writing to endorse in principle the provisions of title VII: Federal-State training programs of the new housing bill which would carry out certain recommendations in President Johnson's recent message on housing and urban development. This bill would provide much needed help to the States in meeting alarming and growing deficits in the supplies of trained manpower and of knowledge that States and local governments need to deal with problems of urban growth and change. I have read the letter of John E. Bebout, director of our Urban Studies Center, and find myself in substantial agreement with the more detailed reasons that he has given in support of title VII. Sincerely yours, MASON W. GROSS. Hon. ALBERT RAINS, THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Chairman, Committee on Currency and Banking, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE RAINS: I should like to express my complete support of the housing bill currently before your committee. In particular, it is my opinion that title VII: Federal-State training programs is worthy of congressional passage in light of the unmet municipal manpower requirements and the paucity of adequate research on State and local government problems. Those of us in the field of State-local government research find it increasingly difficult to induce young persons to enter the service of such governments. Too, the ever-present need for funds sufficient to foster full and complete investigation into State and local problems is a major hurdle that we are rarely able to overcome. Sincerely yours, Hon. ALBERT RAINS, Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing, WILLIAM G. O'HARA, Jr., Director. BOSTON COLLEGE, COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: The purpose of this letter is merely to add a voice concerning legislation before you on housing. President Johnson saw fit to include in his legislative program for the current year a provision for urban training programs, with a suitable appropriation proposal of $25 million. We, who are concerned with the increasing urbanization of our States, know only too well that this is very much needed legislation. The significant reason is that we need to train young men and women who will be working in an urban complex in the depth of urban problems and how to proceed in their solution. We know that there are limitations in any such dynamic venture, but it would be a great fallacy if we sat idly by and failed to provide the fundamentals of training to equip these future leaders sufficiently. Megalopolis may be a highsounding phrase to many, but the plain fact is that we do have a giant urban center in the nine States of the eastern seaboard, and it is certain that this center will increase and spread with greater speed in the next 10 years than in the past 20 years. We need to prepare for it. As an individual, immersed in such matters, I ask that you give deep consideration to this provision in the housing bill and hopefully report the bill out favorably. Sincerely yours, ROBERT J. M. O'HARE, Director. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, Hon. ALBERT RAINS, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing, DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: I am writing to you to urge favorable consideration of the President's proposal for matching grants to the States, up to a total of $25 million, for the establishment of urban public service training and research programs. I understand that this proposal is now before the Subcommittee on Housing. This proposal seems to me to be a logical extension of present Federal programs in housing and urban renewal. It is quite clear that the major obstacle to the achievement of the goals set by the Congress in enacting housing legislation in recent years is not a shortage of grant and loan funds, but the difficulty in organizing and executing ambitious but necessary programs to cope with new and old urban problems. And this difficulty-in organization and management— can be traced directly to the shortage of adequately trained personnel in the public service in urban local government. By this I mean the short supply of professionally trained technical people-planners, economists, etc.-and of urban administrators. The need is for more training at the postgraduate and midcareer levels. Many colleges and universities are trying to help overcome this. My own school offers training in public administration, city planning, urban public finance, and urban economics. However, our present efforts fall short of producing trained people in the numbers required. Moreover, these programs are expensive, and therefore cannot be readily expanded without additional financial assistance. I should add, incidentally, that much of the training load in public administration has traditionally been shouldered by private universities (like New York University) rather than public institutions; matching Federal grants would encourage the States to set up new training programs at public institutions to supplement those at private ones, and to assist in the expansion of the existing programs at the private universities. Sincerely yours, DICK NETZER, Associate Professor, Metropolitan Finance, Hon. ALBERT RAINS, HUNTER COLLEGE IN THE BRONX OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing, Committee on Banking and Currency, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: I would like to indicate my support for a program of Federal grants to underwrite urban training programs in line with President Johnson's message. The literature on this subject is vast and impressive (including the recent Brookings Institute study on municipal manpower needs). There is, I am sure, no need to remind you that the solution to our poverty problem is heavily dependent on a proper cadre of imaginative urban thinkers and doers. I hope some progress can be made in this direction. Sincerely yours, BLANCHE D. BLANK, Associate Professor of Political Science. Hon. ALBERT RAINS, THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing, Committee on Banking and Currency, DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: This letter is written in support of title VII of H.R. 9751 concerning Federal-State training and research programs in the urban field. The need for Federal support of programs of this type is urgent. The growing urbanization of our country is all too obvious, and the need for trained people in all aspects of urban affairs grows every day. Present programs for meeting these problems fall far short of the need. If reasonable funds were available, the State universities and land-grant colleges particularly could mount programs for tackling these training and research problems in their respective States. My own university has been experimenting for several years with various approaches to urban training and research, but lack of continuous and dependable financing precludes the possibility of developing the program we deem essential for meeting these problems. Title VII of H.R. 9751 would remedy substantially this deficiency. We urge its passage. Cordially yours, Hon. ALBERT RAINS, Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. L. H. ADOLFSON, Dean. UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, Lexington, Ky., March 9, 1964. DEAR MR. RAINS: It seems to me, and to many others who are engaged in teaching and research in the field of State and local government, that there is no more significant need in the urban and metropolitan field than high-level graduate and midcareer training opportunities for specialists in various aspects of urban government. Because of this belief, may I urge that you and your committee give serious consideration to President Johnson's recommended support for urban training programs. Such support should, I think, consist of matching grants to the States. Sincerely yours, J. E. REEVES, Associate Professor. UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, Lexington, Ky., March 13, 1964. Hon. ALBERT RAINS, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing, DEAR MR. RAINS: I note that President Johnson, in this year's housing message, recommended Federal support for urban training programs. His suggestion, as I understand it, is for a program of matching grants to the States with a maximum Federal contribution of $25 million for the establishment of urban public service training and research programs. I am writing this letter to urge you to give support to this suggestion. Certainly there is no more significant need in the urban and metropolitan field than high-level graduate and midcareer training opportunities. Though there are various training approaches being made in this field, the growing urbanization in the country and the obvious need that this presents for trained people in all aspects of urban affairs indicates that a greater effort is needed. Any help that you can give in seeing President Johnson's ideas through to fruition will, in my mind, represent a contribution to your country of which you can be proud. Sincerely yours, S. SIDNEY ULMER, Chairman. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENTAL STUDIES, Berkeley, Calif., March 9, 1964. Hon. ALBERT RAINS, Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing, DEAR CONGRESSMAN RAINS: I am very much interested in the proposal that has been made by President Johnson that Federal support be given, under a program of matching funds, for urban training programs. Our work here in this evermore populous State makes us highly aware of the need for and the possibilities of this development. I sincerely hope that you will give this proposal the sympathetic attention that it deserves. Sincerely, DWIGHT WALDO, Director. |