Community development developments

Interesting that a Republican leader, Sen. Rick Santorum, D-Penn., is teaming up with Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., to seek an increased appropriation for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. No mention in their letter of the much-protested Bush Administration proposal to melt down the CDFI Fund grants into a more generic new "Strengthening America's Communities" grantmaking entity, along with 17 other programs including the Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs). (For the proposed consolidations, see Page 136 (the 140th page of the PDF) in this White House budget document.)

Further on community development grants: the Commerce Department has posted more details of its progress in designing the projected new grant program, and the General Accountability Office has posted a detailed, partly favorable commentary on a report HUD issued this past February that said CDBGs were not reaching the neediest people.