Community Development Block Grants

This paper summarizes the decentralization policy effects found in an eight-year longitudinal study of the community development block grant program in the United States of America. The effects studied were categorized as programmatic, institutional, and benefits. Attention is also given to the methodological and measurement issues associated with a study of a decentralized program which has operated within a context of shifting federal policies about the appropriate level of federal oversight of the program. The point of emphasis is that analysis of policy effects requires a sufficiently long observation period to be able to discern the continuities and discontinuities from previous policy or lack of a policy. Furthermore, longitudinal policy analysis is also likely to require alteration and refinement of measurement techniques as the research progresses.