Economic Recovery and America’s Communities

The Institute for the Study of Civic Values believes that ‘to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity’ and ‘promote the general welfare of America’--the promise of our Constitution--the federal government must work with local communities to strengthen neighborhoods and families throughout the United States.

This is especially true of the economic recovery agenda initiated by the Obama administration earlier this year. Until people who are out of work start getting jobs and city and state governments are able to provide essential public services, recovery is still just a goal, not a reality for those of us facing the horrific consequences of this recession.

Here, we facilitate direct access to every economic recovery web site created by state governments--and many recovery web sites created by cities. To find your state, go to the US States Map that we provide These provide a comprehensive view of what states and cities are doing to achieve economic recovery.

Here are the web sites that will help you understand the entire program:

• Official Federal Economic Recovery Web Site It’s all here.
• Economic Stimulus By Federal Agency- Programs by Department.
• Read the Stimulus Bill -The Entire Bill.
• Stimulus Package 2009: What’s In It For You?-A NeighborhoodLink Guide

But the pace of improvement is still not happening fast enough to cut the unemployment rate. Organizations and agencies that perform public and human services have been especially hard, as they have had to make serious cutbacks in the face of whopping deficits. Clearly, more needs to be done.

      What Will Obama propose for the FY2010-11 Budget Next Year?

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities is predicting even more devasting deficits in state and local governments in the coming year. They are calling upon Washington to provide additional help. Read all about it.

 How will the administration respond? Will there be increases in areas critical to America’s communities like housing, education, transportation, and human services? Or will we revert back to the levels that the Bush administration left us after eight years of steadily cutting domestic programs? The Coalition on Human Needs has set forth a framework for federal investment in community jobs that meet human needs that should guide federal policy in the coming year. Robert Kuttner, Editor of the American Prospect is also arguing that jobs that involve helping people should be a national priority as well.

The Institute for the Study of Civic Values is prepared to build a broad based coalition starting in Philadelphia to support of this effort if it appears to be possible. you want to keep informed as to latest developments related to the economic recovery program and how you can influence it--locally and nationally--sign up for the “CommunitiesMatter” listserv todayI

                 Federal Investment in America’s Communities

When the federal government increases domestic spending, it doesn’t go to Venus--it comes back to our families and communities. When we add up not only federal support for affordable housing, schools, law enforcement, the environment, and social services, but the total amount received by our families for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran’s Benefits, student loans alone, the amount is far greater than we think. 

There’s a simple way to find out how much the federal government has spent in your county for each year between 1993 and 2008. Just follow the instructions below:

Use the Census Bureau’s Consolidated Federal Funds Reports

• Go to the Online Query System
• Click on “Geography,” “Year,” “State,” and “County.”
• You can download web pages and/or spreadsheets showing the federal investment--program by program--in each and every county and state in the United States for each year between 1993 and 2008.

How is the Federal Economic Recovery Program Helping Your Community?

The Institute for the Study of Civic Values has spent the past three years using the Federal Funds Consolidated Report to document the impact of federal spending in communities around the country. Organizers fighting to block Bush budget cuts used our material to show the damage they would cause to communities and families. Now we’re using the same technique to show how the increased federal domestic spending provided by the stimulus package will benefit us. If you want us to develop this kind of analysis for your community, fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you.

Fight to Save America’s Communities. Donate Now

           Institute for the Study of Civic Values
                                              1218 Chestnut St., Rm. 702, Philadelphia Pa. 19107