Amid the worldwide outpouring of admiration and affection for Jimmy Carter, I I feel a deep sense of exhilaration and personal pride that I was fortunate enough to work for him on the first ever “National Urban Policy.” In 1978, having just gotten tenure at UCB in the DCRP, I was invited to Washington DC to coordinate the Inter-Agency Task Force on Neighborhoods.
President Carter was committed to the issues of our cities, which had never before benefited from an integrated strategy. The overall research and policy work was coordinated by Stu Eisenstadt, the White House Domestic Affairs Advisor and the Neighborhoods Task Force was guided by HUD Secretary Patricia Harris.
The National Urban Policy directive on the role of neighborhoods focused for the first time on the essential role of community organizations and the imperative for government support of their efforts. The seeds of the Mega-Cities Project were already evident.
I still have the draft report on my shelf.
