A community is a place where people live and work, a place where people can live with people who are just like them. They may share the same interest, culture, or financial situation, and develop a unique type of connection with others in the community. Sometimes, the community as a whole is lagging behind. Poverty becomes an issue, and the quality of life is low. Community development is done in order to address this problem.

The federal government plays a huge role in community development. The policies that it passes affect small communities in some ways. The direct engagement from the government can be seen as far back as the progressive era. During the great depression, government’s involvement was increased greatly. Under President FDR’s New Deal Policy, the federal government passed a series of legislation designed to help and alleviate the social and financial situation of specific community groups. The federal government funded Large scale construction projects that provided jobs to people in ailing communities. The Social Security Act directly provided social welfare to individuals instead of the community as a whole. The Housing Act also created a basis for public housing. As the economy recovered, the federal government turned their attention to slums and other “pockets of poverty.” Their policies would essentially destroy impoverish communities by pushing the slums out and creating room for new buildings and development. This top down approach also excludes the community of people that are affected as well. This doesn’t actually fix the problem behind poverty, but only the result of a poverty. Its like a doctor treating the symptoms of a disease while doing nothing to treat the disease.

Problems also arose when projects got too large. Too many agencies, organizations and institutions got involved and very little was done. Later on, the federal government adopted a hands-off approach under the Reagan and Bush administration. This aligns with what we learned in previous readings and in class regarding neo-liberalism. In place of big government, community development are undertaken by the private sector. They cut federal spending in community development while poverty rates climbed. The “trickle down” theory was adopted, but was mostly ineffective in low-income communities. The reason federal government’s result in handling community development has been lukewarm so far is because it’s putting the focus in the wrong place. The policies that government create should be designed to fix the problem, namely income inequality, lack of job opportunities and racial discrimination.

Discussion question: To what extent is Federal Government necessary in facilitating community development?