January 2017 | Business View Magazine

64 65 Look believes that a primary mission of the NCDA is to provide opportunities for those mem- bers who work with these federal programs in their own communities to have a forum where they can bounce ideas off of one another and help each other understand how they’re doing things. “We’ve got membership across the country from New England down to L.A. and from Seattle down to Miami,” he says. “And each community does things slightly differently.We can learn from each other how best to use these funds.” In addition to its twice-yearly conferences, the NCDA also publishes a monthly newsletter, keep- ing its members informed about developments in housing and community development. Its website, NCDAonline, provides links to other related sites and allows member to communicate more effec- tively with each other and the NCDA staff. The NCDA also educates members of Congress. “NCDA leads the Community Development Block Grant Coalition that consists of many different national associations that all support the core Community Development Block Grant program,” Watson says. “And through that Coalition, we do visits to members of Congress to educate them about the programs and about the benefits of the programs in their communities.”According to HUD’s own numbers, there are currently 1209 general units of local and state governments that receive CDBG grants, annually. But since all CDBG programs are subject to Congress’s ever-changing budgetary priorities, the NCDA also actively advocates for its members, as well as its partner organizations, in an effort to keep the money flowing into the communities across America that need it most. Indeed,Wat- son says that the Coalition was originally formed several years ago when Congress was in a partic- The National Community Development Association ularly parsimonious mood. “There was a threat to the program at that time, on the Hill,” she remembers. “The House had proposed that it be cut in half, and so we felt that we needed to have more of a national voice for the program.” Today,Watson says that while getting the necessary funding allocations is still a challenge, lately, Congress has been somewhat less likely to pro- pose any draconian cuts. “In terms of our programs, we’re fortunate in that they enjoy biparti- san support on the Hill,” she begins. “Unfortunately, the problem is, it’s a very tight budget that Congress works with from year to year, and has been so ever since the enact- ment of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which puts caps on funding every year.We’ve been very good at ensuring that CDBG is level-funded from year to year, even within these caps.We did get some relief this past fiscal year – the caps were increased a bit; but still not enough to increase our programs. I think we would fare much better if there weren’t budget caps in place,” she adds, ruefully. “For the future, it depends on who’s elected to Congress from year to year. In terms of the homeless programs – they enjoy very wide support on the Hill, so we usually do not have to advocate very much for those; they usually get an increase, every year.” While the NCDA helps to work the levers of Congress, the orga- nization’s leadership also liaises with the Executive branch of the federal government, via its direct access to senior officials at HUD’s Washington D.C. headquarters. “It’s not just about the budget,” says Look, “it’s also about what the federal government does with the