Business View Magazine - November 2016

Business View Magazine - November 2016 95 Coalition, we do visits to members of Congress to edu- cate them about the programs and about the benefits of the programs in their communities.” According to HUD’s own numbers, there are currently 1209 gen- eral 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 ac- tively advocates for its members, as well as its part- ner organizations, in an effort to keep the money flow- ing into the communities across America that need it most. Indeed, Watson says that the Coalition was originally formed several years ago when Congress was in a particularly 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 propose any draco- nian cuts. “In terms of our programs, we’re fortunate in that they enjoy bipartisan 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 enactment 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