The Metropolitan Desk: A New Technique in Program Teamwork

Abstract

AS NEW fronts are opened in the Great j~ Society's many domestic wars (against LI.. poverty, waste, illiteracy, slums, the wasting of human and natural resources, etc.), interagency coordination is becoming a vital and demanding responsibility of Federal program managers. One of the most challenging aspects of this responsibility is that of creating an effective framework within which the more than 120 Federal grant-in-aid programs which now serve urban, and especially metropolitan, areas may be harmonized. The proliferation of Federal programs and agencies is matched only by the multiplicity of local recipients. Somehow, a rational and comprehensive structure must be developed which will assure maximum effectiveness of Federal programs, and preserve and strengthen local governmental decision-making. To achieve these ends in the area of urban development, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is planning to establish Metropolitan Desks. They would combine a concern for interagency coordination at the metropolitan level with an appreciation of the complexities of intergovernmental program effort. In this new era of creative federalism and an increased Presidential concern for field coordination, the Metro Desk proposal and the problems it is designed to attack deserve examination and analysis.