implementation of their grant. The provision of federal assistance should be emphasized
as a crucial aspect of the federal-local grant relationship. Technical assistance on behalf
of the grantor (federal government) to the grantee (local governments) is the link that will
ensure the program funds are providing the dual purpose of serving local needs while
meeting national objectives. Implementing “lofty” national programs in local
jurisdictions is cited as a major challenge in the grant system (Rosenfeld 1979, 448). The
challenge is heightened primarily because the program design of federal monitoring over
the grant heavily depends on local officials to solve their problems, which weakens the
link with national policy making (Rosenfeld 1979, 449). Since the program design is
unique in allowing local discretion for choosing grant projects, this provides the potential
to have a multitude of problems that creep up the channel toward meeting federal
objectives.
Table 1 illustrates the responses gathered when entitlements were asked if they
have asked for and received technical assistance for the CDBG program. A strong
majority of cities stated they have asked for assistance (76.1%), most likely for aid in
interpreting federal regulations posted in the Federal Register and for ensuring that they
have completed the appropriate administrative paperwork that must accompany the grant
projects. It is important to note here that administrative assistance is not provided to local
entitlements in order to instruct them on which activities and programs to implement –
the grant assistance is usually provided to inform entitlements how to blend their choices
of activities with the federal regulations including the Davis-Bacon Act for labor
standards and the CDBG national objectives.
The results also bring forth the point that HUD is wise to provide funding and
employees to continue to provide technical assistance to communities. This is one of the
9
Convention