Part Two: Closing the Opportunity Gaps
Only a few years ago it seemed as if the Federal Government, hamstrung by exploding deficits and paralyzed by a crisis of public confidence in government itself, might withdraw completely and leave cities to fend for themselves. President Clinton has offered a new approach, one that is firmly committed to cities, but charts a smarter, more effective role for the Federal Government.
This Administration recognizes that Washington cannot pay for everything, should not regulate everything, and must not hand down mandates. Rather, the Federal role is more appropriately defined first as establishing broad national goals and priorities, and second as effectively providing the resources that States and local governments need to address the urgent challenges facing our cities. Discarding top-down approaches to urban policy, the Clinton-Gore Administration has adopted the ideas of mayors, faith and community leaders, businesses, and others in forging a genuine partnership between Washington and our Nation's cities and metropolitan areas. A strategy of community empowerment focuses on creating opportunity, demanding responsibility, and promoting a sense of community.
Accordingly, the Administration has worked within the Executive branch and with Congress to reinvent the way the Federal Government does business in cities, creating a new generation of programs and streamlined regulations that tear down barriers to opportunity. Vice President Gore's Partnership for Reinventing Government is helping to ensure that these programs work as they were intended and provide a level of service, efficiency, accountability, and competence that the American people have a right to expect.
President Clinton's urban agenda reflects a new consensus around some old ideas about how to build stronger communities. It involves moving beyond "business as usual" to provide important new types of assistance to cities, with particular emphasis on helping communities weave together disparate Federal programs, as well as regional problem solving that responds to the way we live and the way our economy functions.
Key Components
The Administration's urban agenda is built around the following components:
Closing the Jobs Gap
- Boost business investment and job creation in central cities and connect people to work opportunities, improve workforce preparedness and job skills, and increase access to child care.
Closing the Education Gap
- Encourage school reform through education opportunity zones and other initiatives, repair and modernize school facilities, and reduce class sizes with 100,000 new teachers.
Closing the Housing Gap
- Expand homeownership; reduce worst case housing needs by increasing the supply of affordable housing; fight housing discrimination; expand assistance to homeless people; and restore and rebuild public housing.
Building Safe, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities
- Strengthen the environment; continue crime-prevention efforts; improve access to health care; and ensure a fair deal for immigrants.
Moving Beyond Business as Usual
- Streamline Federal programs; encourage cooperation among urban and suburban communities to address regional concerns; and promote the development and wide application of technology in cities.
These initiatives are described in more detail in the following sections.
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