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A. Plan of action

JUSTIFICATION

1. Technical services.—To provide appropriate technical services to States and localities, the Area Redevelopment Administration proposes to establish a field staff which will provide direct assistance and coordinate field activities of Agriculture, Interior, Labor, Small Business Administration, and the Housing and Home Finance Agency. The delegate agencies themselves will operate through existing facilities with expanded staff resources in some cases.

Field operations will provide assistance in: (a) organizing local areas for redevelopment activities, (b) preparing overall economic development programs, (c) developing proposals for redevelopment projects, (d) finding sources of private capital, (e) investigating the utilization of existing Federal credit programs, and (f) preparing applications for financial assistance. The field staff will be expected to make recommendations to the Washington level on economic development programs and on specific redevelopment projects. Delegate agencies will participate in these activities in their respective areas of competence with ARA providing supervision and coordination.

Staff at the Washington level will be required to provide one-stop service to Congress, Federal agencies, and to States and localities on all area redevelopment activities in a specific area. ARA plans to establish a separate division for each major segment of the Nation. These divisions will provide Washington level coordination, supervise field activities, and expedite area redevelopment programs and projects both within ARA and with delegate agencies.

The Area Redevelopment Administration will provide direct contact with various corporations throughout the Nation in order to stimulate location of new plants in depressed areas. In addition, assistance will be given to firms in redevelopment areas in obtaining Federal procurement contracts. Lists of firms that can provide products or services needed by the Federal Government will be maintained and representations on their behalf will be made to the Department of Defense and the General Services Administration.

2. Research.-Section 27 of the Area Redevelopment Act specifies that the Department of Commerce shall establish and conduct a continuing program of study and research designed to assist in determining the causes of unemployment, underemployment, underdevelopment, and chronic depression. The fruits of this program will be the formulation and implementation of National, State, and local programs which will raise income levels and otherwise produce solutions to the problems resulting from the above conditions. ARA will establish a research and planning operation to carry out these functions; to investigate new economic development techniques; prepare basic studies on how community conditions effect industrial development; locate and evaluate information on new products and technology for use in expanding local industry; and to perform research relating to growth industries. Technical aids will be provided to communities and States to assist them in carrying out their redevelopment programs.

3. Financial assistance. The financial assistance program under the Area Redevelopment Act will be carried out under policies and procedures established by ARA. The new Administration will provide program advice to delegate agencies and review individual projects to insure consistency with ARA policies, criteria, and procedures. The actual loan processing, disbursement, and servicing will be done by the Small Business Administration on commercial and industrial loans and by the Housing and Home Finance Agency on public facility loans.

B. Distribution of resources by major delegation and responsibility

1. Area Redevelopment Administration.

2. Department of Agriculture_

3. Department of the Interior.

4. Department of Labor___

5. Housing and Home Finance Agency-.

6. Small Business Administration__.

7. Other reimbursements to other Government agencies__.

Total obligations___.

$2,350,000 1,525, 000 300, 000 1, 500, 000 520,000 490, 000 605, 000

$7, 290, 000

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A. Plan of action

JUSTIFICATION

The Area Redevelopment Administration will provide for studies evaluating the needs of, and developing potentialities for, economic growth of areas having conditions of excessive unemployment or underemployment.

These studies will be used to assist rural, urban, and Indian areas in preparing overall economic development plans. Such plans or programs are a prerequisite to receiving financial assistance under the act but can also be of critical help to communities not yet designated as redevelopment areas. They will permit localities to have expert help on developing basic information on natural resources and manpower and the use to which these can be used to establish stable and diversified local economics. Studies to assist communities adjust to the closing of Federal installations will also be prepared for certain areas. Additional investigations will be made of State and regional economic development opportunities. To provide a better basis for the channeling of new industry into redevelopment areas studies will be made of growth industries to identify critical locational and capital requirements. Finally investigations will be made of new or improved uses of natural resources in specific areas.

B. Distribution of resources by general category

(a) Assistance to State, regional, and local planning and development organizations in redevelopment areas__

The Administration expects in some cases that it will be necessary to contract for basic studies of the resources and potential of redevelopment areas and for the preparation of overall economic development programs. The smaller urban and the rural areas very often will not have the resources to prepare economic development programs without some assistance from outside sources that have professional competence and background in the problems of economic development.

(b) Studies of State and regional economic development trends and opportunities_--

These economic studies of broad geographical areas covering a number of redevelopment areas will make it possible to focus the resources of several Federal agencies on the problems of the area. The upper Great Lakes region is a good example of an area where Indian reservations, declining mineral industries, and low farm income complicate the development problem. The Area Redevelopment Administration, with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, will be seeking through contractual studies a broad approach to utilization of the resources of the area. Detailed studies of the potential for tourist, lumbering, woodworking, and mineral industries on a coordinate basis should provide guidance for all of the localities in the region. Appalachia, northern New England, southern Illinois are additional examples of regional problem areas.

$2,300,000

1, 000, 000

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