ABSTRACT
The Ford Foundation began, in reaction to the crudity of urban renewal, by offering to city government a means of integrated social reform. 'The role of social science lies not in formulation of social policy, but in measurement of its results'–and should never presume, from a plausible theory, to decide the very different questions of political action. The Model Cities programme was a retreat towards the Ford Foundation's earliest formulations of community action. It related to urban renewal and blighted neighbourhoods, rather than poverty at large, emphasizing the comprehensive co-ordination of physical and social plans: and it recognized the final authority of city hall. Unlike the Ford Foundation's grey area projects, which had been presented to cities partly as a means of relieving their financial difficulties, anti-poverty programme was not conceived in terms of institutional needs. It was a response to the President's desire for an issue that would define the direction of his leadership, and catch the nation's imagination.
