ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the Mississippi experience with state government control of the small cities community development block grant program (CDBG) program by describing and analyzing the state's responses to the managerial problem of program "take over," and the pattern of small cities community development block grant program (SCCDBG) awards made by the state agency responsible for SCCDBG administration. The 1981 act specified that states must elect to administer the SCCDBG program by "accepting the option known as 'buying in' by a state making a 10 percent cash or 'in-kind' match and preparing "a statement of community development objectives and its proposed use of funds." The small cities CDBG program represents one of the few deliberate efforts to test a functional reassignment of the responsibility for a federal assistance program. For example, a common complaint about federal administration was the frequency of regulatory rule change.
