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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 3, 2005
CONTACT: Eric Landau
(202) 204-3624

HOUSE COMMITTEE CONCURS WITH ACADEMY PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS ON CDBG PERFORMANCE MEASURES

April 3, 2006— A U.S. House of Representatives committee recently endorsed recommendations made by a Panel of the National Academy of Public Administration aimed at developing effective performance measures for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG).

The House Committee on Government Reform recently issued “Bringing Communities into the 21st Century: A Report on Improving the Community Development Block Grant Program.” The report cites many of the recommendations made by the Academy Panel in 2005, specifically those pertaining to stakeholder involvement.

In its report, the committee urged:

HUD should consider acting on the recommendations of the Joint Working Group and those published by the National Academy of Public Administration in its February 2005 report on performance measures for the CDBG program.

The committee agrees with the Academy’s report that stakeholders “support CDBG performance reporting as long as it is non-intrusive, extensively used, cost effective, and compatible with existing management systems.”

In May 2005, Academy Fellow Thomas Downs testified before Congress on the Academy Panel’s two reports, “Developing Performance Measures for the Community Development Block Grant Program” and “Integrating Performance Measures into IDIS.” This hearing was one of a series that provided the basis for the House Committee Government Reform’s report.

The Academy Panel’s reports can be found at Developing Performance Measures for the Community Development Block Grant Program

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Academy Fellow Tackles
the Ethics of Dissent

Guerrillas in government are all around us, writes Academy Fellow Rosemary O’Leary in her new book, “The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government.” The term “guerrilla government” describes career public servants who work against the wishes of their superiors which, O’Leary states, happens more than we may realize in government’s bureaucracy.

O’Leary says guerrillas often choose to remain “in the closet,” moving clandestinely behind the scenes, such as “Deep Throat” or the DMV clerk who deliberately slows the processing of a driver’s license application. Guerrilla dissent is carried out by those who are dissatisfied with the actions of public organizations, programs—or by people who choose not to go public with their concerns.

Ultimately, O’Leary found in her research that public servants and managers could benefit from addressing guerrilla activity. She says they should carefully listen to the creative ideas of these dissenters, even encourage debate, so that constructive changes in the system can be made.

Buy “The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government”.