Now that the dust has settled from the 2008 presidential election, is it enough that a black president took office in 2009? Will the fact that there is an African American president directly help the ghettos of Los Angeles, New York or St. Louis? Will New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, Atlanta’s Perry Homes or Houston’s Acres Homes ever benefit from the change of face in the Oval office?
For generations the sense of hopelessness, abandonment and apathy were permanent residents in America’s decaying inner cities. There was never a belief that any president ever cared or would lead the way to make any change in the hood.
After taking over a country in shambles, it appeared that President Barack Obama would have his hands full for some time with fighting two wars in the Middle East, a housing market in upheaval, spiraling unemployment and a financial market in ruins. And despite all that is wrong and all that needs fixing in America, one thing that has always been last on the list is the decaying inner cities of America.
But President Obama signaled his intention to help urban areas with the formation of the White House Office of Urban Affairs in March 2009. Led by Adolfo Carrion, the former Bronx Burrough president, the new agency is charged with ensuring “that federal government dollars are effectively spent on the highest impact programs.”
The 2010 federal budget includes funding for proposed programs to fight poverty, and to improve schools and housing in economically depressed communities. The task will be a collective effort with multiple existing and new agencies involved. At least $20 billion of the $787 billion from the first Obama stimulus package, aka The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has already been designated for urban programs.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said that Obama “talked about community organizing [and] working with public housing,” in his first interview with the president. “He talked about what he saw in Harlem when he was a student at Columbia University. It is a very personal issue for him that comes from his own experience.”
From a vision to a plan, from conception to reality, Obama’s success in this endeavor would truly make this the world’s greatest nation, not just in word but in deed. –lenn durant
