EVALUATING A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM: A CITIZENS GROUP PERSPECTIVE

A citizens advisory group evaluation of a Community Development Block Grant program is compared with similar responses from city staff and city council members. All three groups provided quite positive assessments with the citizens group evaluations closer to staff responses than to council members. Objective indicators of program targeting also reveal that projects and funds have been committed to those areas of greatest need. An argument is made that citizen groups which are closely involved with certain urban programs may be able to provide useful evaluations of program performance.