Marc Cooper responds

[Michael Hoover]

> local oversight boards that would be
> composed of those on these programs as well as other members of a 
> community to
> hold government agencies accountable.  To my knowledge, nothing  like this
> exists, but we do need some watchdogs with the power to intervene with unfair
> bureaucracy practices and to make people aware of what their rights are.
> Marta

there was a brief moment in 1964 following passage of the Economic
Opportunity Act of 1964 when community action agencies were
encouraged to stimulate local efforts to meet needs of low-income
people...Title II of the EOA allocated federal funds to programs
that called for the 'maximum feasible participation of residents
of the areas and members of the group served'...in other words,
the poor themselves...the federal government would have contracted
with independent, non-governmental groups rather than municipal
and county governments or traditional charitable and aid 
organizations...unsurprisingly, such efforts at 'empowering the poor' 
were the most controversial parts of the so-called 'war on poverty'
and soon undermined...Michael Hoover

btw: is it true that Newton & Seale received a community action
grant when they started the Panthers?