Selected Block Grants: Purposes, Funding & Controversies

Block grants are a form of grant-in-aid that the federal government uses to provide state and local governments a specified amount of funding to assist them in addressing broad purposes, such as community development, social services, public health or law enforcement. Block grants advocates view block grants as a means to increase government efficiency and program effectiveness by redistributing power and accountability through decentralisation and partial devolution of decision-making authority. This book provides an overview of the six grant types; examines competing perspectives concerning the use of block grants versus other grant mechanisms to achieve national goals; provides an historical overview of the role of block grants in American federalism; and examines recent changes to existing block grants and proposals to create new ones.