Download Full Report.pdf

Congressman Gonzalez asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to examine the activities of programs funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity and administered by the Economic Opportunities Development Corporation of San Antonio and Bexar County, Texas. The GAO was asked to determine if OEO funds were allocated equitably, evaluate the administrative efficiency and accomplishments of the corporations' programs, determine the circumstances surrounding the agency's selection of one corporation for a mobilization of resources grant, and determine if the agency was complying with the 15-percent administrative cost limitation.

The agency had established seven neighborhood corporations to serve as extensions of the agency, and OEO funds available for the corporations were historically divided according to the number of program planning and operating areas in each corporation's service area. The GAO found that the agency's allocation method was reasonable, assuming that poverty populations of equal sizes are equally needy.

The neighborhood corporations were responsible for mobilizing resources, informing residents of available services, and organizing resident participation in community action. Although they carried out worthwhile projects, they generally did not achieve their goals as set forth in their contracts with the agency for the 1971-72 program year. The corporations planned to organize neighborhood advisory groups, perform area surveys, and publish monthly newsletters, but these objectives were not satisfactorily realized.

The GAO also found that the corporations did not provide adequate opportunities for community residents to elect their own representatives to the corporations' boards of directors and to be heard at board meetings. The corporations told the GAO that they had coordinated services, but the GAO found that the corporations' efforts in this area were not effective.

In a separate report, the GAO participated in a comprehensive study of the International Coffee Agreement and found that no complaints of discrimination against U.S. ships in the carriage of coffee were filed with the Department of State, the Federal Maritime Commission, and the Department of Commerce from 1968 through 1972. However, two U.S. shipping lines told the GAO that they had experienced problems of discrimination in their coffee trade.