Growth resulting from BRAC decisions will have a significant impact on transportation systems in some communities, but estimates of the total cost to address those impacts are uncertain. In addition to BRAC, other defense initiatives will result in growth in communities and also add to transportation needs. BRAC growth will result in increased traffic in communities ranging from very large metrop

Effective collaboration among stakeholders can play a key role in facilitating long-term recovery after a catastrophic event. Toward that end, GAO has identified four collaborative practices that may help communities rebuild from the Gulf Coast hurricanes as well as future catastrophic events: (1) Develop and communicate common goals to guide recovery. Defining common recovery goals can enhance c

Education allocates billions of federal dollars for teacher quality improvement efforts through many statutorily authorized programs that nine offices administer. Education officials said these offices share information with one another as needed, and from time to time Education has established and completed broader collaborative efforts. Yet, GAO found little sustained coordination and no strate

Stakeholder organizations most frequently identified a lack of mental health providers and sustainability of funding as barriers to providing mental health services to children in the greater New Orleans area, and they most frequently identified a lack of transportation, competing family priorities, and concern regarding stigma as barriers to families' obtaining mental health services for childre

Louisiana and Mississippi received the largest shares of CDBG disaster funds and targeted the majority toward homeowner assistance, allocating the rest to economic development, infrastructure, and other projects. Between 2006 and 2008, Louisiana's total allocation devoted to housing increased from 77 to 86 percent while Mississippi's decreased from 63 to 52 percent as the state focused on economi

Stakeholder organizations most frequently identified a lack of mental health providers and sustainability of funding as barriers to providing mental health services to children in the greater New Orleans area; they most frequently identified a lack of transportation, competing family priorities, and concern regarding stigma as barriers to families' obtaining services for children. Fifteen of the

Federal agencies provided more than$209 million for disaster case management services to help thousands of households cope with the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but breaks in federal funding adversely affected services to some hurricane victims. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded a grant of $66 million for initial case management services provided by Katr

While most policies (41 of 50) that define roles and responsibilities have been completed, such as the National Response Framework, 68 percent (49 of 72) of the plans to implement these policies, including several for catastrophic incidents, are not yet complete. As a result, the roles and responsibilities of key officials involved in responding to a catastrophe have not been fully defined and, t

In November 2005, the President issued an executive order establishing the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding (OFC) with the broad mission of supporting recovery efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Given their vast size and impact, these storms presented unprecedented rebuilding challenges to federal, state, and local officials which, combined with concerns abo

Although GAO did not assess the merits of the UPA initiative's design, it has reported on its support for integrated approaches to help reduce congestion. With minor exception, the department did a good job communicating the criteria it would use to select urban partners and how much funding was available, but it did not clearly communicate the relative priority of the criteria or extend the same