This project will examine the effect of local government institutions and federal OEO, Model Cities and other federal funds on the ability of blacks to get elected to urban public office. Other factors such as organizational and demographic characteristics of the community will also be examined for their impact. Further, the impact made by black officials on urban public policy will be assessed. The study utilizes aggregate data on all U.S. cities of at least 25,000 that have a black population of at least ten percent (N equals 264). Multiple measures of black representation will be used, including both absolute measures and proportional measures. To analyze the effect of political institutions and processes on black representation, the representation variable will be used as the dependent variable in a multiple regression procedure. To study the impact of black representation on public policy, absolute representation measures will be used as independent variables, again in a multiple regression procedure. The study is designed to ascertain 1) whether differences in urban political institutions or levels of federal urban funding affect black representation and 2) whether black representation makes any difference in urban spending priorities.