The UDAG program was a federal economic development plan initiated by
the Carter administration. From 1978 until it was phased out in 1989 the
program awarded $4.9 billion that benefitted more than 3,300 economic
development projects (Reed, 1989, p. 93). The UDAG program distributed
federal money to local governments that they used to provide services, loans
and other incentives to encourage private sector investment and job creation
in economically distressed neighborhoods. In order to receive funding the
proposal had to present a project backed by private sector investors that
could not be accomplished without UDAG bridge funding.