I, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of New York, do hereby create in the Executive Department a new bureau to be known as the New York State Office for Community Affairs to implement the Federal Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, to act as liaison with the Federal Model Cities Program and to serve as a center for creative development of interdisciplinary programs to aid in meeting the specific problems of today's urban crisis and in alleviating the impact of urban and rural poverty. The Office shall be headed by a Director to be appointed by the Governor.

I. General Powers and Duties.

The Office shall:

1. Advise the Governor on the coordination of all Federal and State urban and poverty grant programs;

2. Coordinate the efforts of all State departments and agencies as they relate to participation in the Federal Economic Opportunity and Model Cities programs;

3. Provide and coordinate, to the extent that resources are available, training, technical assistance and other advisory services to local governments and community organizations in developing, conducting and administering community action programs, model cities programs and other programs intended to serve the disadvantaged or to upgrade the quality of community life;

4. Collect and make available to State and local officials and other interested persons information concerning present and emerging urban problems and State programs designed to meet those problems and stimulate the development of State or regional clearing houses for information relating to urban programs;

5. Coordinate and encourage mutual cooperative approaches among governmental agencies and private organizations to the development and execution of programs to meet urban and poverty problems;

6. Stimulate the more effective use of existing Federal, State, local and private resources available to meet urban problems and the needs of the disadvantaged;

7. Encourage and undertake interdisciplinary research to define further present and emerging urban and poverty problems and to develop and to evaluate approaches to the solution of those problems.

8. Undertake, or contract with public or private agencies for the undertaking of, demonstration projects designed to meet the problems of urban areas or of the disadvantaged; and

9. Act, as requested, as a liaison between local governments and State agencies and also between local governments and the Federal Government.

II. Grants and Gifts.

The Director may, with the approval of the Governor, accept, agree to accept or contract for as an agent of the State, any grant, including Federal grants, or any gift for any of the purposes of this Order, including funds from the Federal Government granted under the provisions of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Any monies so received may be expended by the Director to effectuate any purpose of this Order subject to the same limitations as to approval of expenditures and audit as are prescribed for State monies appropriated for the purpose of this Order.

III. Personnel.

The Director may employ such additional personnel as he may deem necessary or desirable to fulfill the functions of the Office and provide compensation within the amounts made available by appropriation therefor.

IV. Assistance of Other State Agencies.

In exercising its powers and duties, the Office may call upon other State departments and agencies to provide, within available resources, such assistance as the Office may deem appropriate.

V. Continuity of Authority and Revocation of Prior Executive Orders.

Executive Order Number 20 [sic, should be 18], dated March 1, 1965, which established the Office of Economic Opportunity, and Executive Order Number 29, dated October 7, 1968, which created the Office for Urban Innovation, are hereby revoked, effective September 11, 1969. On such date, all the functions and powers possessed by and all the obligations and duties of the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Office of Urban Innovation shall be transferred and assigned to, assumed by and devolved upon the Office for Community Affairs established by this Order. With respect to powers, functions, obligations and duties so transferred and assumed, the Office for Community Affairs shall be deemed and held to constitute the continuation of the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Office for Urban Innovation and not a different agency or authority. Any proceeding or other business heretofore undertaken or commenced by the Office of Economic Opportunity or the Office for Urban Innovation may be conducted and completed by the Office for Community Affairs in the same manner and under the same terms and conditions and with the same effect as if conducted and completed by the Office of Economic Opportunity or the Office for Urban Innovation, as the case may be. All appropriations or reappropriations to the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Office for Urban Innovation for the functions, powers, obligations and duties so transferred and assumed, to the extent of remaining unexpended or unencumbered balances thereof, whether allocated or unallocated and whether obligated or unobligated, shall be transferred to and made available for use by the Office for Community Affairs for the same purposes for which originally appropriated.