The paper is concerned with the practical aspects of public and private group efforts at planning--both short- and long-term. Coordinated planning between programs and areas must be developed from commonly accepted economic base data projections. Such projections for small areas can best be achieved through the creation or reorientation of a center in each state with official responsibility for developing state and local area projections. A major problem stems from the fact that personnel (professional economists, planners, administrators, and so on) are far better supplied with national, regional, and state projections than with those of a local nature. However, it is the local projection which must be used for most investment planning.