Header:
CODE OF RHODE ISLAND RULES
AGENCY 15. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
SUB-AGENCY 010. COMMUNITY SERVICES DIVISION
CHAPTER 006. COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
15 010 006. COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT
Section 1. Community Services Block Grant Act. What is It?
The Community Services Block Grant Act (CSBG) was enacted as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 and replaced the local initiative category of the former Federal Community Services Administration (CSA), which terminated September 30, 1981. The Coats Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1998 reauthorized and made improvements to the CSBG Act as well as the Head Start Act and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act. The purposes and goals of the CSBG Act are to provide services and activities that assist low-income individuals and families to become fully self-sufficient working through a network of Community Action Agencies (CAAs). Eligible activities and services include direct service to low-income individuals, as well as support for administrative and managerial functions to CAAs in order to insure management and organizational capability to carry out programs which may be funded under this block grant or other funding sources.
Section 2. What is a Community Action Agency.
CAAs are local, nonprofit service organizations which, since 1964, have been providing social services to their communities and have also been serving as local, human resource delivery systems for many state services and programs including health programs, low-income energy assistance, food distribution, day care, elderly services, etc. State agencies have contracted and continue to contract with CAAs to provide these services in an efficient manner, since the CAA has an existing management and service delivery structure that allows a maximum of service provision.
Attachment A is the 2010 Annual Services Report, which describes services supported in part or whole by the Community Services Block Grant funding for each Community action Agency.
Attachment B is a list of the Community Services Block Grant National Goals and National Performance Indicators. The Community Action Agencies report outcomes annually, under the applicable goal and performance indicator.
Attachment C is the FFY 2010 CSBG information Survey Annual Report, section G, Client Characteristics.
CAAs are governed by Boards of Directors, which include elected public officials or their representatives from the service area of the CAA as well as representatives of business, education, religious, labor, and major interests in the community. Low-income residents of the area are also represented on the Boards.
Section 3. Legislative Requirements.
Federal legislation mandates at least ninety percent (90%) of the CSBG funds.be used for grants to CAAs. The legislation also allows five percent (5%) of the funds to be used for state administration of the grant and the remaining five percent (5%)of the funds to be used for Special CSBG Projects. There are no matching fund requirements applicable to this program.
Section 4. Local Implementation.
The eight designated CAAs have catchment areas that encompass the entire State of Rhode Island ; therefore providing all eligible residents access to CSBG Programs (see Attachment D).
Distributions to CAAs in Federal Fiscal Year 2012 and 2013 will be made on the following basis:
1. a baseline amount distributed equally to support essential administrative and managerial functions and
2. the percentage of the incidence poverty in the service area of each agency as compared to the statewide incidence of poverty, derived from the United States Census Data.
Section 5. Federal Fiscal Year 2010/2011 Overview.
A legislative public hearing was held in August 2009 to provide an opportunity for public review and comment on the FFY 2010/2011 State Plan. The plan called for ninety percent (90%) of the monies received to be distributed to CAAs for services directed at low-income populations throughout the state. Five percent (5%) was retained by the Department of Human Services to support costs necessary to administer the CSBG Program on the statewide basis. The remaining five percent (5%) of the funds was utilized to fund statewide Community Action Agency special projects and activities.
The CAA Directors, the Rhode Island Community Action Association staff and the Department of Human Services continued to meet regularly to insure continuity of services and collaboration. The CAAs are participating in DHS efforts to modernize systems to more efficiently provide services for key social service programs. The Department continued to utilize the Special Projects Funds to provide partial support for the operations of the Rhode Island Community Action Association and to provide support for the modernization of the CAAs intake and data collection system.
Section 6. Fiscal Year 2012 and 2013 Outlook.
Federal Funding for CSBG in Fiscal Year 2012 and 2013 is unclear at this time. The Federal Office of Community Service (OCS) has directed States to submit State Plans based on Federal levels equal to Federal Fiscal year (FFY) 2011 funding levels. At this time the State has not received notice of it's specific funding level, therefore, we are estimating that at a minimum Rhode Island will receive funding equal to FFY 2011 in the amount of $ 3,740,007 for CSBG activities. The CSBG Act through the reauthorization included the option of submitting a two year State Plan. The Department will continue to exercise this option and intends to submit a two year plan. The DHS plan submittal will assume funding equal to Federal Fiscal Year 2011 for both years.
The Department plans to continue to coordinate appropriate Departmental and Inter-Departmental programs and services through the Executive Office of Health and Human Services targeted to low income individuals and families with Community Action in order to ensure increased access to services. The Department established work groups in several topic areas with staff and community stake holders.
Subject to further adjustment to coincide with Rhode Island 's final funding allocations, the Department proposes the following allocation of funds for FFY 2012 and 2013:
For FFY 2012 and FFY 2013, the Department will continue to utilize a minimum of ninety percent (90%) of the total funds available for distribution by formula to the eight Community Action Agencies. Attachment E describes the proposed allocations by agency for FFY 2012 and FFY 2013. In addition, a maximum of five percent(5%) of the funds will be retained by the Department to support costs necessary to administer the CSBG Program on a statewide basis.
The Department will continue to utilize CSBG Project Fund to enhance the Community Action Agencies data collection systems, track success in achieving outcomes under the six national goals and continue to partner with the Office of Health and Human Services in their efforts to modernize and develop efficiencies in service levels.
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