State-Level Recipiency Targeting Index Scores and Rankings for Elderly and Young Child LIHEAP Households for FY 2006 Heating Assistance
THIS CONTAINS INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION FOR
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN LIHEAP ACTIOM TRANSMITTAL NO. LIHEAP-
AT-2008-4, DATED 6/12/08
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP)
STATE GRANTEES
SUBJECT: State-Level Recipiency Targeting Index Scores
and Rankings for Elderly and Young Child LIHEAP
Households for FY 2006 Heating Assistance
RELATED Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act, as amended
REFERENCES: (Title XXVI of Public Law 97-35, the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended); 45 Code of
Federal Regulations, Part 96; Final Rule amending HHS
block grant regulations (64 Federal Register, 55843,
October 15, 1999); Government Performance Results Act
of 1993 (Public Law 103-62); Office of Management and
Budget's Program Assessment Rating Tool.
PURPOSE: To request State grantee review of newly developed
State-level heating recipiency targeting scores for
elderly and young child LIHEAP households.
BACKGROUND: Section 2605(b)(3) of the Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance Act of 1981, as amended through August 1,
1999, ("Statute") requires that State LIHEAP grantees
conduct outreach activities designed to assure that
eligible households, especially households with the
highest home energy needs, are made aware of the
availability of LIHEAP assistance.
Section 2603(4) of the Statute defines "highest home
energy needs" to mean "the home energy requirements
of a household determined by taking into account both
the energy burden of such household and the unique
situation of such household those results from having
members of vulnerable populations, including very
young children, individuals with disabilities, and
frail older individuals."
In 2002, the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) released the Program Assessment Rating
Tool (PART) to Federal agencies as a method for
implementing the program performance requirements
imposed by the Government Performance Results Act of
1993 (GPRA). In 2003, LIHEAP received its first
Federal PART assessment and the score of "results not
demonstrated." Further information is available at:
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/detail/10001059.
2003.html
As discussed in LIHEAP-AT-2008-03 that was issued on
April 25, 2008, the Office of Community Services (OCS)
is expected to develop long-term, outcome performance
measures, i.e., changes in clients' skills, behaviors,
and/or condition, for LIHEAP, as required in OCS'
current PART Performance Improvement Plan.
CONTENT: National Recipiency Targeting Index Scores
In 2003, OCS developed national targeting indexes
for the heating assistance recipiency of households
with either an elderly person (60 years or older) or
young child (five years or under) as proxies for
long-term, health outcome measures. OCS developed
the recipiency targeting index to quantify the level
of household participation in the program. The
accompanying file, Section 4.DOC, provides detailed
information about the LIHEAP recipiency targeting
index.
Since 2003, OCS has calculated national-level
targeting recipiency index scores for heating
assistance as follows:
• calculate the percent of LIHEAP heating assisted
households that are members of the target group
(as aggregated from data from the States' LIHEAP
Household Reports);
• divide that percent by the percent of all LIHEAP-
income eligible households that are members of the
target group (as estimated from the Census Bureau's
American Community Survey (ACS); and
• multiply the result by 100.
For example, if 25 percent of LIHEAP recipients are
elderly households and 20 percent of all income
eligible households are elderly households, the
recipiency targeting index score for elderly
households is 125 (25 divided by 20 multiplied by
100). An index score greater than 100 indicates
that the target group recipient households are
participating at a rate higher than the percent of
all income eligible households that are members of
the target group.
The baseline recipiency targeting index score for
heating assistance households with at least one
member 60 years or older was 79 for FY 2003. This
score indicates that such households were
underserved. The baseline recipiency targeting
index score for households with a young child was
122 for FY 2003. This score indicates that LIHEAP
served a sufficient proportion of young child
households. Based on the baseline scores, OCS set
increasing target scores for the elderly households
recipiency index and a maintenance target score for
young child recipiency index through FY 2009.
However, the results have shown that the actual
elderly targeting index score for heating assistance
remained fairly stagnant until FY 2006 when the
targeting index score declined. In FY 2004, the
young child recipiency targeting index score dropped
seven index points from the baseline year, and has
remained fairly stagnant ever since. Therefore, a
smaller proportion of members of these target
populations are being served than they were in FY
2003 at the national level.
While the scores suggest that a sufficient
proportion of young child households are receiving
heating assistance, though not at our target level,
the targeting index scores for elderly households
show that this group remains underserved at the
national level.
OCS is required to provide this information annually
to ACF and the Department of Health and Human
Services. The information also is incorporated into
the President's annual Congressional Budget
Justification.
State Targeting Index Scores
As we announced at the February 2008 meeting of the
National Energy Assistance Directors' Association,
OCS planned on developing national rankings of the
State-level heating recipiency targeting index scores
for FY 2006 for the two groups of vulnerable
populations. OCS now has developed individual State-
level recipiency targeting scores and rankings for
both of these target groups based on the following
data sources:
• Each State's final counts of the number of heating
assistance households having at least one member 60
years or older and one child 5 years or younger
(source: LIHEAP Household Report for FY 2006
compiled by OCS).
• State-level averaged estimates of both the number of
income eligible households having at least one member
60 years or older and one child 5 years or younger
(source: U.S. Bureau's 2005 and 2006 ACS, compiled
by APPRISE Incorporated; see the accompanying file,
Section 5.DOC, for an overview of the ACS).
The State-level recipiency targeting scores are
calculated separately for FY 2006 based on both the
Federal LIHEAP income eligibility standards and each
State's LIHEAP income eligibility standards for a
four-person household, as reported in each State's
LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FY 2006.
The estimates of the number of income eligible
households are subject to nonsampling error and
sampling error, the latter of which is decreased by
using a 2-year average from the ACS. Based on the
recipiency targeting index scores, each State's
targeting performance with respect to elderly and
young child households has been ranked nationally.
The national rankings of 1 (highest) to 51 (lowest)
need to be viewed within the size or interval of the
sampling error for each State. Larger State
populations will have smaller sampling errors and
smaller State populations will have larger sampling
errors; however, the State rankings should not
change significantly. This will be examined when
each State's sampling errors are calculated at a
later date.
The targeting index scores provide each State with
an assessment of its targeting performance with
respect to its income eligible elderly and young
child households. The national rankings allow for
an analysis of States' targeting performance in
identifying where improvements can be made in
targeting heating assistance to income eligible
elderly and young child households. OCS plans to
provide States with information on best practices
from those States identified as having high
targeting performance.
An Excel file of the data for your State is included
as part of this email (see State Name.xls). In this
way, each State is being provided the opportunity to
review and comment on its own heating assistance
recipiency targeting index scores and national
rankings. We will then finalize the data and issue a
LIHEAP Information Memorandum (IM) about the States'
recipiency targeting index scores and rankings. The
rankings of State targeting performance will be
grouped in some manner that has yet to be determined.
As with all LIHEAP IMs, this IM will be posted on the
LIHEAP web site as public information.
Action Item
Your State's specific heating recipiency targeting
index scores and national rankings are included in
your State's Excel file. OCS requests that each State
grantee review its data and provide OCS any comments,
if necessary, that qualify the State's recipiency
targeting index scores and rankings. Please note that
the accuracy of your State's targeting index scores
are based on the accuracy of the data reported on the
State's LIHEAP Household Report for FY 2006. The data
on elderly and young child recipient households are
shown in columns O and S of the Excel spreadsheet,
respectively. The data should be accurate as they
are also included in the annual LIHEAP Report to
Congress.
OCS will accept written comments from State grantees
by email to Lauren Christopher until July 11, 2008.
An acknowledgment email will be sent to grantees from
which email comments have been received. The final
data will be distributed in the IM to all State
grantees later this summer.
INQUIRIES TO: Lauren Christopher
Program Analyst
Division of Energy Assistance
ACF/Office of Community Services
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W., 5th Fl. West
Washington, D.C. 20447
Telephone: (202) 401-4870
E-mail: lauren.christopher@acf.hhs.gov
ACCOMPANYING Section 4.DOC (from OCS' LIHEAP Home Energy Notebook
FILES: for FY 2005)
Section 5.DOC (from OCS' LIHEAP Home Energy Notebook
for FY 2005)
State Name.XLS
____________/s___________
Josephine B. Robinson
Director
Office of Community Services
