Scaling Innovations Developed by Community-Based Organizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted low-income communities and communities of color. In responding to a public health emergency that has compounded existing systemic inequities, many communities have demonstrated resiliency and innovation. The Office of Community Service’s (OCS) Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program will support, adapt, and/or scale 16 distinct innovations through an initiative called Project Impact: CSBG Rapid-Cycle Projects. With over $3.7 million in funding, 16 community agencies across the U.S. will spend the next 15 months exploring how service models used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic can be strengthened and adapted to meet ongoing and future community needs.  

The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG)

The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) is one of seven programs within OCS. CSBG provides funds to states, territories, tribes, and tribal organizations to help address the causes and conditions of poverty, revitalize low-income communities, and increase self-sufficiency. CSBG grant recipients, along with over 1,000 CSBG-eligible entities (commonly known as Community Action Agencies), work to tailor CSBG-funded programs and services to meet the most pressing needs in their communities. Services include employment and education supports and assistance with basic needs such as housing, food, transportation, and health care.  Each year, CSBG serves 17 million individuals/7 million families (PDF).

The Rapid-Cycle Learning Approach

CSBG grant recipients and eligible entities have played a critical role in responding to the needs of low-income people during the pandemic. They rapidly adapted service delivery approaches, developed and implemented new programs to respond to the wide variety of needs among vulnerable populations, and they worked in close partnership with public health and social service partners to ensure services and resources reached communities in need. To accelerate the process of evaluating, adapting, and expanding services and strategies developed during the pandemic, OCS will support Project Impact recipients in using rapid-cycle learning (RCL),  a continuous quality improvement approach, to fine-tune their projects and assess whether their programs and services are making a measurable difference in the lives of individuals and families served.  

Projects that Meet Community Needs

Grant recipients will implement, modify and/ or expand a wide range of community-based projects that address one of the following focus areas:

• Coordination with public health;
• Adapting service delivery to a physical distancing environment;
• Strengthening individual and family adaptive capacities
• Making structural reforms at the community level; and
• Identifying and training for high-demand jobs.

Projects will build on existing work implemented during the pandemic to meet the needs of low-income individuals and families.

One example of a clear community need that has been magnified during the pandemic is food security  (PDF). To help address this issue, one grant recipient plans to build out an app for food pantries that allows families to obtain culturally appropriate food and identify the items they need instead of receiving an assortment of food that may contain items they already have access to or cannot eat.

Another need grant recipients will seek to address is the mental health needs of youth and families due to COVID-19 . One recipient plans to incorporate a combination of support services and trauma-focused, cognitive behavioral interventions into schools to address feelings of loneliness, stress, loss, and grief, and the experiences of “parentification” for youth and their families.

Below is the full list of grant recipients:

For more information about Project Impact: CSBG Rapid-Cycle Projects, including a  description of each project, please visit the CSBG webpage.