CSBG-DCL-2024-01 New Cohort of Training and Technical Assistance Award Recipients

Publication Date: October 31, 2023
Current as of:

Community Services Block Grant

Dear Colleague Letter

DCL#: CSBG-DCL-2024-01

DATE: October 31, 2023

TO: CSBG Network

SUBJECT: New Cohort of Training and Technical Assistance Award Recipients

ATTACHMENT(S): None

The Office of Community Services (OCS), Division of Community Assistance (DCA) is pleased to announce the new cohort of Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) training and technical assistance (TTA) award recipients. These recipients, operating through three-year cooperative agreements (fiscal years 2023 — 2026), will provide targeted, effective, proactive, and innovative TTA to the CSBG Network[1]. Below are the new cooperative agreements and descriptions.

Collaborative on Economic Mobility

Award recipient: Community Action Partnership

The purpose of this award is to highlight emerging and promising practices in economic mobility for low-income communities and to expand the capacity of CSBG eligible entities to deliver services that promote economic mobility. The award recipient will collaborate with OCS to increase the opportunities for individuals and families with low incomes to access pathways out of poverty, address individual and community level barriers to economic mobility, and support continued investments in future generations.

Performance Management Alignment TTA

Award recipient: National Association for State Community Services Programs

Through this cooperative agreement, the award recipient will support CSBG award recipients and CSBG eligible entities with the successful administration of CSBG as it pertains to performance management. The award recipient will collaborate with OCS to provide enhanced TTA to the CSBG Network to improve the administration of CSBG and better document the successes through enhanced data quality, data validity, data equity, and data messaging, which will ultimately result in higher quality CSBG State Plans and state CSBG Annual Reports.

Legal T/TA

Award recipient: Community Action Program Legal Services, Inc.

This award calls for a concerted and coordinated effort to build capacity, strengthen organizational performance, and increase the impact of CSBG funding by providing targeted and relevant legal TTA to CSBG grant recipients. By design, legal TTA efforts will identify and focus on organizational, fiscal, and governance challenges. The award recipient will work collaboratively with national CSBG TTA providers and subject matter experts under the shared mission of delivering high-quality services that create pathways out of poverty for vulnerable communities.

Regional Performance and Innovation Consortium (RPIC) Capacity Building and Quality Improvement (CBQI)

Through 11 cooperative agreements, CSBG regional leads will develop and implement regional TTA strategies focusing on:

  • Building and strengthening the knowledge, capacity, and ability of the region to implement effective programs.
  • Establishing service delivery models, strategies, and partnerships.
  • Designing activities to address the collaboration, capacity building, quality improvement, and TTA needs of the region.
  • Telling the CSBG story through strategic messaging to demonstrate the impact of collective CSBG regional efforts.

Award Recipients

Region

RPIC

I

Connecticut Association for Community Action

II

New York State (NYS) Community Action Association, Inc.

III

Maryland Association of Community Action Agency

IV-A

Georgia Community Action Association, Inc.

IV-B

Community Action Kentucky, Inc.

V

Wisconsin Community Action Program Association (WISCAP)

VI

Oklahoma Association of Community Action Agencies, Inc.

VII

Kansas Association of Community Action Program, Inc.

VIII

Community Action Partnership of North Dakota

IX

California Community Action Partnership Association

X

Washington State Community Action Partnership

OCS remains committed to enhancing the CSBG TTA efforts. These awards support the CSBG Learning Agenda, in response to the CSBG technical assistance survey, findings from oversight and monitoring activities, and questions from the network. We are confident that the TTA provided by OCS and through these cooperative agreements will aptly build organizational capacity, reduce knowledge gaps, advance equity, and strengthen performance across the network to improve outcomes for individuals and families determined to meet their self-sufficiency and economic mobility goals.

Thank you for your attention to these matters. OCS looks forward to continuing to provide high-quality services to OCS partners.

/s/
Charisse Johnson
Director, Division of Community Assistance
Office of Community Services

[1] The CSBG Network includes states, tribes and tribal organizations, territories, eligible entities, national partners, and state associations.