OCS DCL-2024-05 Earth Day FY24

Office of Community Services

Dear Colleague Letter

DCL#: OCS-DCL-2024-05

DATE: April 22, 2024

TO: OCS Grant Recipients

SUBJECT: Earth Day FY24

ATTACHMENT(S): Earth Day Social Media Toolkit, LIHEAP Cooling Season Toolkit

Dear Colleagues,

The Office of Community Services (OCS) is proud to celebrate Earth Day and recognize the critical work our grant recipients and partners do to address the ongoing effects of climate change and alleviate the disparate burden climate change has on the households we serve. In recognition of this observance, today we are releasing updates to our Earth Day webpage and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) cooling season toolkit.

Earth Day Webpage Updates

The OCS Earth Day webpage demonstrates how our programs help promote environmental justice, racial equity, and economic mobility. The webpage provides several materials on OCS’ programs and their connections to Earth Day, including:

• The Justice40 Initiative
• Community Economic Development (CED) , Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) , Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) , Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) , and Rural Community Development (RCD) videos that demonstrate the impact of each program on advancing environmental justice
• Information on Energy Communities served by CED
• The Extreme Heat and OCS Disaster Flexibilities Hub dashboards
• An Earth Day social media toolkit

LIHEAP Cooling Season Toolkit

After having experienced our nation’s warmest winter on record , it is essential to prepare for what is expected to be a very hot summer season and ensure that households know where to turn for support with cooling needs. Access to consistent, adequate cooling is becoming more and more of a necessity as the frequency and severity of heat waves increases. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows a steady increase in the frequency and length of heat waves over recent years, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted that older adults, infants, children, pregnant women, and those with low income are at an increased risk for heat-related illness and death. LIHEAP can help mitigate the risks of heat stress by helping households with their unmet cooling needs.

This Earth Day, and in advance of summer, we are launching the LIHEAP Cooling Season toolkit to ensure all OCS grant recipients and partners have the tools and resources they need to reach households. The toolkit includes:

• A social media toolkit for cooling assistance outreach (PDF)
• A LIHEAP animated cooling assistance outreach video
• The Clearinghouse and LIHEAP Data Dashboard — these tools can be used to learn more about how LIHEAP grant recipients are leveraging funds to provide cooling assistance
• The LIHEAP and Heat Stress Dashboard that details the dangers of extreme heat and how LIHEAP can be used to keep household temperatures cool
• An Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response video
• National Integrated Heat Health Information System resources
• Other cooling assistance resources such as flyers to ensure this information reaches individuals and households in need

Please follow us @OCS_ACFgov for more Earth Day celebrations and OCS updates. We encourage grant recipients to join us in observing Earth Day across your platforms using #EarthDay2024 and begin sharing cooling assistance outreach materials now and throughout the upcoming summer season.

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

/s/
Dr. Lanikque Howard
Director
Office of Community Services