LIHEAP DCL Free Financial Capability Integration Technical Assistance Opportunity
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Dear Colleague Letter |
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
Re: Free Financial Capability Integration Technical Assistance Opportunity |
Date: July 15, 2016 |
Dear Colleagues:
Under the authorizing statute, a portion of your annual, federal grant for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) can be used towards Assurance 16 activities that help households reduce their need for home energy and home energy assistance. Typical activities can include financial coaching and/or education for households to help them budget and make regular payments towards their home energy costs.
The Office of Community Services (OCS), with support from the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) , is excited to invite you to apply for free technical assistance (TA) to support the integration of financial capability services into your existing LIHEAP, using an OCS resource called Building Financial Capability: A Planning Guide for Integrated Services (the Guide). CFED is providing this TA under a contract with OCS’s Assets for Independence (AFI) program.
The Technical Assistance Opportunity
This opportunity is for LIHEAP grantees that are interested in integrating financial capability services into your existing programs. The TA Opportunity will include:
- Working with CFED staff and consultants over 6-8 months; including a monthly call, completing work plan tasks individually, and one site visit.
- Working through planning tools, coaching to help problem solve, making connections to experts in the field, supporting peer learning opportunities, and more.
- Sharing lessons learned that will be featured in a practice brief so that other LIHEAP grantees can benefit as well.
How to Express Interest
If your organization wants to participate in this opportunity, please submit a letter of interest to PlanningGuide@cfed.org by August 22, 2016, however, only the first 50 letters will be reviewed. Letters help us assess your interest and capacity to engage in the TA process. Your letter should be no more than two pages, and include a clear description of:
- How your LIHEAP work can be improved by financial capability integration;
- Your organization’s capacity to engage in TA and to implement an integration pilot project;
- Your team, including any external partners you plan to include; and,
- The preferred month you want the TA effort to start: October/November OR March/April.
Your letter should also include the name of your organization, the name of the person we should contact regarding this opportunity, and that person’s phone number and email address. We will respond to all letters by September 16, 2016.
Background
The Guide is a practical resource for organizations providing financial capability services for the first time as well as those that want to improve or expand existing efforts. The Guide contains 13 field-tested organizational planning tools that can be used to: better understand clients’ financial lives, identify services that can support clients financial capability, assess the landscape of local providers offering services, create a plan of action, and win support of stakeholders. The interactive tools in the Guide walk organizations step-by-step through the process of developing an integration plan.
A short video series on the Guide is available at /programs/ocs/training-video-series-building-f.... Reviewing the Guide prior to expressing interest is encouraged.
Sincerely,
/s/ /s/
Yolanda J. Butler,Ph.D. Lauren Christopher
Deputy Director Director
Office of Community Services Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services