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The mission of the Office of Community Services is to work in partnership with states, communities, and other agencies to provide a range of human and economic development services and activitie which improve the causes and characteristics of poverty and assist persons in need.

The aim of the Office of Community Services (OCS) is to increase the capacity of individuals and families to become self-sufficient, to revitalize communities, and to build the stability and capacity of children, youth, and families so that they become able to create their own opportunities.

The Office of Community Services strives to:

• serve the economic and social needs of welfare recipients and other low-income individuals and families that reside in urban, rural and tribal areas
• provide employment and entrepreneurial opportunities through industrial, business, physical or commercial development
• promote individual self-sufficiency through the creation of new, full-time, permanent jobs
• assist community development corporations and community action agencies in leveraging existing federal, state and local resources for neighborhood revitalization activities
• provide financial and technical resources to state, local, public and private agencies for economic development and related social service support activities
• provide energy assistance to low income households.

OCS objectives are:

• to provide financial resources through discretionary and block grant initiatives for planning, coordination, management, provision of services and physical renovation
• to provide training, technical assistance and related instructional materials to support planning, program development, resource identification and coordination as well as the deployment and management of economic development efforts and social service support activities
• to leverage federal, state and local resources through inter-agency agreements and public/private partnerships
• to disseminate information regarding the results and effectiveness of the discretionary and block grant activities.

Programs within OCS:

• Assets for Independence (Individual Development Accounts - IDAs)
• Community Economic Development Program (CED)
• Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFN)
• Community Services Block Grant (CSBG)
• Compassion Capital Fund (CCF)
• Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals (JOLI)
• Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Option (REACH)
• National Youth Sports Program
• Rural Community Developments Activities Program
• Social Services Block Grant (SSBG)

Assets for Independence Program
The Assets for Independence Program is one of our nation's largest sources of funds for community-level asset building initiatives. Funded projects provide intensive financial literacy training, credit repair, and other assistance to help families get on their feet financially and save income over the long term. Project participants save in special matched savings accounts called Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Families may use their IDA savings, including matching funds, to purchase a first home, capitalize a micro-business or purchase secondary education or other training. These competitive grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations, faith-based groups, state, local and tribal government agencies, credit unions, community action agencies, community development corporations and other groups.

In FY 2004, $24.7 million is available for the Assets for Independence Program and IDAs.

Community Economic Development Program (CED)
A competitive grant, the CED Program supports community corporations that provide employment and business development opportunities for low-income people. It funds projects that create jobs, enable self-help, and mobilize the community at large. Eligible applicants are community development corporations, including ones that are faith-based.

In FY 2004, $26.9 is available for the CED Programs.

Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFN)
Also a competitive grant, the Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFN) assists public and private nonprofit agencies to coordinate existing food assistance resources, identify sponsors of child nutrition programs and initiate new programs in underserved areas and develop innovative approaches for helping low-income people meet their nutritional needs. In addition, CFN grants are provided to States and Territories.

In FY 2004, $7.2 million is available for CFN Programs.

Community Services Block Grant
The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program provides States, US Territories, Tribes and Tribal organizations funds to address the problems and causes of poverty. States and Territories, community action agencies and other locally based organizations, federally-and state-recognized tribes and tribal organizations designated by eligible tribes receive CSBG funds.
Grantees use the funds to support a variety of services that help low-income people. Services typically assist with:

• employment
• education
• emergency services
• health care
• housing, nutrition
• transportation
• childcare
• youth development
• coordinating resources and community participation
• solving problems that block the achievement of self-sufficiency.

In FY 2004, $642 million is available for SCBGs.

Compassion Capital Fund (CCF)
In 2002 the Compassion Capital Fund was created and is a key component of the President's faith-based initiative. CCF helps faith-based and community organizations increase their effectiveness and enhance their ability to provide social services to those most in need. Two CCF administered competitive grant programs are the:

Demonstration Program:
This funding is for intermediary organizations that serve as a bridge between the federal government and the grassroots, faith-based and community organizations that the program is designed to assist. Intermediary organizations provide two services to faith-based organizations: training/technical assistance and capacity building sub-awards.

Targeted Capacity Building Program:
These mini-grants fund faith-based and community organizations with one time $50,000 awards to increase their capacity to serve targeted social service priority areas.

In FY 2004, $47.7 million is available for the Compassion Capital Fund program.

 

Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ-EC) Program (SSBG)
The EZ-EC Program is designed to support comprehensive community revitalization projects including, but not limited to:

• economic development
• job creation
• workforce development
• human services.
  
  The projects are developed in federally designated Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community neighborhoods. Funding is authorized to support projects in the designated localities over a ten-year period. Multi-year funds are awarded to States that grant them to neighborhoods with revitalization projects being managed at the local level. The funds that were awarded in 1994 and 1995 and have been extended beyond their original ten-year limit. Therefore, funds are still available in some EZ-EC areas.
  

Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals (JOLI)
The Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals (JOLI) program provides competitive funding to nonprofit groups. It funds project strategies for creating new employment opportunities for low-income individuals, including people who are eligible for assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The JOLI program supports a variety of projects such as self-employment, micro-enterprise/new business ventures, expansion of existing businesses, and non-traditional employment initiatives. Eligible entities are 501(c)(3) and (4) tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, including faith-based groups. OCS typically funds ten grants annually with funds up to $500,000 per grant and project periods of up to three years.

In FY 2004, $5.4 million is available for JOLI programs.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
States, Territories, federally-and state-recognized Indian tribes, and Tribal organizations designated by eligible Tribes use Low-Income Home Energy Assistance block grant funds to assist low-income households in meeting the costs of heating and cooling their homes. The amount of grants each state receives is determined by a statute-based formula that factors in each state's share of low-income population, home energy expenditures by low-income households nationwide, and the weather. Tribal grant amounts are based on statutory formula or state-tribe agreement. LIHEAP grantees provide heating assistance, cooling assistance energy, crisis intervention (crisis assistance), weatherization, and services that encourage and enable households to reduce their home energy costs. LIHEAP grantees also may participate in the LIHEAP leveraging incentive program (which rewards grantees that leverage non-federal home energy resources) and the Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Option (REACH – see description below).

In FY 2004, $1.9 billion is available for LIHEAP

Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Option (REACH)
The Residential Energy Assistance Challenge (REACH) Option supports LIHEAP grantees (States, Tribes, and Territories). States administer REACH projects in partnership with community-based organizations. Competitive REACH projects demonstrate effective strategies for helping LIHEAP-eligible households meet home energy costs and become more energy self-sufficient by supplementing energy assistance payments with non-monetary benefits.
REACH-supported projects demonstrate ways to:

• minimize health and safety risks that result from high energy burdens on low-income Americans
• prevent homelessness as a result of the inability to pay energy bills
• increase efficiency of energy usage by low-income families
• target energy assistance to individuals most in need.

In FY 2004, $6.7 million is available for REACH Option programs.

National Youth Sports Programs
OCS funds an intermediary organization that administers the National Youth Sports Program. The program manages comprehensive summer sports camps for low-income youth at more than 200 college and university campuses throughout the nation. More than 70,000 youth ages 10-16 participate each year. The primary goal of the program is to provide low-income youth an opportunity to benefit from academic and sports instruction and competition, to improve their physical fitness and health habits, and to become acquainted with career and educational opportunities within a college or university environment. Participants also receive free medical check-ups with follow-up, transportation and nutritional meals.

In FY 2004, $17.9 million is available for the National Youth Sports Programs.

Rural Community Development Activities Program
The Rural Community Development Activities Program supports multi-state private, nonprofit organizations that provide training and technical assistance to low-income rural communities to develop expertise needed to establish and/or maintain safe water and waste water treatment facilities. Assistance may include coordinating federal, state and local agencies in water and wastewater management and educating local leaders about additional sources of assistance. The program enables rural communities to comply with requirements of the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act.

In FY 2004, $7.2 million dollars is available for the Rural Community Development Activities Program.

Social Services Block Grant (SSBG)
Funding goes to States and Territories through the Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) for services directed at the goals of:

• achieving economic self-support or self-sufficiency
• preventing or remedying neglect, abuse or exploitation of children or adults
• preventing or reducing inappropriate institutionalization
• securing referral for institutional care, where appropriate
  Grant amounts are determined by a formula based on each State's population. States are responsible for determining the use of the funds.

For FY 2004, $1.7 billion is available for the SSBGs.

Homeless Families and Children Initiative
OCS is contributing to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson’s Initiative on Homelessness by working with States on specific areas to combat the devastating effects or homelessness. Studies show that those who experience homelessness on a chronic, recurring basis are often victims of:

• poverty
• a disability or chronic disease
• a housing crisis (e.g., lengthy hospitalization, arrears on rent or mortgage, eviction by parents/spouses/roommates, etc.).
  

These issues often interact in some families and lead to a loss of housing and lengthy or recurrent episodes of homelessness. Lack of housing and compounding health and support needs make homeless families with children among the most vulnerable groups in our society.

Many of the largest Federal programs, such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), as well as others, are available to improve the health and welfare of the population that is homeless. Yet many families do not access the full range of services to which they are entitled. Instead, homeless families often receive help only through targeted programs that have limited funding and services.

In order to assist states in addressing the issues of homelessness, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Labor, have sponsored seven state Policy Academies and 3 mini Policy Academies on homelessness over the past three years. Plans are underway to sponsor 5 additional academies in 2004. The Policy Academies are designed to help state and local policymakers improve access to mainstream services for families and children who are homeless.

Administration for Children and Families
Office of Community Services
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
202-401-9333
Office of Community Services website

Updated August 2004
Office of Public Affairs (OPA)