Prepared by EOS for NASCSP. Watch www.nascsp.org for the full study coming soon! Have a local CAA success story or facts and figures to add from recent initiatives? Please send them to us here …

FY 2001 CSBG Network Resources

In the FY 2001 CSBG/IS Survey, 49 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia reported that:

· Their CSBG local networks were made up of 1,110 local eligible entities, 85% of which were Community Action Agencies (CAAs).

· Community Action Agencies (CAAs) used CSBG funding for their core operations and for developing and coordinating programs to fight poverty in 96% of the counties in the U.S.

· The network's funding from all sources totaled nearly $9.3 billion.

· More than $562 million was expended from the federal Block Grant to support the core activities of the state and local CSBG network in 48 states, DC and Puerto Rico. (Deleted)

· Over $8.5 billion of other federal, state, local and private resources was mobilized and coordinated to combat local conditions that kept people in poverty. This level represented real growth in each sector’s funding compared to five years earlier.

Data from the Fiscal Years 1998–2001 show how CAAs used the increases that Congress first appropriated to the Block Grant in FY 1997 to:

· Increase leveraged state, local and private funding:

o Every CSBG dollar was matched by $14.92 from all other sources;

o Over $4 of that total match came from state, local and private donations. In fact private funding in the network exceeded FY 2001 CSBG resources;

o More than 32 million hours of volunteer service were contributed to local CAA programs, the equivalent of nearly 15,400 full-time employees.

· Invest in activities not supported by other, less flexible funding, including growth in:

o Family development programs that supported state welfare-to-work projects and also integrated multiple services to provide seamless, continuous support to low-wage workers and their families as they sought to become self-sufficient;

o Emergency responses to prevent family crises from creating permanent dependency; and

o Other new initiatives, including heath services projects and programs for youth and the elderly.

FY 2001 CSBG Network Clients

CSBG/IS data on CAA clients indicated that in 45 states reporting client data the CAAs provided services to:

· As many as 24% of persons in poverty in 2001; and

· More than 13 million individuals who were members of almost 6 million low-income families, most of whom were in great need. More than 3.6 million families provided income data. Of these,

o More than 3.2 million participant families had incomes at or below their federal poverty threshold, including at least:

o 757,000 families who were “severely poor,” as they had incomes below 50% of their poverty thresholds;

o Another 1.9 million families with incomes between 50% and 100% of their poverty guideline;

o 3.3 million children;

o Over 4 million adult clients with low education levels and other groups with typically high poverty rates, such as the elderly living alone.

CAAs Served Vulnerable Populations:

· 1.3 million single parents headed 62% of CAA participating families with children, but fewer than half of them had public assistance to help them support their family.

· CAAs reported there were over 515,000 TANF families participating in FY 2001 CAA programs, an 18% increase from the number in FY 2000.

· 1.7 million “working poor” families who relied on wages or unemployment insurance made up 41% of all participants. Many were experiencing the economic consequences of welfare-to-work provisions that ended some income supports and faced insufficient wages, lack of proper health care, childcare, transportation and stable employment.

FY 2001 CSBG Services

CSBG funds activities that most other funding does not support. The top three service priorities, as measured by CSBG expenditures alone, were:

· Linkage Programs

These programs create and coordinate programs and resources, conduct community organization and advocacy efforts to meet defined needs, and make formal efforts to bring resources together to bear on a single problem. In addition clients must be linked to community resources in order to make continuous progress toward stability.

· Emergency Services

As the population that received TANF funds shrank, CAAs found themselves shifting more resources into responding to the urgent needs and the emergencies of uninsured, low-wage, working families. The hardships of life that all families face endanger the stability and livelihood of those families without assets or adequate income; Community Action Agency emergency services prevent a crisis from becoming a new cause of impoverishment.

· Self-Sufficiency Programs

All activities funded by the CSBG encourage self-sufficiency, but CAAs created specific programs to provide a continuum of services to assist families in self-assessment and in the design and implementation of a strategic plan to become more financially independent. They typically include case management to track and evaluate progress as well as a mix of the services and training needed by low-income workers and their families.