ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND
FAMILIES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
AUTHORIZATION:
Community Opportunities, Accountability, Training, and
Educational Services Act of 1998, Title II, Section 201 and Sections 671-thru
679; Public Laws 97-35, 103-252, Public Laws 106-554 and 98-502.
To provide assistance to States and local communities,
working through a network of community action agencies and other
neighborhood-based organizations, for the reduction of poverty, the
revitalization of low-income communities, and the empowerment of low-income
families and individuals in rural and urban areas to become fully
self-sufficient (particularly families who are attempting to transition off a
State program carried out under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act)
and (1) To provide services and activities having a measurable and potential
major impact on causes of poverty in the community or those areas of the
community where poverty is a particularly acute problem; (2) to provide
activities designed to assist low-income participants, including the elderly
poor, to: (a) secure and retain meaningful employment; (b) attain an adequate
education; (c) make better use of available income; (d) obtain and maintain
adequate housing and a suitable living environment; (e) obtain emergency
assistance through loans or grants to meet immediate and urgent individual and
family needs, including health services, nutritious food, housing, and
employment-related assistance; (f) remove obstacles and solve problems which
block the achievement of self-sufficiency; (g) achieve greater participation
in the affairs of the community; and (h) make more effective use of other
related programs; (3) to provide on an emergency basis for the provision of
such supplies and services, nutritious foodstuffs, and related services, as
may be necessary to counteract conditions of starvation and malnutrition among
the poor; (4) to coordinate and establish linkages between governmental and
other social services programs to assure the effective delivery of such
services to low-income individuals; and (5) to encourage the use of entities
in the private sector of the community in efforts to ameliorate poverty in the
community.
TYPES OF ASSISTANCE:
Formula Grants. Place Cursor Here for Definition
USES AND USE RESTRICTIONS:
(1) States receive block grants to ameliorate the causes of poverty in
communities. The block grant approach gives the States flexibility to tailor
their programs to the particular services needs in their communities. (2)
States are required to use at least 90 percent of their allocations for grants
to "eligible entities" as defined in the Community Services Block
Grant (CSBG) Act, as amended; this includes primarily locally-based community
action agencies and/or organizations that serve seasonal or migrant farm
workers. (2) No more than the greater of $55,000 or 5 percent of each State's
allocation may be used for administrative expenses at the State level.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
Applicant Eligibility: The Secretary is authorized
to make grants to States. This includes each of the 50 States, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American
Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Secretary
also provides assistance directly to the governing body of an Indian Tribe or
Tribal organization upon application by the tribe. Only State-recognized
tribes, as evidenced by a statement to that effect by the Governor, or tribes
formally recognized by the Secretary of the Interior, under the procedure for
such recognition in 25 CFR 54, are eligible to receive direct grants.
Beneficiary Eligibility: States make grants to
qualified locally-based nonprofit community antipoverty agencies and other
eligible entities which provide services to low-income individuals and
families. The official poverty line, as established by the Secretary of Health
and Human Services, is used as a criterion of eligibility in the Community
Services Block Grant program. When a State determines that it serves the
objectives of the block grant, it may revise the income limit, not to exceed
125 percent of the official poverty line.
Pre-application Coordination: This program is
excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.
Application Procedure: Each State desiring to
receive an allotment for a fiscal year is required to submit an application to
the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Each application must
contain assurances by the appropriate State designee that the State will
comply with Section 676 of the Community Services Block Grant Act and also
meet conditions enumerated in Sections 678(B-D). The State is required to hold
at least one legislative hearing every three years in conjunction with the
development of the State Plan (Section 676(a)(3). States are also required to
conducts public hearings on the proposed use and distribution of funds to be
provided under the Act. The latter sets forth the general purpose for which
funds will be used, restrictions on administrative expenses, eligible
recipients, board requirements for community action agencies and other
nonprofit organizations, fiscal control, monitoring, and Federal investigation
provisions, coordination between antipoverty programs in each community and
certain prohibitions on political activities. The Chief Executive Officer of
each State is also required to designate a lead agency to prepare and submit a
plan to the Secretary of HHS describing how the State will carry out the
assurances in Section 676. This program is excluded from coverage under 45 CFR,
Part 1050.
Award Procedure: HHS determines the amount of
funds to be allocated as block grants to each State in accordance with the
formula set forth in the Community Services Block Grant Act. The Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) has the authority to apportion to the HHS through
the course of a year the Congressional appropriation for block grants.
Consistent with OMB's apportionment of funds, HHS will assign allotments to
the States through individual awards or a series of awards, normally on a
quarterly basis.
Deadlines: The application deadline for States
and Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations is September 1 of each fiscal year.
Range of Approval/Disapproval Time: Not
applicable.
Appeals: Funds may be withheld from any State
which does not utilize its allotment substantially in accordance with the
provisions of the Community Services Block Grant Act and the assurances
provided in its application. This may be done only after adequate notice and
an opportunity for a hearing is conducted within the affected State.
Renewals: Not applicable.
ASSISTANCE CONSIDERATIONS:
Formula and Matching Requirements: Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1981 (Public Law 97-35) as amended by the Human Services
Amendments of 1998, (Public Law 105-285), Section 674 authorizes the Secretary
to use one and one-half of one percent of the amount appropriated to be
reserved for corrective action, training, technical assistance, planning,
evaluation, and data collection activities related to programs or projects
carried out under this subtitle. Such activities may be carried out through
grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with eligible entities or with
organizations or associations whose membership is composed of eligible
entities or agencies that administer programs for eligible entities. One-half
of one percent of the amount appropriated is apportioned on the basis of need
among Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Northern and Mariana
Islands. Of the remaining amount each State, (excluding the above, but
including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) is
allotted an amount which bears the same ratio as the amount received by the
State for fiscal year 1981 under Section 221 of the Economic Opportunity Act
of 1964 bore to the total amount received by all States for fiscal year 1981
under Section 221. However, if the appropriation exceeds $345,000,000 after
the amount necessary for purposes of discretionary funding under 680 and the
one-half of one percent set aside for territories and insular areas under
section 675(A) are determined, no State receives less than one-half of one
percent of the amount appropriated. This program has no matching requirements.
Length and Time Phasing of Assistance:
Entitlement amounts are for a specific fiscal year and the grant funds
allotted to the State will be awarded in accordance with apportionment of
funds from the Office of Management and Budget. Amounts not obligated by the
State at the end of a fiscal year remain available for obligation during the
succeeding fiscal year.
POST ASSISTANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Reports: States must prepare and submit to the
Secretary an Annual Report on the measured performance of the State and the
eligible entities in the State. Reports shall include an accounting of the
expenditure of funds received under the CSBG Program, including administrative
costs incurred by the State and eligible entities and funds spent on direct
delivery of local services, information on the number of and characteristics
of clients served and a summary description of the training and technical
assistance offered by the State. The Annual Report is due on March 31 each
year. States are required to submit annual financial status reports,
SF-269A's, 90 days after the end the fiscal year, i.e., December 30, each
year.
Audits: States must conduct financial and
compliance audits of block grant funds annually in accordance with Section
678D of the Community Services Block Grant Act. The expenditure of funds under
this program is subject to the annual audit requirement under the Single Audit
of 1996 (Public Law 98-502) and the OMB Circular No. A-133, Audits of State
and Local Governments, Institutions of Higher Education and Other Non-Profit
Organizations. In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133
(Revised, June 24, 1997), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and
Non-Profit Organizations," nonfederal entities that expend financial
assistance of $300,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a
program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that
expend less than $300,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal
audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133.
Insofar as is practical, the audits will be conducted in accordance with
standards established by the Comptroller General for the audits of
governmental organizations, programs, activities, and functions.
Records: States are required to keep records
sufficient to permit preparation of the required reports and to permit tracing
of funds to a level of expenditure adequate to insure that funds have not been
spent unlawfully.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION:
Account Identification: 75-1504-0-1-506.
Obligations: (Grants and Contracts) FY 01
$590,469,585; FY 02 est $639,723,245; and FY 03 est $560,952,330.
Range and Average of Financial Assistance: From
$3,342,244 to $51,751,673; Average: $2,545,128.
Grants awarded in fiscal year 2001 included 232 grants to States and
Territories and Indian tribes. It is anticipated that 440 grants will be
awarded in fiscal years 2002 and fiscal year 2003.
REGULATIONS, GUIDELINES, AND LITERATURE:
45 CFR 16, 45 CFR 74 and 45 CFR 96.
INFORMATION CONTACTS:
Regional or Local Office: Not applicable.
Headquarters Office: Division of State
Assistance, Office of Community Services, Administration for Children and
Families, Department of Health and Human Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade,
SW., Washington, DC 20447. Telephone: (202) 401-9343. Use the same number for
FTS.
Web Site Address: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/ocs
