 REMINDER - OCS SURVEY DUE THIS FRIDAY
| Has your Community Action Agency responded to the OCS American Customer Index Survey? Deadline is this Friday, October 23rd. If you have not, check your in box (and take a look in your junk folder) for an email from noreply-cfigroup@qualtrics-survey.com.
If you cannot find the survey (check you junk and quarantine folders), please reach out to your state office so they may reach out to OCS to have the survey resent. Only one response per agency and association is permitted and a unique link is sent to each organization. The Dear Colleague Letter sent yesterday and copied below references an attached copy of the survey for reference purposes only; the survey itself can only be completed online. We will post a copy of the questions on our website as well here.
Thank you for your persistence in getting a copy of and completing the survey!
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THE 2015 OPPORTUNITY INDEX IS HERE
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A half-decade view of Opportunity in America is now available with the release of the 2015 Opportunity Index.
And while there is much to celebrate - overall opportunity is up nationwide by 9 percent since 2011, a reflection of a dramatically improved employment picture, higher high school graduation rates and a significant drop in violent crime - there is also cause for concern and urgent action - by all of us.
Five years of Index data powerfully illustrates that the nation's ongoing economic recovery is uneven, leaving millions behind.
There are higher rates of poverty and income inequality and lower median family incomes in 2015 than there were five years ago.
There are 5.5 million disconnected young adults in 2015 - a slight decrease since 2011, but this number remains above pre-recession levels.
And zip codes still matter too much.
As the 2016 presidential race gathers momentum, it's critical that candidates and voters have a clear picture of where access to the American Dream is expanding and constricting, as well as a deeper understanding of bipartisan, cross-sector solutions that can improve Americans' lives, prospects and communities.
Check out the Opportunity Index to explore 5 years of data and see how your state or county has fared over time.
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RESTORING SHARED PROSPERITY: INDICATOR AND DATA FROM THE
HALF IN TEN ANNUAL REPORT
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Indicators & Data from the Half in Ten Annual Report
The state and congressional district-level data distributed by the Census's American Community Survey include rates for demographic subgroups (African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Latino Americans). The poverty rates for these demographic sub-groups should be interpreted with care because due to relatively small sample sizes for these groups, there are sometimes wide margins of error around the calculated poverty rates. This is particularly true in low-population states and districts. For more guidance on interpreting the Half in Ten indicators and rankings, please see our data guide.
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USICH RELEASES FURTHERS GUIDANCE FOR COMMUNITIES ON
WHAT IT MEANS TO END VETERAN HOMELESSNESS
| The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs have adopted a vision of what it means to end all homelessness and specific criteria and benchmarks for ending Veteran homelessness in order to help guide communities as they take action to achieve the goal. Together, these criteria and benchmarks are intended to help to define the vision of ending Veteran homelessness within communities and to help align local efforts in support of that vision, with a focus on long-term, lasting solutions. For a complete copy of this resource guide, please click here.
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CSBG DEAR COLLAGUE ACSI SURVEY INSTRUMENT FOR
CSBG ELIGIBLE ENTITIES
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Dear Colleagues,
As the Office of Community Services (OCS) continues efforts to improve performance across the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Network, we have launched the American Customer Survey Index (ACSI) survey seeking feedback the from CSBG eligible entities. This survey provides eligible entities with an opportunity to offer constructive feedback to OCS and their respective State Lead CSBG Agency. The results of this survey will guide OCS' training and technical assistance efforts and will provide baseline data to the State CSBG Lead Agency that can be used in developing next year's State Plan.
A link was emailed from the CFI Group to Executive Directors to respond to the survey, which opened on Monday, October 5, 2015 and will close on Friday, October 23, 2015. Some eligible entities have experienced the survey going to their spam folders; please have your eligible entities check there. If you receive notice that any Executive Director has not yet received the survey, please contact your assigned Program Specialist no later than Wednesday, October 21, 2015.
We have attached the ACSI survey instrument for everyone in the network to have the opportunity to view the questions. Executive Directors may consult with their colleagues on responses to the survey; however, only one survey response will be accepted per eligible entity. All answers to the survey will remain anonymous; neither the State CSBG Lead Agency nor OCS will see individual responses.
How well we perform is an important measure of success for the entire CSBG Network. We value your feedback, sincerely appreciate those that have already responded to the survey and look forward to the participation from the remaining eligible entities.
Thank you,
Jeannie L. Chaffin Seth Hassett
Director Director, Division of State Assistance
Office of Community Services Office of Community Services
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NEW PLAN OF ACTION TO END HUNGER IN AMERICA
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FRAC is pleased to share a copy of their new "Plan of Action to End Hunger in America" (pdf), which has ben released to national and state allies like you as well as targeted media. They hope you will proactively share the strategies called for in this paper with your peers, media contacts, policy makers, and other stakeholders.
FRAC embarked on this most recent effort in response to a number of factors. They included:
- the ways that the recession, uneven recovery and other events made it impossible to reach the President's 2015 hunger reduction goals, and have created a glacial pace of poverty and hunger reduction that requires a new push forward;
- the need to get back on track to reduce hunger and work to reach the government's Healthy People 2020 food insecurity reduction goals;
- the success of worldwide efforts to reduce hunger in developing nations, in contrast to the lack of progress in the U.S.;
- the heating up of the 2016 election debate;
- the Pope's visit and remarks about hunger to Congress; and
- the forthcoming report of the National Hunger Commission.
Many of the recommendations build on those in FRAC's 2009 paper, "Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015: The Essential Strategies for Achieving the President's Goal" and our collaboration with the National Anti-Hunger Organizations (NAHO) in similar efforts in 2004 and 2009. But the paper responds as well to new research and changes in the economy and policy environments, and reflects our most recent assessment of what is truly needed to end the disgrace of hunger in this country.
Key take-aways/messages from the report include:
- The combination of the changing economy, the uneven recovery, the political climate and latest research on food insecurity presents a timely window of opportunity to build on what's working and assess what can and must be done to solve hunger now.
- Federal nutrition programs benefit millions of people in need. SNAP alone lifted 4.7 million people across the country out of poverty in 2014. But nutrition programs alone cannot carry the burden. Unless employment levels and wages rise substantially and working schedules and benefits and work supports improve, we cannot solve hunger.
- Similarly, stronger government income supports (Unemployment Insurance, EITC and Child Tax Credit, TANF, Social Security, SSI) are essential to reducing hunger.
- The strategies outlined in the Plan of Action to End Hunger in America offer concrete solutions for addressing hunger and its root cause, poverty, that can be achieved with renewed political will.
- An overwhelming majority of Americans are looking to government to lead the way in solving hunger. We call on political candidates and leaders to address these strategies and to make addressing hunger a priority.
Please direct any questions or comments about the paper to FRAC's Communications Director, Colleen Barton Sutton, at cbsutton@frac.org or 202-986-2200, ext. 3021.
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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER: KIDNEY DISEASE IN AMERICA - WEBINAR 10/22
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  Knowledge is Power: Kidney Disease in America, the American Kidney Fund, and You
Webinar on 10/22 at 2:00 ET/1:00 CT/12:00 MT/11:00 PT Register now!
The American Kidney Fund's (AKF) programs support patients and health care professionals in their efforts to diagnose, manage, and treat CKD and ESRD. At AKF's free kidney health screening events and Kidney Action Day, community members nationwide can learn about kidney disease and its risk factors, determine if they are at risk for kidney disease, and find out how to reduce their risk for CKD and ESRD. Through AKF's financial assistance programs, CKD and ESRD patients who would otherwise be unable to afford health insurance and prescription drugs are able to maintain health insurance coverage and access the prescription drugs that are critical to their treatment. As members of the Community Action Partnership (CAP), you are in a unique and important position to be able to prevent CKD and ESRD in your own communities. By becoming a Kidney Health Educator, you can teach others about the causes and effects of kidney disease, the importance of knowing one's risk for CKD, and the resources available from AKF to help everyone stay healthy.
Please join us for this free 60-minute webinar to learn about kidney disease, how AKF can help you, and how you can help your community. This webinar is free, but pre-registration is required.
Please register here
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POVERTY IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND HYPOCRISY
IN CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY
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Travel Writer Finds Poverty in the American Deep South and Hypocrisy
in Corporate Philanthropy
by Rick Cohen
 Paul Theroux, who, as he toured the rural South, found the community desolation that some of us have long seen and known and realized that the sentiments and programs of corporate moguls to lift the poor out of poverty are often so much palaver. Much of his argument was against the export of American jobs to other nations, reflecting the much greater mobility of capital than labor in the global economy. In Nike's move of almost all of its manufacturing overseas, it has impoverished American communities under the fiction that in doing so, Nike's Phil Knight was motivated to lift the developing countries' poor out of poverty, helped along by the even greater fiction that Americans wouldn't jump at the opportunity to be employed in factories making Nike shoes stateside rather than watching their unemployment benefits run out and their communities decline.
Click here to read the story
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THE STRENGTH OF CITIZEN GOVERNMENT: LOCAL GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY
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The Strength of Citizen Government: Local Grassroots Advocacy
This article is from NPQ's fall 2015 edition, "Making Things Work: Considerations in Nonprofit Strategy."
 For citizen activists at the local level, today's political landscape may seem daunting, if not downright intimidating. There are a number of trends that seemingly run against the interests of local community and neighborhood groups. In the post-Citizens United era, the sums being spent in the political world stagger the imagination. Corporate political power has never appeared greater. Partisanship has turned politics-never a polite exercise-into something akin to warfare. Modern political campaigns now rely strongly on sophisticated database management, in turn facilitating scientifically targeted appeals to narrow slices of the population. Finally, fiscal stress at every level of our federal system makes it difficult to move policy in new directions, even if there is widespread agreement on the need for a new approach.
Click here to read the story.
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REGISTER NOW FOR OCTOBER 28 WEBINAR WITH
FISCAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES (FMA) AND NONPROFIT QUARTERLY
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October 28, 1:00-2:00pm EST
What mix of financial reports does YOUR board need?
As experts with close to 20 years of experience in providing financial literacy to nonprofit boards, FMA is pleased to extend this invitation to a complimentary webinar presented in conjunction with Nonprofit Quarterly, a leader in innovative thinking for the nonprofit sector. Hilda H. Polanco, CEO of Fiscal Management Associates, will be the keynote speaker, and Ruth McCambridge, Editor in Chief of the Nonprofit Quarterly, will be taking your questions as well. The event will be held on October 28th from 1-2PM Eastern Standard Time.
Register Now!
Those with experience in the nonprofit sector, particularly in the area of board governance, know that there is no such thing as a one size fits all approach to financial reporting to the nonprofit board. Each organization's board must understand the variables needing to be watched in their own specific enterprise. Nonprofit financial expert Hilda Polanco will help CFOs, CEOs and board members understand what kind of reporting is most effective in what sizes and types of organizations.
Among other things, you will learn:
- How to ensure the financial literacy on your board meets your needs
- When cash-flow reports are vital
- How to create a dashboard to track your own critical variables
You can send your questions to editorinchief@npqmag.org to have them answered during the web event.
About Hilda Polanco:
As Founder and CEO, Hilda has led FMA to become the go-to capacity builder foundation and nonprofit leaders seek to address nonprofit financial management issues.
A nationally recognized and sought after leader in the field, Hilda serves the sector in many ways. Hilda was a founding member of the selection committee of the New York Nonprofit Excellence Awards, established by the New York Times and the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee.
When not speaking publicly or leading FMA's team, she provides direct capacity building, training and coaching services to foundations and nonprofits throughout the country.
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AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS, NONPROFIT RISK MANAGEMENT CENTER - WEBINAR ON OCTOBER 28
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What: Live Webinar - Climbing to the Top: The Ladder of Inference
When: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time - 30 minutes
Cost: Free for Affiliate Members
The Ladder of Inference technique is a tool to help prevent common biases and human tendencies from derailing your risk management program. Inspired by the tool developed by organizational development guru Chris Argyris, this webinar begins with a review of of four common mistakes in risk practice: (1) faulty assumptions; (2) superficial learning from loss; (3) choosing beliefs over evidence; (4) the rush to judgement.
Register here.
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VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT - ASSETS FOR INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM
| The Assets for Independence (AFI) program is hiring! AFI invites all qualified candidates to apply for the these Social Science Analyst positions (GS-13). As a Social Science Analyst, you will serve as a policy expert on the AFI program, asset building, and financial capability. You will be responsible for developing policy documents, analyzing policy-related information, and advising management on policy. These positions are located in the Office of Community Services (OCS), in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.
There are two postings for these vacancies, as follows:
* Job Announcement Number: HHS-ACF-DE-16-1512487 (https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/viewdetails/416509200)
Open to all U.S. Citizens.
* Job Announcement Number: HHS-ACF-MP-16-1512489 (https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/viewdetails/418074700)
Open to those eligible under merit promotion procedures.
The announcements close on Oct. 29 and it can take some time to complete the USA Jobs application process, so act now!
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REGISTER EARLY FOR THE 2016 MANAGEMENT AND
LEADERSHIP TRAINING CONFERENCE AND SAVE!
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Discounted Rates when you register NOW for the
2016 Management and Leadership Training Conference
in New Orleans
Leading with Resilience - The Community Action Way
January 6-8, 2016
Click here to reserve hotel rooms online at Westin Canal Place.
Click here for the
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ISA is an insurance provider providing property, liability, and risk management services. Click here to learn about the Irwin Siegel Agency alliance with the Partnership or visit their website. |
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