Community Services Block Grant

America was built on the promise that every family should have an opportunity for success. Yet, today’s uneven economy has put a good quality of life out of reach for too many Americans.
​The nation’s Community Action Agencies embody our nation’s spirit of hope, change people’s lives, and improve communities. When national, state and local leaders tap into these agencies’ experience, they can promote workable solutions that connect more families to opportunity – and make America a better place to live for everyone.
The CSBG grant requires its grantees to use specific data informed structures to help ensure success. They are as follow:
  • Tripartite Board - The board of directors must be made of 1/3 elected officials. 1/3 community members, and 1/3 client representatives or those with experience of those we seek to serve.
  • The board of directors must follow a set of 58 organizational standards to ensure success. Those standards are broken down into the follow categories.
    • ​Maximum Feasible Participation
      • ​Consumer Input and Involvement
      • Community Engagement
      • Community Assessment
    • ​Vision and Direction
      • ​Organizational Leadership
      • Board Governance
      • Strategic Planning
    • ​Operations & Accountability
      • ​Human Resource Management
      • Financial Operations and Oversight
      • Data and Analysis
​Additionally the CSBG grant requires each grantee to track every expenditure and action taken to determine if there was a successful outcome. That work is broken down into categories called domains. They are as follows:
  • Employment
  • Education and Cognitive Development
  • Income, Infrastructure, and Asset Building
  • Housing
  • Health and Social/Behavioral Development
  • Civic Engagement and Community Involvement
  • Services Supporting Multiple Domains
  • Linkages
  • Agency Capacity Building
  • Other (Emergency Management/ Disaster Relief)
The Community Action Agency determines what services to provide or support based on community needs assessments and community partnerships to determine the greatest needs with the greatest chance of success with available resources.