Community Services Block Grant

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; and (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.

Agency - Department of Health and Human Services

The Department of Health and Human Services is the Federal government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially to those who are least able to help themselves.





Program Accomplishments

A total of 192 grants were awarded in fiscal year 2007. It is anticipated that 197 grants will be awarded in fiscal year 2008.

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.

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