Community Services Block Grant

The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) provides federal funding for Community Action Agencies (CAAs) and other programs that seek to address poverty at the community level. Like other block grants, CSBG funds are allocated to the states and other jurisdictions (including tribes, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and territories) through a formula, with less federal oversight and fewer federal requirements than categorical grants. The CSBG formula determines each jurisdiction's funding level based on poverty population; once disbursed, most of the money is passed by the states and other jurisdictions to CAAs and other designated organizations to be spent on employment, education, income management, housing, nutrition, emergency services, and health.^[1]

History

Congress authorized CSBG by the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981, P.L. 97-35. President Reagan had requested the consolidation of 85 existing anti-poverty grants into seven categorical grants; Congress agreed to consolidate 77 grants into nine. The nine new block grants were budgeted about 25% less than the programs they replaced (Conlan, qtd. in^[2]). The CSBG legislation was amended in 1998 by the Coates Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1998, P.L. 105-285.^[1]

Management

CSBG is administered by the Office of Community Services in the Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services

Spending

In fiscal year 2007, the Federal Government, through the Department of Health and Human Services, spent $630 million. That amount was $654 million for fiscal year 2008.^[3]

In early 2011, for the FY 2012 United States Budget, President Obama proposed $350 million in reductions to the Community Service Block Grant Program, cutting its allocation in half.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - The Administration for Children and Families (ACF). "Community Service Block Grant Program". Archived from the original on 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2006-08-12.
^ Finegold, Kenneth; Wherry, Laura; Schardin, Stephanie (April 21, 2004). "Block Grants : Historical Overview and Lessons Learned". Washington, D.C.: vsa.
^ The President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2009 Archived 2011-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, Appendix, p. 460.
^ Lew, Jacob, "The Easy Cuts Are Behind Us", The New York Times, February 5, 2011. Quoting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Lew, "Since they were instituted, community service block grants have helped to support community action organizations in cities and towns across the country. These are grassroots groups working in poor communities, dedicated to empowering those living there and helping them with some of life’s basic necessities. These are the kinds of programs that President Obama worked with when he was a community organizer, so this cut is not easy for him. Yet for the past 30 years, these grants have been allocated using a formula that does not consider how good a job the recipients are doing. The president is proposing to cut financing for this grant program in half, saving $350 million, and to reform the remaining half into a competitive grant program, so that funds are spent to give communities the most effective help."

Bibliography

Conlan, Timothy J. 1981. "Back in Vogue: The Politics of Block Grant Legislation." Intergovernmental Perspective 7(3): 8-15.
Brown, Lawrence David; Fossett, James W.; Palmer, Kenneth T., The Changing Politics of Federal Grants, Brookings Institution Press, 1984. Cf. p.57.