Community Services Block Grant: States Get High Marks From Feds on Job Creation and Retention

WASHINGTON, May 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Thanks to the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created and retained 7,944 jobs nationwide according to numbers just released by the U.S. Government (http://www.Recovery.gov). The state-administered CSBG Network created and retained ninety-nine percent of these jobs. Federal recovery spending data ranks the Community Services Block Grant 12th out of approximately 200 federal programs in jobs created or retained.

"The State CSBG Network draws on its knowledge of local communities to provide immediate relief to struggling families," said Vaughn Clark, Director of the Office of Community Development for the State of Oklahoma and the chair of the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP). "CSBG Recovery funds job creation and neighborhood revitalization projects that will bring lasting benefits to communities across the nation." Clark praised the states for working quickly and efficiently to meet the needs of struggling families and communities, adding that their success was achieved despite the dangerous lack of critical administrative funding. "Our outcomes speak for themselves. A state-administered block grant allows states to provide the oversight and support needed to ensure programs spend funds on time, finish on budget and achieve results."

The State CSBG Network utilizes Recovery funds to support a variety of local economic mobility enhancing programs. Many of the programs provide not only immediate employment, but also bolster long-term economic recovery. For example, one program trains unemployed workers to enter new careers in the medical field. Another offers training in green jobs through collaborations with weatherization and energy savings programs. Still others coordinate community resources to fund nonprofit childcare facilities to support employment.

All across the nation, CSBG-funded projects are moving low-wage workers into public sector jobs. The directors of each of these projects are available for comment and can be reached through NASCSP.

NASCSP is a professional association whose members are state administrators of the Department of Human Services' Community Services Block Grant and the U.S. Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program. Its mission is to build capacity in states to respond to poverty issues.

For more information on CSBG, please visit http://www.nascsp.org.

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SOURCE National Association for State Community Services Programs