OVCS Roundtable Recap 
The OVCS Roundtable during the June VACAP meeting was packed with important information from the Virginia CSBG Office. We wanted to provide a recap of the information that was discussed in case you happened to miss the session.
  • The ACSI Survey has been released, an agency representative should have received an email notification regarding the survey. Our goal is 100% participation by Virginia CAAs. The survey should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete and will remain open through Friday, July 14. The email would have come from "CFI Group on behalf of OCS". If you have not yet received the link or may have lost the email please email [email protected].
  • The application taskforce is working in collaboration with OVCS Staff to examine the current application and determine which documents are no longer needed and what needs to be created in order to meet new ROMA Next Generation Standards. Drafts of all materials will be sent to the network by mid-September for a comment period.
    • We want to thank those who are involved on the application taskforce including:
      • Megan McKinnon - People, Inc.
      • Ann Angert - New River Community Action
      • Alee Paine - New River Community Action
      • Rolda Nedd - Arlington
      • Kristen Moses - TAP
      • Rayford Harris - Quin Rivers
      • Ann Fisher - VA Cares
      • Joyce Booker - LynCAG
      • Michelle Bryant - STOP
  • Chris Thompson and Mike Hawkins from Virginia Housing Development Authority provided attendees with information on the current VHDA programs and opportunities. There are several new funding opportunities including Capacity Support and Capacity Building Grants, Community Market Support, Homeownership Market Support, and Accessibility Grants. For more information on any of these opportunities please contact Chris at [email protected].
  • CSBG Reporter is currently working on developing a carryover feature. This will calculate carryover from the 2016-2017 program year and allow you to distribute it in your 2017-2018 budgets on CSBG Reporter. Further guidance on this will be sent once the feature is built.
If you have any questions on any of the topics and updates above please feel free to contact the office at [email protected]. To those who attended the roundtable, thank you for participating! 
2017-2018 CSBG Contracts 
The 2017-2018 CSBG Contracts have been emailed out along with two attachments, if you have not signed and returned the contract and attachments please do so this week. Executed contracts will be emailed out in the coming weeks. If you have any questions on the contracting process, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. 
July and August At A Glance 

 
Virginia CSBG AmeriCorps VISTA Update 
The Virginia CSBG AmeriCorps VISTA program is currently in the recruitment stage, the State Office has awarded us 10 VISTA slots for the coming year. We are looking for qualified candidates to apply to the programs below. We hope to have VISTA's recruited and beginning their service year by September, 2017. The links below go directly to that agencies posting. Please feel free to share these links with anyone who you think would be interested in AmeriCorps VISTA! 
Resources for Community Action 
Marketing: What is it? Should we do it?   
According to the American Marketing Association marketing  is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Many non-profits see marketing as a task for the business world, not necessarily a task for their organization. Money and resources are tight but with the right marketing and communications plan money and time spent can provide an increase in engagement and donors.Before dismissing the idea of marketing listen to this podcast by Sarah Durham. Sarah Durham is the founder and CEO of Big Duck, a communications firm that helps nonprofits increase their visibility, raise money, and achieve their missions. In the podcast Sarah discusses the word Marketing vs. Communications, what she prefers to use and how if it is done right it is a valuable tool for all non-profits. 
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