October 7, 2020 | Issue 54
Community Action Updates
Upcoming Events
October 12 - State Offices Closed
October 14 - 2pm - CAA Fiscal Directors Call
October 14 - 3pm - CAA Executive Director Call
October 22 - VACAP Membership meeting
October 22 - Feed VA Virtual Summit - See below for details
Organizational Standards and 2019-2020 4th Quarter Report Review
Your program consultants have been working diligently on reviewing Organizational Standards and the 2019-2020 4th Quarter Reports. If you have not already received this feedback you will be receiving feedback in the next 2 weeks. Please review all comments and questions and respond directly to your program consultants.

It is important that the agency update organizational standards information by the end of November as organizational standards update letters will be sent to board chairs in December.
2018-2019 OCS Report Review Feedback
Last week, many of you received requests for clarifications to the information you submitted for the FY2019 Annual Report (2018-2019 data), and we wanted to take an opportunity to review the last few years of changes to the Annual Report and where we are now and going forward.

Until FY2018, the information collected on demographics, services, outcomes, financial sources and expenditures, capacity building, etc. was all submitted through the CSBG Information Survey (CSBG-IS). This process involved agency submittals that were compiled and entered into an Access database for submittal to the Federal Office of Community Services (OCS). In January 2017, OCS issued Information Memorandum 152 (linked here), announcing the switch to a new Annual Report, with our office submitting Module 1 (State Administration) for FY2017. The CSBG Annual Report replaced the CSBG-IS for all agency data as of Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 with the first submissions of all four Modules directly to OCS via the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) On-Line Data Collection system (OLDC). Our office submitted the Virginia network information into the new Annual Report for the first time for FY2018, using data entered into CSBG Reporter. Continue Reading
CSBG State Plan Submitted
We want to thank those of you from the Network who joined us in testifying before the Joint Subcommittee on Block Grants during the CSBG State Plan Legislative Hearing. We had a successful hearing and the committee approved our 2020-2022 State Plan. It was submitted to OCS on Friday, October 3rd. OCS will be reviewing the State Plan and provide any necessary feedback in the coming months. Again, thank you to everyone who assisted us in the full process and provided feedback during the comment periods. If you have any questions regarding the state plan please email csbg@dss.virginia.gov. The full plan is available on our website.
Community Action Resources
FeedVA Virtual Summit
FeedVA is hosting a Virtual Summit on October 22nd at 3pm. The Summit will focus on the current state of food insecurity in VA and highlight the soon to be released Virginia Roadmap to End Hunger. Participants will also have the opportunity to engage in smaller breakout discussions on child nutrition strategies, food as medicine, and healthy food access.  

If you are able to attend please register here
Educational Disparities, Tools and Resources
Students across the country are back to school in environments where learning has presented some challenges due to COVID-19. During October, the tools and resources posted to Samepage will focus on educational disparities and how our network can provide continuous support to our communities.  

In the meantime, check out the links below regarding education equity for children in Virginia.

Virginia Is for Learners- Education Equity
 
Department of Education

Evaluating Strategic Plan Progress with Agency-Wide Scorecards
Community Action Partnership Webinar
October 29, 2020 - 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Organizational Standards 6.5 and 9.3 focus on reporting progress toward strategic plan goals (6.5), as well as an analysis of outcomes and associated adjustments to the board on at least an annual basis. While the minimum requirement is to report this information once a year, there are ways to involve the Board and communicate the information clearly so they can better fulfill their role of governance and oversight. Join this webinar to learn about meeting this standard, as well as utilizing a scorecard or dashboard to organize and communicate data, as well as other promising practices to move beyond compliance.