The Virginia CSBG office is excited to release our training plan for November, December and January. We have developed a wide variety of live and pre-recorded webinars. We have trainings for fiscal staff, program staff, upper level management and more. We are also excited to release our preliminary training's we will be conducting as part of the January VACAP Conference. Many of the session topics are finalized but the date and time are still being determined. We will continue to finalize information and a final schedule will be released by VACAP prior to the start of the conference.

We have used information gathered from surveys and conversations with agencies to compile our training plan. If you have questions regarding any of the trainings or are looking for additional resources please email csbg@dss.virginia.gov.

housing stability across the Commonwealth during COVID-19. CARES Act funding for this program cannot be used after December 31, 2020, so make sure you get the word out to your constituents before it is too late. The RMRP has been vital in helping thousands of Virginians during this time. Depending on availability of funds and household need, the RMRP provides financial assistance for rent or mortgage payments for eligible households. This includes financial assistance for rent or mortgage payments past due beginning April 1, 2020 and onward. Financial assistance is a one-time payment with opportunity for renewal based on availability of funding and the household’s need for additional assistance and continued eligibility.

The Virginia Whole Family/Two-Generation Pilot Project completed it's first full-year. A first year evaluation report has been prepared by Community Action Partnership, and details the work of the agencies on Theories of Change, Family Assessments, Identification of Families and delivery of services, and challenges/opportunities. This report has been used to create a report to General Assembly as well, and will serve as a baseline for the remaining years of the grant.

The Virginia Community Action Capacity Building AmeriCorps VISTA project welcomed three new service members on October 26th. All three will be completing their service year at the Virginia Department of Social Services. Two members are starting with the Office of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives where they will rapidly pilot new and innovative project ideas to improve service delivery to DSS clients across Virginia. The third member is serving with the Division of Community and Volunteer Services, working to create a more streamlined and collaborative approach to substance abuse across Virginia.

Three more members will join this VISTA project on November 9th. One member will join the team in the Office of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives. The second member will serve as a VISTA member at MACAA, working on fund development and planning fundraising events. The third member will be working on program development with People, Inc., focusing on the Whole Family pilot program. When these three members start, there will be 16 members total in the Virginia Community Action Capacity Building AmeriCorps VISTA project. These 16 members are serving at 9 different sites around Virginia.

Each year NASCSP’s CSBG Services conducts a detailed survey of the CSBG network that describes the sources of funding, services provided, clients and communities assisted, and the results achieved. This information is shared with the network and other research organizations in the form of national reports, articles, and best practices. The 2018 Virginia CSBG Fact Sheet is now available for download.

We are excited to welcome Trina Willard from the Knowledge Advisory Group who will be providing a live virtual training for Virginia Community Action Agencies. The training is geared towards agency planners and program managers but anyone can attend. See full description below. The training will be offered two separate times in November, November 17th at 10am and November 30th at 2pm.

Please fill out the registration form at this link by November 10th:

Live, virtual 90-minute webinar