National Community Action Month is here and NASCSP is excited to celebrate with you! Each year, Community Action Month provides a unique platform for the passionate members of our network to highlight the impact of CSBG and Community Action while sharing our message with the broader community. This month offers empowering stories, data, and other information about the important role of CSBG in eliminating poverty for individuals, families, and communities.
This year, after another presidential budget proposal called to zero out funding for CSBG, Community Action Month is more important than ever. This month is an opportunity to showcase how critical CSBG is to our communities and how CSBG stands out from other programs. Throughout this month, here are some important themes to touch on:
- The flexible structure of CSBG empowers states and local communities to take the lead on poverty, emphasizing locally determined solutions to unique local needs. The Community Action network is nationwide and serves urban, rural, and suburban communities in 99% of US counties.
- CSBG provides locally tailored support to individuals and families with low incomes, helping them succeed and move out of poverty. These approaches include education programs for children, employment training for adults, stable housing for families, and more.
- The robust local, state, and federal accountability measures of the CSBG Performance Management Framework are unique and bold compared to other federal programs.
- The CSBG Network achieves outcomes across the core domains in which we work: employment, education and cognitive development, income, infrastructure and asset building, housing, health and social behavioral development, and civic engagement and community involvement.
- CSBG creates impact in communities across the country by leveraging additional private, local, state, and federal investments to fight poverty.
While it is critical to highlight these aspects of CSBG and Community Action, this month is also a time to celebrate and recognize the committed members of our network working hard every day to build stronger communities, fight poverty, and change lives. NASCSP thanks our federal partners, national partners, state offices, state associations, and local Community Action Agencies across the country for the hard work that they do!
The Community Action Partnership has developed an extensive toolkit of resources and a communications calendar to assist your efforts during Community Action Month. NASCSP will also be providing mini-toolkits with resources here on our State of Poverty Blog to help with social media, data, infographics, and storytelling. You can find some of our resources below.
Happy Community Action Month!
You can utilize the pre-made social media posts below for Facebook and Twitter. Consider combining with the infographics provided or other images. You can download any of the graphics below by right-clicking and selecting “save as” OR use this dropbox link.
–May is #CommunityActionMonth, celebrating a network of more than 1,000 agencies across all 50 States, DC, and the territories committed to fighting poverty in our communities! #WeR1000Strong #CommunityActionWorks
-May is #CommunityActionMonth- The #CSBG network serves urban, rural, and suburban communities across 99.6% of U.S. counties #BeCommunityAction #WeR1000Strong
-The #CSBG network of over 1000 #CommunityAction Agencies reports robust outcomes and data, demonstrating accountability and impact. #CommunityActionWorks #WeR1000Strong
-Federal CSBG dollars are used to support & strengthen anti-poverty efforts in our local communities. In FY2016, for every $1 of CSBG, CAAs leveraged $7.70 from state, local, & private sources. #WeR1000Strong #CSBG #CommunityActionWorks
-Over ___ volunteers helped Insert State or Agency Name build a vibrant thriving community. [Can customize with Statewide, Nationwide, or agency-wide volunteer numbers.] #WeR1000Strong #CommunityActionWorks
-The #CSBG Act requires that the work of #CommunityAction Agencies must be shaped by a community needs assessment performed every 3 years. This ensures CAA programs & services are tailored to unique community needs, rather than a one-size fits all solution #CommunityActionWorks
-#CSBG is a successful federal, state, & local partnership dedicated to giving individuals & families the tools they need to succeed in this economy through innovative & localized programs that help promote opportunity & self-sufficiency #CommunityActionWorks
-#CommunityAction Agencies are hubs for diverse programs and services, tailored to unique local needs, brought together under #CSBG! #WeR1000Strong #CommunityActionWorks
–[AGENCY NAME] is committed to the strength and value of #CSBG and #CommunityAction as the national anti-poverty network that coordinates local, state, and federal efforts to secure a promising future for our communities. #CommunityAction makes the most of its federal resources by leveraging additional funds from other sources. For every $1 of CSBG, the Network leveraged $7.70 from state, local, and private resources in FY2016. #BeCommunityAction [Can customize with Statewide or Nationwide leveraging capabilities.]
-#CommunityAction prioritizes results and outcomes. Results Oriented Management and Accountability, or ROMA, is a system designed to allow local communities to strengthen their impact and achieve robust results through continuous learning, improvement, and innovation. Learn about CSBG outcomes here: https://nascsp.org/CSBG/597/CSBG-National-Report-and-State-Fact-Sheets.aspx?iHt=23 #ROMANG #Accountability #BeCommunityAction
-#CommunityAction builds and strengthens partnerships between states, local communities, residents, businesses, and other partners to assess community needs and fight poverty. In [state, county, area, neighborhood], [AGENCY NAME] … [Can customize with specific Community Action success story.]
-The #CSBG network reports data through a comprehensive Annual Report, demonstrating robust outcomes and accountability #AWiseInvestment #WeR1000Strong
-The CSBG Network boasts over 1,000 #CommunityAction agencies around the nation dedicated to giving individuals and families the tools they need to succeed in this economy through supportive, innovative, and localized programs that help restore the link between hard work, opportunity, and self-sufficiency. Read more about the impact of CSBG and the services provided to over 15 million individuals in 2016: https://nascsp.org/csbg/csbg-data-collection-and-reporting/csbg-national-report-and-state-fact-sheets/
Questions? Contact Eric Behna at ebehna@nascsp.org
