white paper on performance management for community ... - FACA

UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY ACTION’S RESULTS ORIENTED
MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNABILITY SYSTEM
NASCSP 2013
Partially in response to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, OCS convened a
work group called the Monitoring and Assessment Task Force (MATF), consisting of leaders
from across the country representing all levels of Community Action – federal, state, and local.
The MATF identified Six National Goals to provide a framework for grouping the outcome
measures of local Community Action Agencies (CAAs). The Six National Goals were drawn from
the three main focus areas of the CSBG Statute: self-sufficiency and family stability, agency
capacity, and community revitalization. The Six National Goals, established in the late 1990s by
the MATF, are:
1. Low-income people become more self-sufficient. (Family)
2. The conditions in which low-income people live are improved. (Community)
3. Low-income people own a stake in their community. (Community)
4. Partnerships among supporters and providers of services to low-income people are
achieved. (Agency)
5. Agencies increase their capacity to achieve results. (Agency)
6. Low-income people, especially vulnerable populations, achieve their potential by
strengthening family and other supportive systems. (Family)
The MATF then proposed a system of performance management called Results Oriented
Management and Accountability (ROMA). The ROMA performance management system was
voluntarily adopted by many local CAAs when it was included in the 1998 reauthorization of the
CSBG Statute. With the issuance of Information Memorandum 49 in February 2001, the Federal
Office of Community Services (OCS) ushered in a new era of “results orientation” to improve
the management and accountability of all CAAs and State CSBG Offices. In 2001, reporting on
results became mandatory.
The MATF built ROMA on a well-respected conceptual framework for management developed
by Peter Drucker, who was at the time the world's most recognized management consultant.
Drucker's principles and practices help to articulate the importance of Results Oriented
Management and Accountability as a full range of activities, not just a compliance based data
collection and reporting process. The message of the MATF was that the results produced by
the Community Action Network reflect the agency’s accomplishments as measured by changed
lives and changed conditions in the community. As understanding of ROMA was developed,
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