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

NASCSP 2013
BACKGROUND
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 established the Community Action Network, which
incorporated State Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Offices in 1981, when funding
transitioned to a block grant format. In Community Action, service delivery occurs at the local
level within Community Action Agencies (CAAs). CAAs are places people can turn when they
need help to stabilize, improve or rebuild their lives and communities due to economic
hardship. The mission of the hundreds of thousands of people who work and volunteer in
Community Action, as outlined in the CSBG Statute, is to support movement toward family selfsufficiency
and revitalize communities.
Over the past 49 years, the Community Action Network has engaged in numerous "continuous
improvement" efforts to increase efficiency and effectiveness. In the past year, the Federal
Office of Community Services (OCS) has supported this ongoing effort through grants for
Centers of Excellence (COE) at the Community Action Partnership (the Partnership) and the
National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP). OCS has also contracted
with the Urban Institute.
The Organizational Standards COE, managed by the Partnership, is gathering input from the
Network to establish a set of federally approved criteria that State CSBG Offices can use to
assess CAA capacity. These criteria, or standards, will include a focus on compliance with basic
requirements of the CSBG Statute. These standards will also go beyond basic compliance to
focus on high-quality performance across the Community Action Network.
The ROMA Next Generation COE, managed by NASCSP, is working to review and strengthen
performance measures and indicators within the Network’s current performance management
system, Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA). NASCSP will complete this
task with input from the Community Action Network and outside performance management
and measurement experts. This COE will also assure a coordinated strategy for the nationwide
implementation of updated performance measures and indicators, giving special attention to
how the updated measures and indicators can be used to compare local entity use of CSBG
resources effectiveness and efficiency. The ROMA Next Generation COE will also provide the
Community Action Network with tools to highlight and promote the use of evidence-informed
practices.
OCS funded the Urban Institute (UI) to provide expert analysis and recommendations for
improvements in the Network’s performance management and measurement system. To this
end, UI will review Community Action’s ROMA process, including its performance measurement
system via the National Performance Indicators (NPIs). They will also conduct an environmental
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