Community Action

450 Syndicate Street N Saint Paul, MN 55104

Community Action Partnership of Ramsey & Washington Counties

STRAIGHT TALK
A quarterly update to close friends of Community Action Partnership of Ramsey & Washington Counties

Dear Friend, Its budget decision time around the country. At the Federal level we await the results of the Super Committee and hope for progress on hard budgets. At our Agency, we have made very s. choices about where to put our limited resource Inside, you will read about how the prospect k of a 50% cut in our Community Services Bloc Grant impacted our 2012 budget, how we prepared for our Head Start Federal review and our efforts to improve service in Energy t Ass istance. Even as we await decisions tha will dramatically affect Community Actions future, we continue to press forward in . improving our service and system efficiencies If you have questions, please send an email to chightower@caprw.org or call 651-603-5950.
Sincerely, Clarence Hightower Executive Director

STRAIGHT TALK
November 2011

IMPACTFUL DECISIONS:
On September 15, our Board of Directors approved Community Actions 2012 budget. This budget was based on the best information we have right now, which includes President Obamas proposed 50% cut to the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). The decisions we had to make to create this budget were very, very hard. These decisions were neither easy nor lightly undertaken. Over a period of three months, we carefully considered all scenarios. We reduced positions in Planning and Community Engagement by 3.5 FTE. One position was already vacant, 1.5 positions were eliminated and two positions were reduced to half-time. Additionally, in order to direct as many resources as possible to the classroom, Head Start reorganized and ve positions were eliminated. These changes will reduce resources committed to communication, administration and program facilitation. However, this approach best preserves our direct service to those most in need in Ramsey & Washington counties.

PROGRAM NEWS:
Head Start & Early Head Start: Sixteen groups, 2000 standards, fty parents, partners and staff participated in our Head Start mock review. Every three years, Head Start programs have a Federal review. Our staff spent an intensive week in October examining program details and getting feedback from parents. The teams were divided into areas of examination including nutrition, health services and transportation. Also invited to serve on the teams were representatives from our state Head Start ofce, our state grants manager and a Federal Head Start program reviewer. Our goal: 100% compliance when the real review happens. Thanks to the hard work from our mock review teams, we have identied areas of strength and areas which will be improved before the real review. Energy Assistance: Faster service, electronic storage and improved security are all results of Energy Assistances (EAP) switch to new software called Laserche. Every year, a massive number of applications are received in the rst three months of the program. With Laserche, EAP scans all applications (including paycheck stubs and other income documents) into the database, determines grant amounts as soon as possible and handles calls from concerned participants. The applications are at all of our EAP workers ngertips via the software. We can often determine exactly what the participant may be missing in order to complete their application. EAP received the Run Smarter Award from Laserche Company, honoring their implementation and process improvement.

PARTICIPANT STORY
The Emergency Medical Services Academy is an EMT and reghter awareness program, aimed at low-income, young adults living in Ramsey County. Community Actions role is to provide counseling to participants for all the issues outside the classroom, including nancial education, application assistance and housing emergencies. Julian (name changed) failed an important exam and was on the verge of being terminated from the Academy. Our coordinator found out he was precariously housed and without county assistance. We spoke to the instructor, who allowed Julian to retake the exam. We provided emergency food assistance and advocated on Julians behalf. We worked with Julian to create a nancial plan and provided transportation assistance. Julian is now attending school full-time at Saint Paul College. Rather than being kicked out of the EMS Academy within the rst couple of weeks, Julian is now a successful Academy graduate and is set to take his National Registry Exam.

Community Action Partnership of Ramsey & Washington Counties 450 Syndicate Street N, Saint Paul, MN 55104 651-645-6445 caprw.org