Proposed Faith-Based Partnership Regulations

On August 5, 2015, nine federal agencies issued proposed regulations implementing the requirements of President Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13559 from November 17, 2010, “Fundamental Principles and Policy-making Criteria for Partnerships with Faith-Based and Other Neighborhood Organizations.” 

While all of the proposed regulations from the different federal agencies implementing the executive order are similar, they are not identical. This article focuses on the proposed regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which are amending the current regulations at 45 C.F.R. 87, “Equal Treatment for Faith-Based Organizations.” HHS is currently soliciting comments on its proposed regulations, which can be found here. Comments must be submitted by October 5, 2015, and may be provided online. Read more.

Overview of Guidance for Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP)  

The Office of Head Start (OHS) and Office of Child Care (OCC) jointly released Information Memorandum (IM) ACF-IM-HS-15-03 on August 6, 2015 to provide guidance on a number of issues affecting Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP).  Under EHS-CCP, new or existing Early Head Start (EHS) grantees receive five-year grants to support partnerships with either center-based or family child care providers. These partnerships are intended to leverage the quality standards of EHS to help child care partners provide comprehensive full-day and full-year EHS services that meet the Head Start Program Performance Standards (the HSPPS).  This article highlights some of the main issues addressed in the IM that EHS-CCP grantees commonly face, but stakeholders should read the IM in its entirety at the link above for more information. Read more.

EEOC Pilots System to Notify Employers by Email

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has begun piloting a system for electronically notifying employers of charges of discrimination filed against them. While the notification system is not mandatory and is currently only available to employers in select cities, CAAs could receive electronic notifications at any time. CAAs should be aware of this possibility and prepared to respond appropriately. To learn more, read this Legal Alert from the law firm Fisher and Phillips. 

Ways to Assess Organizational Impact 

The Community Services Block Grant Organizational Standards are replete with references to impact—from the overall goal of implementing high-impact programs and services to the nuts and bolts of producing data to reflect the impact of the Community Action network. Such assessments inform the ways in which an organization allocates and aligns its resources to best further its mission and increase its sustainability.  Steve Zimmerman, author of the 2010 book Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Decisions for Financial Viability and that book’s recently published field guide, offers a number of suggestions for ways to think about, measure, and analyze mission impact—including ways to evaluate relative impact across programs—in this article from Blue Avocado. 

This e-News Bulletin is part of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Legal Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Center. It was created by Community Action Program Legal Services, Inc. (CAPLAW) in the performance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services Cooperative Agreement – Grant Award Number 90ET0441-01. Any opinion, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.