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FY 1999 State REACH Awards

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made grant awards totaling $5,557,985 to five states under the Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Option Program (REACH) for FY 1999. This is the fourth distribution of REACH funds.

One state winner received an additional $100,000 for energy efficiency education proposals that met specified standards.

STATE REACH AWARDS:    $5,557,985
Connecticut
Michigan
Nebraska
North Carolina
Oregon




CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES    $1,499,708
COMMUNITY RENEWAL TEAM OF GREATER HARTFORD, INC.

The Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) REACH project will support two key initiatives: 1) to leverage resources and services provided by DSS, the Connecticut Department of Labor and major utility companies to develop model approaches to helping low-income high energy burden households making the transition from welfare to work achieve energy self-sufficiency; and 2) to develop programs and strategies to help low-income households achieve more affordable electricity and increased weatherization services under Connecticut's recently passed utility structuring law.

DSS will oversee and direct the REACH grant and will contract with the Community Renewal Team of Greater Hartford, Inc. (CRT) to carry out development and management of the REACH project. CRT will form a partnership with two other community action agencies in Connecticut to manage the delivery of program services: New Opportunities for Waterbury, Inc. (NOW) and The ACCESS Agency, Inc. This REACH grant will support the following programs:

Three pilot projects that will aggressively leverage resources from utility and other State agencies to reduce the high-energy burden of low-income households.

This effort will include the establishment of a fourth pilot project that will allow up to 15,000 low-income households to participate in a market aggregation pool to purchase electricity and at the same time explore other market opportunities that may become available to purchase other sources of home energy; e.g. natural gas, heating oil and propane.

MICHIGAN FAMILY INDEPENDENCE AGENCY    $341,635
WAYNE METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY SERVICES AGENCY

Wayne Metropolitan Community Services Agency will assist high-risk, low-income households increase energy efficiency, minimize health and safety risks, and prevent homelessness through implementation of a comprehensive, demand-side intervention program, coupled with education and links to other services capable of reducing demand and increasing resources necessary to meet energy costs.

The interventions will combine energy payments, energy demand services, energy efficiency education and intensive family services, including six-months of follow-up towards achievement of the following goals:

Reducing the demand for energy usage through significant weatherization, home repair, and improvement measures linked with DOE-WAP and other programs, to include replacing appliances with newer, more energy efficient products to achieve energy consumption that is affordable for the household;

Increasing the ability of the household to meet energy expenses through education and home improvement measures that will have long-standing impact, such as personal growth and development, goal setting and achievement, in order to increase income and access to support services. This will necessitate linkage with other programs and follow-up;

Increasing the regularity of home energy bill payments;

Increasing the ability of households to receive support through programs offered by home energy suppliers to aid the target population;

Increasing the utilization of available resources to assist household in meeting energy expenses through one-on-one counseling and training necessary to meet eligibility requirements for those programs and by helping them to continue using new practices and behaviors through long-term, on-site follow up, thus achieving a safe living environment; and

Maintaining the homeowner in his/her home.

NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES    $1,136,042
LINCOLN ACTION PROGRAM

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services REACH project will be operated through collaboration between DHHS, Lincoln Action Program (a community action agency), and the University of Nebraska, Division on Children, Families and the Law (the evaluator).

The project will build upon lessons learned in a successful FY 1996 project operated by these same collaborative partners. The previous project convincingly demonstrated the effectiveness of educational and holistic support interventions. This project will further refine the project design, to isolate the various components of intervention in order to better ascertain which specific services can predict the desired project outcomes. The project will also identify a new target group (750 LIHEAP households), and will feature expanded geographic locations, innovative replicable educational components, and enhanced community partnering.

The REACH project will randomly place project households in one of five
services groups:

1) Cash utility assistance plus energy behavior modification
2) Cash utility assistance plus home environment enhancements
3) Cash utility assistance plus budgeting/resource management
4) Cash utility assistance plus holistic case management, and
5) Cash utility assistance only (control)

The project will determine the statistical significance and contribution each of the service interventions will make toward achieving energy self-sufficiency as indicated by reducing LIHEAP dependency, increasing incomes, and improving utility payment patterns.



NORTH CAROLINA OFFICE OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY    $1,000,000
COMMUNITY ACTION ASSOCIATION

The North Carolina Office of Economic Opportunity, in collaboration with 31 community-based organizations (CBO's), will develop a comprehensive REACH initiative aimed at reducing energy costs and increasing the energy self-sufficiency of North Carolina's most vulnerable households. A central goal of this project is to establish a permanent mechanism, a non-profit
aggregator, through which the State's low-income households can compete effectively in a competitive energy marketplace. Project partners will establish a Public Interest Energy Services Company ( PIESCO) which will aggregate the buying power of low-income customers in order to increase their individual energy-market power, allowing individual low-income households opportunities for self-sufficiency.

The project will provide services and coordinate the flow of funds and resources necessary to support the active involvement of CBO's in targeted high-energy burden communities. Local CBO partners will provide:

community outreach, education, organizing and enrollment of residents in the PIESCO;

the installation of energy efficiency retrofits in weatherization-eligible housing and the provision of energy efficiency education; and,

the packaging and delivery of social support services (including budget management counseling and other family development services) to targeted LIHEAP eligible households with high-energy burdens.

This innovative initiative is designed to harness the combined market power of low-income households and provide benefits significantly greater than its costs.



OREGON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES    $1,580,600*

The Oregon Housing and Community Services Department's REACH project will serve rural and urban areas in western Oregon and sparsely populated counties in eastern Oregon. These areas represent 85% of Oregon's low-income population. Sixteen community based organizations will incorporate a variety of services and benefits to clients to include energy education, residential repair and weatherization assistance, family services related to budget management and payment plans, and leveraging and negotiations with home energy suppliers. The project incorporates extensive low-income citizen participation.

The project's goals are to reduce the energy burden of low-income households and enhance their homes' health environment through:

Energy education, energy conservation, and health and safety components incorporated into Oregon's TANF, Welfare to Work, Lifeskills classroom training resource management activities;

Energy education, energy conservation, and health and safety components incorporated into Oregon's Housing Stabilization Program's resource management activities;

Energy education, energy conservation, and health and safety training incorporated into self-sufficiency programs conducted by resource managers in Oregon's Domestic Violence Victims Assistance networks, Oregon Shelter Network, tribal self-sufficiency programs and other case management/resource management focused programs; and

Coordination with public and private utilities, private heating assistance funds and other sources to develop pilot projects which will continue the REACH energy education, energy conservation, health and safety, and financial assistance activities after the completion of this project, to serve as models for future joint-ventures with public and private utility companies.

* The REACH grant award includes an additional $100,000 to operate an energy efficiency education program.


Page Last Updated: March 6, 2007