Head Start Training and Technical Assistance
Family and Community Partnerships

Announcements

Supporting Families: Advocacy

The transcript for the conference call on advocacy is now available.

Supporting Families: Advocacy [Word, 47 KB]

2008 PIR

The transcript for the conference call on the 2008 PIR is now available.

• Transcript [Word, 115 KB]
• 2007 PIR Indicators Formulas [Word, 79 KB]

Kinship 101/Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

2008 Federal Poverty Guidelines

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published in the Federal Register its annual update to the HHS poverty guidelines. These guidelines are used as an eligibility criterion for many Federal programs that HHS administers.

The 2008 poverty guidelines are available on the HHS website at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/08poverty.shtml.

Policy Question regarding Military Basic Housing Allowance (BAH)

(Here is the statement from the OHS. Note...Basic Pay is NOT counted if it was paid for service in a combat zone.)

For purposes of determining income eligibility, the HS regulations count as 'income' all gross cash income. Basically, this is all income—earned and unearned—that is taxable. For military personnel, there are numerous categories of pay and allowances. Some of these are counted as gross cash income and others are not. To further complicate things, some pay and allowances which are otherwise counted as gross cash income, fall out of that category if they are received for service in a combat zone.

The following are included in gross cash income unless it is paid for service in a combat zone:

• Basic Pay – active duty, back wages, drills, reserve training, training duty, CONUS COLA
• Special Pay – aviation career incentives, diving duty, foreign duty, foreign language proficiency, hardship duty, hostile file or imminent danger, medical and dental officers, nuclear-qualified officers, optometry, pharmacy, veterinarian
• Bonuses – career status, enlistment, officer, overseas extension, re-enlistment
• Incentive Pay – submarine, flight, hazardous duty, High Altitude/Low Altitude (HALO)
• Other payments – accrued leave, high deployment per diem, personal money allowances paid to high ranking officers, specified Student loan repayment programs

The following are NOT included as gross cash income:

• Living Allowances – BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing)* even if BAH is used to pay mortgage interest and taxes, BAS (Basic Allowance for Subsistence), housing and cost of living allowances abroad, OHA (Overseas Housing Allowance).
• Moving Allowances – moving household and personal items, storage, moving trailers or mobile homes, temporary lodging, dislocation, military base realignment and closure benefit.
• Travel Allowances – annual roundtrip for dependent students, leave between consecutive overseas tours, reassignment in a dependent restricted status, transportation during ship overhaul and inactivation, per diem
• Family Allowances – specified educational expenses for dependents, emergencies, evacuation to a place of safety, separation
• Death Allowances - burial services, death gratuity payments to eligible survivors, travel of dependents to burial site
• In-kind Benefits – dependent-care assistance, legal assistance, medical/dental care, commissary/exchange discounts, space-available travel on government carriers
• Other payments – disability, group-term life insurance, professional education, ROTC educational and subsistence allowances, uniform allowances, survivor and retirement protection plan premiums.

* BAH is based on geographic duty location, pay grade, and dependency status. The intent of BAH is to provide uniformed service members accurate and equitable housing compensation based on housing costs in local civilian housing markets, and is payable when government quarters are not provided.

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