HOUSE COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE February 16, 1999 8:08 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Andrew Halcro, Co-Chairman Representative Carl Morgan Representative Lisa Murkowski Representative Reggie Joule Representative Albert Kookesh MEMBERS ABSENT Representative John Harris, Co-Chairman Representative Fred Dyson COMMITTEE CALENDAR OVERSIGHT HEARING: Community Services Block Grant WITNESS REGISTER PAT POLAND, Director Division of Municipal & Regional Assistance Department of Community & Regional Affairs 333 West 4th Avenue, Suite 220 Anchorage, Alaska 99501-2341 POSITION STATEMENT: Offered information regarding the Community Services Block Grant. ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 99-6, SIDE A Number 001 CO-CHAIRMAN HALCRO called the House Community and Regional Affairs Standing Committee meeting to order at 8:08 a.m. Members present at the call to order were Representatives Halcro, Morgan and Murkowski. Representatives Harris and Dyson were absent. Representatives Joule and Kookesh arrived at 8:09 a.m. Co-Chairman Halcro noted that Co-Chairman Harris was held in Valdez due to the weather. Community Services Block Grant Number 038 PAT POLAND, Director, Division of Municipal & Regional Assistance, Department of Community & Regional Affairs, testified via teleconference from Anchorage. He explained that the division was responsible for the administration of the Community Services Block Grant Program (CSBG). The CSBG funds are allocated to the department for distribution to RuRAL CAP Incorporated, Alaska's only community action agency. The state keeps five percent, maximum, of the funds to cover administrative costs and the remainder of the funds are transferred to RuRAL CAP. Mr. Poland said, "The purpose of the Community Services Block Grant Program is to impact the causes and conditions of poverty." The draft plan before the committee for comment outlines the administration of the program and the proposed activities that RuRAL CAP will attempt in FY98-99. MR. POLAND explained that RuRAL CAP will utilize CSBG funds to serve low-income people throughout the state in the following components: child development, community development, planning, program support and subsistence. Each component is described in detail in the plan the committee has before it. He noted that the plan also includes outcome measures for each component. The outcome measures were developed and implemented in FY97 for all CSBG supported programs. "Program results are tracked and reported on a quarterly basis, in terms of the number of clients who receive, who achieve a given milestone." Staff review the progress in order to evaluate results and implement necessary changes. Mr. Poland said, "Ultimately, this process will do more than assure accountability. It will keep RuRAL CAP on the leading edge of change and progress well into the next century." MR. POLAND stated that both the department and RuRAL CAP emphasize maximum participation by rural people in the elimination of the causes and conditions of poverty. Mr. Poland believed, "The best approach, we feel, is to help low-income people through a holistic community development (indisc.) based on the premise that development must come from within and that it must go hand-in-hand with (indisc.) responsibility." In conclusion, Mr. Poland noted that Ms. Kennedy and other RuRAL CAP members should be in the hearing room in Juneau; those folks would be the best to direct questions regarding specific questions about the plan and its implementation. CO-CHAIRMAN HALCRO asked if anyone in the hearing room wanted to testify, specifically Melanie Greer (ph). No one wanted to testify. Number 115 CO-CHAIRMAN HALCRO pointed out that the narrative description of the program says that at least 90 percent of the funding received by the state for CSBG is pass through; what happens to the remaining 10 percent. MR. POLAND said that about five percent is used for administration and about 95 percent is passed through to RuRAL CAP. CO-CHAIRMAN HALCRO noted that the RuRAL CAP funding sources are broken into state and federal funds. Co-Chairman Halcro inquired as to how these funding sources work; are the funding sources grants? MR. POLAND explained that the funding for the CSBG Program is received from federal funds. Mr. Poland said that he was not sufficiently familiar with RuRAL CAP's full funding to comment on all its funding sources. CO-CHAIRMAN HALCRO, in response to Representative Murkowski, explained that Ms. Kennedy had not signed in to testify and was not in the hearing room. Ms. Kennedy had been on the agenda to speak to the committee. Co-Chairman Halcro asked if Ike Waits was present to speak today. MR. POLAND said that Mr. Waits was not present. CO-CHAIRMAN HALCRO asked Mr. Poland if he would be able to help the committee with specific questions regarding the 1999 plan. MR. POLAND said that he would do his best, but regarding the specifics of the program he had anticipated Ms. Kennedy's presence to answer such questions. Number 164 REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI inquired as to what the program support component is in comparison to the other components within the CSBG. She understood that the program support is the administrative support which includes legal, technical, and secretarial support. How is the administrative support different than the support within each program component? There appears to be an administrative overlap. MR. POLAND deferred to someone from RuRAL CAP for a detailed explanation. CO-CHAIRMAN HALCRO thanked Mr. Poland for his testimony. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the committee, the House Community & Regional Affairs Committee meeting was adjourned at 8:15 a.m.