S<\/span>pring has sprung \u2013 but in this post-Covid-19 era, is it safe to say, \u201cIt\u2019s 2022; we can now resume our lives?\u201d Or has it sprung a leak in our back pockets?<\/p>\n As temperatures warm and days lengthen, some individuals in 2022 face income changes unprecedented in 30 years \u2013 not to mention since Covid-19 transformed the world in 2020.<\/p>\n For adults active in the workforce and areas with face-to-face engagement, there are reduced work hours and income, not to mention costly home energy, utility, and care expenses.<\/p>\n The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the first year of Covid-19, 9.6 million jobs were lost in the United States.<\/p>\n The Office of Community Services<\/a> (OCS), a federal multi-program office with roots in the War on Poverty in the 1960s, has numerous supports available through states, tribes and tribal organizations, territories, and community-based organizations to aid individuals and neighborhoods facing economic slowdowns in the face of the pandemic.<\/p>\n OCS is based in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/a>, Administration for Children and Families<\/a>. Our programs support increased opportunity and economic security of individuals and families, and houses initiatives that revitalize communities.<\/p>\n OCS programs like our Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program<\/a> (LIHEAP) and Low Income Household Water Assistance Program<\/a> (LIHWAP) are designed to help with heating and cooling costs as well as water and sewer costs, respectively.<\/p>\n Other programs may help a job seeker train for a new area where there is a need such as jobs in the technology industry or renewable industry.<\/p>\n The Community Economic Development<\/a> (CED) program funds community agencies that create jobs (and businesses) in economically-distressed areas.<\/p>\n The Community Services Block Grant<\/a> (CSBG) also could provide job training and placement services thru groups that serve every community in the United States called community action agencies. The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) does not provide direct grants to individuals; CSBG does not charge a fee for receiving a grant. discretionary grants are available at the statewide or local level, or for associations with demonstrated expertise in addressing the needs of low-income families, such as Community Action Agencies (CAAs)<\/p>\n Employment services are just one of the activities supported by CSBG. There are other uses, determined by public survey of the local area\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n For further information, visit Office of Community Services, An Office of the Administration for Children & Families<\/a> and Twitter @OCS_ACFgov<\/p>\n Support resources available at the community and personal level<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2022","category-spring-summer-2022-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12388"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12474,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12388\/revisions\/12474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Support resources available at the community and personal level<\/h3>\n
Dr. Yolanda J. Butler<\/a> is a senior advisor in the Office of Community Services. Dr. Butler served as Deputy Director of the Office of Community Services for over 10 years; and, from 2008 \u2013 2011, she also served as the Acting Director of OCS. Dr. Butler received a doctorate in Political Science (concentrating in American Government and Public Administration) from Howard University in 2006 and was a Presidential Management Fellow.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"