Opportunity for Collaboration and Leveraging Resources through HUD's Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS)

Hi all,

I wanted to share with you an announcement that Donna Brian, SME of the LINCS Career Pathways group, recently posted.  Donna's message below describes opportunities for adult education and related programs to collaborate with and provide support and services via the Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS)  to families who receive housing assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV).  As stated in the OVAE Connection Newsletter of January 9, 2014, "Adult education providers and community college staff in these (funded) regions are encouraged to reach out to the locally funded programs to coordinate referrals and leverage resources with HCV-FSS partners."  Details of the program and links are included in the message below.

Donna posed several questions to the Career Pathways group members which I want to pose to this group:

• Do any of you know about the plans for your area?  It seems like the members of this group ought to be involved in this program, and I'm just wondering if you are, and how you are. We have a lot of expertise that would be of use to these grantees, and I hope the plans involve you. Please share what you know.

Thanks, all, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Gail Cope, SME, LINCS Program Management Group

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In the latest OVAE Connection - Issue 179 - January 9, 2014, the following announcement is made:

"The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded almost $57 million in grants through the Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS) to aid families who receive housing assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV). The goal of the awards is to facilitate their access to education, job training, and employment, thus promoting family self-sufficiency through the attainment of the skills needed to compete for family sustaining employment. The program will also help public housing authorities throughout the nation hire or retain more than 1,000 service coordinators. These coordinators work directly with families by connecting them to the specific support services that meet their individual employment needs. Adult education providers and community college staff in these regions are encouraged to reach out to these locally funded programs to coordinate referrals and leverage resources with HCV-FSS partners.

Services provided include: education and job training and placement opportunities, childcare, counseling, transportation, and computer and financial literacy services. The HCV-FSS program also encourages innovative strategies that link HCV assistance with other resources to enable participating families to find employment, increase their earned income, reduce or eliminate their need for rental or welfare assistance, and make progress toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency."

The link at "locally funded programs" provides the names of the grant recipients in each state and the amounts each grantee received, but does not say how the grantees proposed to use the award.  Do any of you know about the plans for your area?  It seems like the members of this group ought to be involved in this program, and I'm just wondering if you are, and how you are. We have a lot of expertise that would be of use to these grantees, and I hope the plans involve you. Please share what you know.

Donna Brian

SME Career Pathways