Community Services Block Grant

One source of our funding is the federal Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). These are flexible dollars that can be used locally for the most critical needs.

The purpose of CSBG is to provide assistance to states and local communities, working through a network of Community Action Agencies for the reduction of poverty, the revitalization of low-income communities, and the empowerment of low-income families and individuals in rural and urban areas and migrant or seasonal farm workers to become as self-sufficient as possible.

This grant is funded through the Washington State Department of Commerce for the operation of programs that address locally identified causes of poverty and increases the self-sufficiency of low-income persons.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) administers these funds to implement the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Act of 1981.

BFCAC uses these funds to provide a range of services and activities, which have a measurable and potentially major impact on the causes of poverty in Benton and Franklin Counties where poverty can be a particularly acute problem.