The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), administered by the states, provides core funding to local agencies to reduce poverty, revitalize low-income communities and to empower low-income families to become self-sufficient. The CSBG is currently authorized under the 1998 CSBG Act.
CSBG is a federal, anti-poverty block grant which funds the operations of a state-administered network of local agencies. This CSBG network consists of more than 1,000 agencies that create, coordinate and deliver programs and services to low-income Americans in 99 percent of the nation's counties.
Most agencies in the CSBG network are Community Action Agencies (CAAs), created through the Economic Opportunity Act, a predecessor of the CSBG. Community representation and accountability are hallmarks of the CSBG network, where agencies are governed by atri-partite board. This board structure consists of elected public officials, representatives of the low-income community, and appointed leaders from the private sector.
Because the CSBG funds the central management and core activities of these agencies, the CSBG network is able to mobilize additional resources to combat the central causes of poverty.