House Local Government Committee holds required hearing on Community Services Block Grant; agencies cite flexibility, housing and food needs

At a hearing of the House Local Government Committee, state and local officials reviewed Pennsylvania’s Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program and described how the flexible federal funding is used to help low‑income families move toward self‑sufficiency.

Rick Vallejo, Deputy Secretary for Community Affairs and Development at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), told the committee that Pennsylvania receives about $32,000,000 in CSBG funds annually and distributes roughly $29,200,000 directly to 42 community action agencies that cover all 67 counties. “CDBG is infrastructure, sewer and water and handicap ramps and community assets that can't be physically moved, and CSBG is people,” Vallejo said, contrasting the Community Development Block Grant program with CSBG.

Vallejo and Kelsey McMurless, Director for the Center for Community Services at DCED, said CSBG allocations are formula driven, monitored by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/DHHS), and used for a range of locally determined services including employment and workforce programs,…