To FSS Coordinators, Specialists, Case Managers and other FSS professionals:

I am writing to seek your collaboration in a nationwide effort to strengthen and expand the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program.  On a daily basis, you apply your creativity, energy, and dedication to help FSS participants build their self-esteem, set goals, and overcome numerous obstacles to achieve those goals.  There is a need now for you to apply the same skills to the FSS program as a whole.  Please add your voice, your ideas, and your passion to a nationwide campaign to ensure not only FSS’ continued survival, but also its growth, so that more families can benefit from FSS’ successful, comprehensive approach to asset-building and self-sufficiency.

About FSS Partnerships

Funded by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to LISC’s Housing Authority Resource Center , FSS Partnerships is a new initiative designed to:

These goals clearly cannot be achieved without the assistance of the many FSS professionals that make this program work.  So please read on about what you can do to contribute to these efforts.

The Challenge

Even as the FSS program is growing and maturing and transforming more and more lives, it faces one of the biggest challenges of its 14-year existence.  HUD’s fiscal year (FY) 2005 budget has proposed to eliminate dedicated funding for Section 8 FSS coordinators, convert the Section 8 voucher program to a block grant, and substantially reduce the amount of Section 8 funding provided to PHAs.  (For more info, see http://www.cbpp.org/3-23-04hous.pdf.)

FSS practitioners that work with Section 8 voucher-holders are understandably concerned with what might happen if this proposal were to be enacted.  Will housing agencies that no longer receive special funding for FSS coordinators and are no longer compensated by HUD for investments in FSS escrow deposits choose to continue the program?  Will the “bonus” funding that accompanies the block grant be enough to ensure the program’s continued survival?  

Rising to the Challenge

I recently had the pleasure of spending two days at the PNRC NAHRO conference in Tacoma , Washington , attending and participating in the “FSS Track” – a series of workshops about FSS and related programs, such as Section 8 homeownership.  I came away extremely impressed with the energy, creativity, and sophistication of the FSS practitioners that attended the workshops.  As is no doubt the case with FSS professionals all over the country, they were almost uniformly “problem solvers” and “go getters” who wouldn’t take no for an answer for their clients.  

This gave me great hope that, together, we can rise to the challenge faced by the program as a whole and ensure its continued survival, even if the block grant is enacted.  And why stop there?  (Would you be satisfied if your clients’ goals were merely to maintain the status quo?)  Why not work to expand the resources available to support FSS so that more families can benefit from it, whether or not the block grant passes?  Many of the same activities are needed for both goals – marketing, fundraising, partnership-building, etc. – so we might as well aim high.

While FSS coordinators serving public housing residents do not face the same challenges facing their Section 8 colleagues – HUD’s FY 2005 budget does not propose changes in public housing FSS funding – they too have an opportunity to expand the number of families participating in their FSS programs.  So most of the options discussed in this letter apply equally to public housing FSS practitioners.

What can you do?

The speakers at the PNRC conference had lots of ideas about how to meet the challenges facing FSS.   Here is a summary of eight things you can do to help FSS not only survive but grow:

1.  Don’t panic.  No one is turning off the lights tomorrow or the day after.  In fact, in early May 2004, HUD will release a SuperNOFA that includes new funding for FSS coordinators serving Section 8 voucher participants.  While this funding comes out of HUD’s FY 2004 budget, it will provide funding for Section 8 FSS coordinators well into federal FY 2005.  (The SuperNOFA also includes funding for public housing FSS coordinators through the ROSS NOFA.)  So you’ve got time to plan and execute a strategic approach to meeting this challenge.

2.  Educate your housing agency about the accomplishments of FSS.  Some FSS practitioners are blessed with a highly supportive Executive Director and Board of Commissioners.  But many practitioners work in housing agencies that do not fully appreciate the value of FSS.  Educate your agency leadership and other departments about FSS.  Invite them to graduation ceremonies where FSS participants discuss how the program has benefited them.  Invite them to ribbon-cuttings for new homeowners.  Share data and stories on how FSS has helped participants dramatically increase their earnings and accumulate assets that enable them to become homeowners and start their own businesses.  Schedule a special session where the leadership can meet and hear from FSS participants and graduates.  If the agency’s leadership really understands the value of FSS, it is more likely to consider retaining FSS in a block grant world and more likely to support your efforts to grow the program if the block grant does not pass.

3.  Educate the community about FSS.  It is remarkable how little is known about FSS outside the four walls of housing agencies.  You’ve got a remarkable program and record of accomplishment to “market” to the community, but they can’t support you if they don’t know anything about you.  Work on getting newspaper coverage for FSS graduates or home closings.  Write letters to your paper about FSS and its accomplishments.  Ask members of your Program Coordinating Committee for help setting up meetings at their agencies where you can make presentations to their staff about FSS.  (Bring a graduate or two to speak for themselves.)  Arrange for FSS graduates to testify at Consolidated Plan hearings or other public forums related to housing, self-sufficiency, workforce development, etc.

4.  Develop a fundraising plan.  The more entrepreneurial FSS professionals should consider going after grant funding to support case managers.  CDBG is one potential source of funds.  Other potential funding sources include TANF agencies, United Way or other philanthropic organizations, foundations, local businesses (such as utility companies interested in helping clients better afford their bills) or even private individuals.  Consider structuring the grant to cover two distinct possibilities: (a) funding to support the existing case managers, in the event the block grant passes; or (b) funding to support additional case managers so you can expand the program, in the event the block grant does not pass.  Although it has its own complications, you may wish to consider starting a nonprofit organization (or finding a non-profit partner) that can qualify for a broader range of grants.

Another option is to go after funding that will cover a piece of what the existing coordinators do – such as housing counseling funds for homeownership or financial literacy education.  If you have two FSS coordinators that each spend 25 percent of their time on homeownership education and you get funding for a half-time housing counselor to handle all homeownership education, you’ve freed up the equivalent of another half-time FSS case manager.

5.  Build or strengthen partnerships with other agencies with similar goals.  There are a great number of agencies and organizations that are interested in helping low-income families make progress towards self-sufficiency and build assets.  Identify those organizations working in your community that have similar goals and work to develop partnerships with them that can generate additional resources for case management.  Many potential partners – such as Community Action Agencies, Head Start, TANF, workforce agencies, United Way funded agencies, etc. – are already providing case management, including to some of your clients.  Once they understand how FSS can help them achieve their own goals – for example, by adding a strong financial incentive to support their self-sufficiency efforts – they may be willing to handle the case management responsibilities for a specified number of FSS participants.  Alternatively, you can take a “layered” approach, where the partner (say a TANF agency) handles case management for a limited period of time (e.g., while the client is receiving TANF cash assistance) and then transitions the client to you for follow-up once the initial period has ended.  Still another approach is to find partners that can handle time-consuming, separable tasks that you may now be doing yourself – such as housing counseling, resume building, employment search, etc. – thereby freeing up your time to help more individuals.

Your success stories and hard data on earnings and asset growth of FSS graduates will be invaluable in “marketing” your program to potential funders or partners.  Feel free to also use the materials on www.fsspartnerships.org, which include a general description of FSS for non-housers, a paper summarizing program results from more than 17 FSS programs, and an evolving library of success stories.

6.  Educate Congress about the value of FSS.  The proposed budget is just that – a proposal.  Congress has not yet decided whether to accept the Administration’s proposals.  It may sound a little corny, but you have a voice in the political process.  So do your FSS participants, FSS graduates, partner agencies and landlords who rent to Section 8 voucher-holders.  There is broad support for the goals of FSS, including self-sufficiency and asset-building.  It is hard to believe that the leaders of this country would place FSS in jeopardy if they really understood how FSS can transform the lives of low-income families, increase homeownership, increase the tax base, and reduce the need for public assistance.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ analysis may be useful in explaining the current challenges faced by FSS: http://www.cbpp.org/3-23-04hous.pdf.

7.  Share your creative ideas with other FSS professionals through FSS Partnerships.  At present, there is no single repository for information about best practices in FSS.  A number of regions around the country have responded to this void by creating local or regional FSS groups that provide a community of practice for sharing ideas, educating newcomers and supporting each other’s work.  A website is no substitute for these valuable communities of practice, but it can help to support them.  I am interested in putting together an online “toolkit” of resources that can be accessed by FSS programs nationwide.  I encourage you to send me brief write-ups of innovative practices that I can post to the “toolkit” section of www.fsspartnerships.org.  Examples of materials that would be useful include write-ups of successful: (a) strategies for recruiting FSS participants; (b) strategies for keeping the PCC involved and interested; (c) fundraising strategies for supporting additional case managers; (d) partnerships with other agencies to expand case management capacity; (e) partnerships with IDA programs; and (f) strategies for generating positive publicity for FSS.  (These are just examples; be creative!) 

Also, please send data on program results (a form is on the website) and stories of successful FSS participants.  (To save me re-typing, please send stories as word documents.)  If you have other thoughts on how a website could contribute to your work, please send me an email.

8.  Stay in touch with each other and with FSS Partnerships.  The local communities of practice are a fabulous resource.  Another great resource is the “family self-sufficiency” group on Yahoo groups. (To join this unaffiliated listserv, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FamilySelfSufficiency.)  In addition to whatever efforts you’re making to stay in touch with other FSS coordinators, I’d encourage you to also sign up for the FSS Partnerships’ newsletter.  This is a “receive-only” newsletter that will provide you with updates on new postings and best practices materials available on www.fsspartnerships.org.  For instructions on how to sign up for the FSS Partnerships newsletter, visit: http://www.fsspartnerships.org/newsletter.htm.

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You know how valuable FSS is.  If you do everything you can to let others know about this “best-kept” secret, FSS can not only survive but thrive! 

Sincerely,

Jeff Lubell , Project Director, FSS Partnerships

© 2004 FSS Partnerships.  All Rights Reserved.