April 3, 2020 – The Office of Community Services (OCS) released Dear Colleague Letters providing guidance surrounding issues and conditions associated with the circumstances in result of COVID-19. This guidance follows the release of a $900 stimulus package for LIHEAP on March 25, 2020.
The letters include several guidance resources relevant to issues and question related to COVID-19’s effect on LIHEAP programs, including the statutory language for the exact funding formula used for disbursing the $8.3 billion dollar Supplemental passed by Congress, changes in monitoring and reporting regulations and questions and answers related to LIHEAP grantees (including resources on OCS guidance for disaster response).
Also included in a letter are details regarding grant flexibilities for conducting human service-related activities related to or affected by COVID-19. Some of these flexibilities provide short-term relief for administrative and fiscal management in “affected entities.” A question and answer section is provided in the Initial COVID-19 Guidance resource, provided by OCS.
The three letters can be found here: LIHEAP Partnership to Address the Spread of COVID-19, Initial COVID-19 Program Guidance and IM-ACF-OA-2020-1 ACF COVID Flexibilities. Any questions regarding changes to program requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic should be directed to the Grants Management Specialist and Project Officer assigned with that agencies grant.
To learn more about the $900 million stimulus package released on March 25, visit the LIHEAP Clearinghouse featured news web page.
Source: Dear Colleague Letters
