Aug 1, 2024 — In a Dear Colleague Letter released to grant recipients on Thursday, the Office of Community Services (OCS) announced its commitment to provide maximum flexibility and access to resources to support vulnerable populations that are most at risk for impacts from wildfires and extreme heat events across the country as well as the workers responsible for protection the nation's food supply and infrastructure. Addressing the impacts of extreme heat, OCS reminded grant recipients that OCS funding "can help mitigate the effects of extreme heat" through flexibilities within the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG).
According to the Dear Colleague Letter, "OCS has executed a layered strategy to strongly encourage LIHEAP grant recipients to use funds to assist vulnerable communities during periods of extreme heat. This has included issuing updated guidance on extreme heat flexibilities, releasing the LIHEAP and Extreme Heat Dashboard (an interactive GIS tool that tracks heat stress needs and cooling assistance trends across the country), and providing grant recipients with a variety of tools and technical assistance related to cooling assistance and extreme heat (including webinars on extreme heat and LIHEAP flexibilities, spotlight videos on cooling assistance programs, and a social media toolkit for cooling assistance outreach)."
