Have you seen the acronym HCCT around lately? During a conversation in New Orleans at the 2018 Management and Leadership Training Conference, an effort was born to reimagine the U.S. social safety net with congruency and intent. In the time since that conference, Regional Performance Innovation Consortia (RPICs) across the U.S. have been supporting agencies – agencies that shape the future of Community Action by building human capacity and affecting community transformations. RPICs supported the design and administration of localized strategies that empowered agencies to meet CSBG Organizational Standards – a sign of general organizational effectiveness.

The next step in reimagining a social safety net is to identify and showcase the most impactful poverty-fighting initiatives involving community action agencies that exceed CSBG organizational standards. Often these initiatives demonstrate sustainable partnerships with other organizations and/or funding sources to create transformations for people and communities. Deciding the “most impactful” will be based on the initiative’s ability to advance Human Capacity and Community Transformation (HCCT) – to highlight the actions that are proven to work in the fight to end poverty.

These highlighted initiatives will serve as models for making similar community transformations in other locations. Each of the eleven regions may submit up to 15 initiatives (with at least one from each state in the region) for final consideration by the national HCCT Center of Excellence. All submitted initiatives must meet a common set of guidelines that will be detailed in future communications. Over the next year, RPICs will support highlighted HCCT initiatives to prepare them for implementation in other communities.

CSBG funds have clearly been used for some purpose, at some point, in the implementation of the initiative.

1. CSBG provided funding to one or more of the following related to the initiative: initiative planning, early implementation, staffing, needs assessment support, strategic planning support, data support, evaluation, or other allowable use of CSBG funds

The initiative has a transformative impact related to the causes and/or conditions of poverty at a community level.

1. If the initiative’s primary focus is community-level needs, it has the following characteristics:
   1. designed to create measurable community-wide improvement
   2. affecting one or more cause or condition of poverty
   3. within a defined geographic area;
   4. has clearly defined and measurable goals and
   5. one or more strategic activities designed to achieve that goal; 
   6. CAA must be an active participant in the initiative with a clearly defined role in it.  –and/or–
2. If the initiative’s primary focus is family- or agency-level needs, it must provide a statement describing how the initiative’s implementation informs community transformation and/or systems change.

Other agencies with similarly-identified needs and resources could replicate the initiative and expect to have similar results.

1. The initiative has a documented implementation plan that can be publicly shared. –and/or–
2. The initiative provides a statement attesting to the fact that it can be replicated in communities with similar needs and similar commonly-available resources.

The initiative is clearly based on data/evidence that demonstrates its impact.

1. The initiative has quantitative/qualitative data that clearly establish its impact (as described above in “Transformative impact.” –and/or–
2. If the initiative has not yet developed an evidence base, there are measures currently being developed or implemented that will establish this evidence base.

The initiative addresses equity issues of particular relevance to the community because equity is relevant to all communities.

1. The initiative has, and achieves, a specific goal of achieving greater racial/ethnic equity in the community –and/or–
2. The initiative collects data by different demographic groups that permit the analysis of its impact on different racial/ethnic groups in the community.

The initiative includes the voice or leadership of individuals with lived experience with poverty in the community.

1. The initiative includes an advisory group with significant resident leadership/ participation. –and/or–
2. The initiative uses a specific customer satisfaction/ community input mechanism to ensure customer voice. –and/or–
3. The initiative uses some other process that demonstrates residents’ lived experience influences the implementation and/or evaluation of the initiative’s impact.