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Arizona's REACH Program Evaluation SummaryAbstract The Arizona Department of Economic Security, Community Services Administration (DES/CSA) developed a program of holistic case management and a self-sufficiency approach to reducing poverty in Arizona's rural areas. Support for participants was offered through six Community Action Agencies (CAAs) that serve primarily rural communities in 13 of Arizona's 15 counties. Duration Grant Amount Goals The Arizona REACH program developed and used scales to assess the level of self-sufficiency for a household in each of the 15 service areas (including energy assistance, energy efficiency, energy management practices, income, employment, health care, language and literacy, adult education, shelter, childcare, food and nutrition, support network, family relations, transportation and mobility and community involvement), and to track changes in self-sufficiency over time. The case managers recorded the levels of self-sufficiency based on their assessment of the household. The assessments were made at intake, referral, follow up, and close out. The range of the self-sufficiency scales was from 1 to 5, with each level defined as follows: 1) in crisis, 2) vulnerable, 3) stable, 4) building capacity, and 5) empowered. A household was not considered to be self-sufficient in a given service area until the household reached a level of 5. Energy burden is essentially the percentage of a household's income spent on energy bills; thus, energy burden reductions can occur through either reductions in energy bills or through an increase in household income. Client Eligibility All six subgrantees initially established an energy burden criterion, which ranged from 11% to 16%. Some prioritized specific populations such as single parents, families with young children, elderly or handicapped clients. Two subgrantees targeted specific geographic areas within their service territories. After more experience with the program, four of the six CAAs changed their eligibility criteria. Client Services The program provided case management for and referrals to the fifteen types of services aforementioned Outcomes
The largest changes in average self-sufficiency levels were in energy assistance and employment. While the results in self-sufficiency were positive and significant, the evaluation notes that the REACH households were not completely self-sufficient nor energy self-sufficient after program participation. The average household energy burden of 33% after participation is not affordable. However, the strong energy efficiency component initially proposed for this program could not be implemented as planned due to the low level of Department of Energy funding for Arizona's Weatherization Assistance Program. The shift in focus to non-energy strategies to increase income and, thus, reduce energy burden was impaired by the lack of available resources (i.e. livable wages and affordable housing) for low-income households in rural Arizona. Of the 15 service areas on the Arizona self-sufficiency matrix, the REACH subgrantees ranked the following as the most important in terms of making a difference in low-income households increasing in levels of self-sufficiency: 1) employment, 2) income, 3) shelter/housing, 4) transportation, and tied for 5) food and language/literacy. The evaluation also reports that the program caused important changes in the overall philosophy, the approach to reducing poverty and the service delivery systems in the six participating CAAs, as well as in relationships with other resources in the communities and with DES. However, this change was not universally experienced by all clients because 1) agencies were overloaded with crisis needs for more households than could be served by a full case management approach, and 2) not all clients responded effectively to the case management/family development approach. Page Last Updated: September 24, 2009 |
