A project team supported by: WRMA’s Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) team
Decades of service:
Office of Community Services and WRMA partner on Social Services Block Grant
Client:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Office of Community Services (OCS)
Service Areas
Areas of Expertise
Summary
In 1998, the Office of Community Services (OCS) sought a contractor to develop a data collection system and prepare reports for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) program. Since winning the contract, WRMA has provided OCS with advanced solutions for data collection, validation, and analysis. This has included the development and maintenance of a user-friendly data collection website.
WRMA also supports OCS through the design and development of the SSBG Annual Report. In 2015, WRMA collaborated with OCS to modernize this 170-page data report. WRMA’s data visualization and report design experts produced a visually appealing and informative layout, which OCS adopted as the design standard for SSBG public reports moving forward.
Details
Established in 1981, the SSBG allocates federal funds to states to support services for at-risk children, adults, and families. OCS, a division of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administers the SSBG. States have broad discretion in the specific programs supported with SSBG funds and may tailor the use of these funds over time to best meet the needs of their populations.
The SSBG program is an important source of federal funds for grantees that supports a variety of social services programs. Enabling smooth grantee data reporting and report production was a priority for the data system that WRMA designed and developed. The resulting custom-built data collection system allows SSBG grantees, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, territories, and an organization, to periodically submit required data to OCS. WRMA has maintained and improved this system over the course of its partnership with OCS.
Streamlining the data entry and validation allows OCS to save time when reviewing grantee reports for approval. This enables OCS to achieve its key objectives—improving grant monitoring, accountability, and program outcomes while complying with federal reporting requirements.
In order to ensure accurate data entry WRMA provides extensive technical assistance to grantees and OCS for SSBG reporting, semi-annual training webinars, automated data validation, and a variety of training materials including user guides and video tutorials.
WRMA uses the data collected through the SSBG website to analyze and compose the SSBG Annual and Focus reports. This data is also used by WRMA to assist with quick responses to ad hoc data analysis requests from interested stakeholders (e.g. congress, the congressional research service, and others), submitted through OCS.
In 2020, OCS awarded WRMA with a 5-year contract for the SSBG project.
