CAPLAW Webinar

The average salary of Community Action Agency jobs varies according to location, department, and job description as well as experience, skills, and education. All CAAs across the country work to foster pay equity and manage compensation costs, but how does this impact Head Start and Early Head Start staff–especially when they receive an administrative Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) or substantial increases in pay and other CAA staff do not? Join us to explore CAA compensation and benefits structure, current and future workforce needs, and what CAA and Head Start and Early Head Start leadership can do to attract and retain the most qualified employees.

HOST: 

Ryan Gelman, Project Director, Public Policy and Advocacy, National Community Action Partnership

PANELISTS:

• Veronica Zhang, Deputy Director and Senior Counsel, CAPLAW
• Caroline Santilli, Staff Attorney, CAPLAW
• Arlene Dobison, Chief Executive Officer, The Agricultural and Labor Program
• Jennifer Godfrey, Chief Executive Officer, Utah Community Action
• Stacy Weight, Chief Administrative Officer, Utah Community Action

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Join CAPLAW for a discussion of our forthcoming case study on CT Food 4 Thought, a hydroponic greenhouse farm operated by New Opportunities, Inc., a CAA in northwest Connecticut. The webinar will feature New Opportunities’ Executive Director Bill Rybczyk, who will share the story of how his team pivoted strategically to grow its business from an idea to a successful farm producing 8,000-11,000 heads of lettuce per week. CAPLAW will highlight some of the legal choices Bill faced along the way, such as how to structure the social enterprise and manage unrelated business income tax. We will also discuss other topics, like employment arrangements and conflicts of interest, which CAAs should consider when launching a social enterprise.

Presenters: 

Bill Rybczyk, New Opportunities Executive Director;

Caroline Santilli, CAPLAW Staff Attorney

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Fiscal administration and management issues for federal grants have become more complex for CAAs due to the historic influx of funding they received in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these challenges, from managing new programs and a rapid ramp-up of services, to cost allowability as needs during the pandemic evolved and closing out short-term grants, relate to the financial administration of new or increased funding streams.

To help CAAs navigate these challenges – new and old – CAPLAW, in collaboration with the National Community Action Partnership, has invited two of our most knowledgeable and engaging financial experts, Kay Sohl and Denes Tobie, to answer your questions about managing your agency’s finances.

Experts: Kay Sohl, Kay Sohl Consulting; Denes Tobie, Wipfli LLP

Part 1 of the Mastering the A-B-CSBGs: Fundamentals Series

Maintaining a tripartite board is challenging enough without questions about who can serve and how to elect them. Join this session to review the rules and guidance applicable to the public, private, and consumer sectors.

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Part 2 of the Mastering the A-B-CSBGs: Fundamentals Series

CSBG funds are unique among federal grants in that their use is guided by the needs of the communities served. Learn more about the rules and guidance governing the various ways CSBG funds can be used in this session.

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Part 3 of the Mastering the A-B-CSBGs: Fundamentals Series

This session will cover the planning and reporting requirements that facilitate the implementation of CSBG at the state and agency level. We will discuss topics such as allocation of funding, designation of new eligible entity, state plans and the community needs assessment.

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Part 4 of the Mastering the A-B-CSBGs: Fundamentals Series

CAA leaders should understand the life cycle of a CSBG grant so they can make smart decisions about spending, reporting, and accounting for their funding. This session will explore the performance management process, including monitoring by state CSBG offices and the Office of Community Services, and terminating or reducing a CSBG grant.

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Join CAPLAW and NCAF as they provide the community action network with updated information about the potential for a shutdown and ways to prepare and respond to one. In this webinar, NCAF and CAPLAW will discuss the state of play in Washington and tips for how the Network can prepare for a shutdown prior to the start of the new federal fiscal year.

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In September 2023, CAPLAW and Kay Sohl Consulting developed and released Being Direct: Shared Cost Recovery through Direct Cost Allocation, a resource that explores how CAAs can use direct cost allocation to recover costs that benefit multiple funding awards. Now CAPLAW and financial expert Kay Sohl are hosting a webinar to present the resource and discuss the issues it covers, including factors CAAs should weigh when deciding whether to fully recover costs using direct cost allocation principles; how to recover costs using a cost allocation plan; and allowable and unallowable cost allocation methods. Please join us for this important discussion.

Join us for a discussion of key, potential changes on the horizon to the rules that govern the administration and use of federal awards. On October 5, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published proposed revisions to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance). If implemented, the revisions could result in a number of impactful changes, including increasing the de minimis rate for indirect cost recovery from 10% to 15%; removing certain prior written approval requirements; clarifying when recipients and subrecipients may notify OMB of disputes with regard to a Federal agency's acceptance of a federally negotiated indirect cost rate; and more. We will share our analysis of the proposed changes and our understanding of their potential implications for federal grant recipients and subrecipients. We’d also like to hear your thoughts, especially with respect to any feedback you think is important to share with OMB. Register Now.

The Uniform Guidance has been updated! The revised regulations contain numerous changes that will affect how federal grant recipients and subrecipients, including community action agencies, administer their federal funds. Join CAPLAW for a webinar about the changes and the potential impacts for the community action network.

On April 26, 2024, DOL published a Final Rule on Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees (the “Final Rule”). In this webinar, CAPLAW will discuss the Final Rule, impacts the changes could have on CAAs, and any new developments related to its implementation. Please register here to attend this important session.


CAPLAW discusses these key changes and more in this news alert: DOL Increases Salary Level for FLSA Overtime Exemption

With the effective date of the updated Uniform Guidance fast approaching, the increase in the de minimis rate from 10% to up to 15% of modified total direct costs invites the question: should a CAA elect to use the new de minimis rate? To help CAAs understand the new de minimis rate and other related adjustments to the Uniform Guidance that impact cost recovery, CAPLAW is hosting this two-part webinar series with financial expert Kay Sohl.

Part 1 of the series will explain the updates to the de minimis rate option and how it compares to other methods of cost recovery, such as negotiated indirect cost rates and direct cost allocation plans. We will describe how CAAs can assess and consider whether a de minimis rate of up to 15% makes sense for them, and present common de minimis rate-related issues that confront CAAs as recipients of multiple sources of federal, state, and local funding.

With the effective date of the updated Uniform Guidance fast approaching, the increase in the de minimis rate from 10% to up to 15% of modified total direct costs invites the question: should a CAA elect to use the new de minimis rate? To help CAAs understand the new de minimis rate and other related adjustments to the Uniform Guidance that impact cost recovery, CAPLAW is hosting this two-part webinar series with financial expert Kay Sohl.

Part 2 will focus on practical examples that illustrate the application of the rate and potential challenges discussed in Part 1, such as when specific funding sources impose limits on administrative cost recovery.  We will also spend time answering questions posed in Part 1 as well as in Part 2 with the goal of helping CAAs think through their cost recovery strategies and approaches in light of the changes to the Uniform Guidance.

In this webinar, CAPLAW attorneys will explain the key legal framework behind each resource, providing general insights on state open meetings laws, immigrant eligibility for various public benefits, and responding to data incidents. This session will also include a brief demonstration of the resources and how they can enhance CAAs' compliance, operations, and programs.