ROMA

ROMA and Community Action Agencies:
ROMA--results-oriented management and accountability--is an initiative developed by the Office of Community Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It addresses the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, which mandates that federal agencies establish standards for measuring their performance and effectiveness.

The overarching intent of GPRA is to make the federal government more customer oriented. From the perspective of the tax payers, this relates to the nation's return on the investment tax dollars. It also relates to level of satisfaction with government services.

With regard to providing services and programs directed at low-income people, the question is not how much we spend on programs, but whether individuals are helped to become more self-sufficient, families to be more stabile, and communities to be revitalized.

Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are required to implement the ROMA-approach to program management only for programs funded by Community Services Block Grants (CSBG). In some cases, CSBG funding accounts for a relatively small portion of a CAA's overall budget. In such cases, the ROMA management and reporting requirements may be relevant for only a handful of programs. But CAAs are encouraged to consider the benefits of results-oriented management for their other programs.

To comply with federal requirements, Montana CAAs must provide performance-related program information about the use of CSBG funding on an annual basis to the state's Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). As the state's administering agency for CSBG funds, DHCD collects this information from the CAAs and incorporates it into its reports to the OCS. The CSBG-related data that CAA must provide annually include fiscal, client, demographic, and program outcome data.