Community Action Agencies have long been the lifeblood of LIHEAP in the field, and over the past few years of budget battles in Washington, locally these boots on the ground have been fighting in LIHEAP’s biggest enemies on multiple fronts: including poverty’s dark cloud in general, constantly looming with the threat of darkness – quite literally – if the lights go out on millions of families around the country who depend on LIHEAP to keep their electricity on.  The other big battle has been within the states’ own budgetary constraints, a direct result of decreased funding levels in Washington annual budgets that have sent states scrambling to get those shortages made up on the local level.  On the frontlines greeting the millions of families around the country who show up in lines every day year-round to sign up for LIHEAP assistance, these local Community Action Agency offices have employed a multifaceted campaign to help these families navigate the perfect storm of simultaneously skyrocketing demand and plummeting funding levels.
Playing such crucial role in helping to bridge this gap that Michigan League for Human Services’ Executive Director Sharon Parks told the Michigan Messenger commented in recent years that “we are thankful for all of our community partners who continue to step up to ensure no one goes without,” a role that according to Virginia Carrington, Branch Manager for Policy Development of the Kentucky Housing Corporation (which oversees LIHEAP from the state level), includes “each CAA (offering)…other programs utilizing other funding streams such as financial and asset building, employment services, educational services, transportation, and housing. They also partner with other agencies i.e. local civic organizations, charities, and churches in the community.”

Indeed often acting as an Ambassador of sorts on behalf of state LIHEAP officials to liaise with other charity-based organizations around their states to make up funding shortages, Hilda Frasier, Planning Manager for Florida’s LIHEAP Office, offered within her state the example of “the local (community action) agencies have good contacts with other community-based organizations, so…alot of times when we look at the agency files, we’ll see where they have contacted other organizations in the community, and usually they know which of those organizations have funds and which serve which populations, and very often, they are able to work with those other entities and patchwork together enough funds to take care of the customer’s needs.”

Arguably the biggest challenge many of these CAA’s face routinely is ironically in simply having the budget necessary to merely spread the word about LIHEAP’s availability, let alone funding to meet what demand does come in the door on a daily basis, with Jo-Ann Choate, National Policy Advisor for the Maine State Housing Authority, underscoring this reality in her home state – traditionally among the program’s most dependant – reasoning that while “we do a lot as far as marketing and outreach when we do open the program where the community action agencies put up posters advertising LIHEAP, due to limited funding, we cannot begin to (reach)…the number of households in the State of Maine that are eligible for the program.”  Relied upon around the country to raise awareness of the program’s availability year-round during application seasons, Pennsylvania’s Deputy Press Sec. for LIHEAP, Anne Bale, acknowledged the state’s CAA’s as playing what she and her grateful colleagues considered as “a critical role in advocating the importance of the LIHEAP program and spreading awareness to people who might not be familiar with LIHEAP.”

Alongside their constant focus on spreading awareness concerning the availability of additional LIHEAP funding, a vital role these CAA’s play around the country comes in assisting vulnerable households already heavily in arrears on past-due utility bills with negotiating manageable repayment plans with their respective utility providers, with Vermont LIHEAP Director Richard Moffi offering one particularly successful example around his state where “our partners in the Community Action Agencies, their crisis workers, are CONSTANTLY negotiating realistic repayment plans, which also becomes a critical piece of the puzzle, those community-based working relationships.  That happens all the time year round- in the dead of summer and the dead of winter.  Its part of the beauty of working in a very small state, and so we’ve got excellent working relationships with our utilities, it makes perfect sense, because when a client gets disconnected, only bad things happen.  And if we can stop that disconnection, we’re so much better off.”

For larger states like Massachusetts, US Congressman John Tierney recently hailed his state’s “community action agencies…(for working) very hard to get this assistance where it is most needed,” and the back and forth of this rapport – according to Illinois LIHEAP Director Larry Dawson – along with “in my opinion, doing an excellent job helping us with outreach to their customers, getting the word out about the start of the LIHEAP program, the benefits, where they can apply,” also play another role “very actively in the state of Illinois- of reaching out to each member of the Congressional delegation to implore that they also support full-funding of the program.”

Turning to their longer-term focus on reducing demand on LIHEAP funding through energy-saving efforts like weatherization, one of the leading CAA’s in the nation’s capital, WeatherizeDC, reported in recent years that “weatherization is one of the fastest and most cost-effective strategies available for mitigating climate change, and the home performance industry represents one of America’s few economic sectors primed for expansion.”  Connecticut state LIHEAP Director Carlene Taylor, Manager of DSS/Community, Energy & Refugee Services, additionally sang the praises of the co-oped efforts between the state’s CAA’s and utility providers as “key partners for CEAP and weatherization programs. Most residents in the state are served by publicly regulated utilities, but there are also seven municipal utilities servicing residents in their communities. Utility company representatives are members of the state’s Low Income Energy Assistance Advisory Board, which is a statutorily-based committee charged with contributing toward the effectiveness of the CEAP. Public utility companies also host a series of forums each fall to ensure that human service organizations are familiar with updated eligibility requirements for programs, including CEAP.”    Offering an example of one such partnership, PSE&G- North New Jersey’s biggest utility provider – shared recently that they were aggressively “partnering with state government and community based organizations in an extensive effort to ensure that much needed assistance reaches every eligible person.”

In the long run, these types of partnerships – and moreover the vibrance of Community Action Agencies around the country – will remain a key alliance in keeping the front doors of the war against freezing to death or dying in a heat wave from a lack of adequate cooling open and buzzing with business in the coming summer and fall seasons 2013.  Speaking to that end the praises of the job their CAA’s have been doing in prepping Ohio for what is expected to be another summer of record heat waves and corresponding electric bills as millions of vulnerable households turn the thermostat down, LIHEAP Deputy Chief Janet Cesner in the last 2 years has continued to sing the praises of “the Community Action Agency network in Ohio, who have been a tremendous help in publicizing the HEAP Summer Crisis Program as well as applicable fuel funds.”

Coupled with their contributing to the publicizing of and physical applicant intake for the state’s LIHEAP program, in states like Connecticut all around the country, LIHEAP Director Carlene Taylor added the accolade that her state’s CAA’s play an indispensable role as “CAA staff also use the CEAP as a vital gateway for access to additional human services programs offered through their organization, or though their referrals to other agencies. Through Assurance 16, CAA staff also helps CEAP recipients to improve their lives through the provision of case management, client counseling, client advocacy, energy conservation education and budgeting classes. Another organization directly linked to the CAAs is the Connecticut Association for Community Action, Inc. (CAFCA), an umbrella agency that ensures consistency between CAAs. CAFCA recently developed a computer tool known as the Automatic Benefits Calculator, which allows clients to receive a printout of human service programs for which they would likely qualify.”

Ultimately, this kind of cohesive effort is demanded by the severity of the moment in the eyes of thousands of CAA directors around the country, with one such example of this crisis coming with the Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency of Pineville/Williamsburg, Kentucky, whose Director – Sandy Hoskins- revealed in May, 2013 that after serving over 1,800 households (and spending $800,000) in their area alone, “we’ve seen a great need this year with so many layoffs in the area, with a lot of the mines shutting down and people laid off just from different jobs, the need has been greater this year.”  Echoing his colleague’s report on the ground, earlier this spring, Kevin Polivick, a leader within the Indiana Community Action Association, counted his organization as “tremendously grateful for…LIHEAP to help these vulnerable homeowners stay warm and housed.”

Always on the lobby for increases in future program funding, in April, the Minnesota Action Council, in assessing the short and longer-term dangers of continuing to operate their state’s LIHEAP at sub-par funding levels, argued poignantly in The ST. Peter Herald, via an op-ed from MVAC Awareness Coordinator Jim Gerhke, that cautioned of a serious concern within his agency “because it appears the budget will include cuts that will hurt local, low-income families still struggling in the aftermath of the Great Recession. It’s important to note that while programs like LIHEAP and Weatherization directly benefit low-income families, they also benefit people all across the economic spectrum. Less funding for LIHEAP means more families out in the cold, but it also means less money circulating in the local economy and higher energy rates for everyone.”  Contact your local area on C.A.A. for more information on how you can help, apply, or get the word out in your area to a neighbor who might be in need of LIHEAP’s helping hand!

A record snow storm fell this month even after the official start of spring throughout much of the Midwest and Northeast, extending winter heating bills and LIHEAP’s necessity for hundreds of thousands of households throughout the country.  Reporting on the storm’s severity, The Connecticut Post quipped that “five days into spring, warm weather and budding flowers were just a rumor Monday as the East Coast endured another blast of winter.  A wide-ranging storm that buried parts of the Midwest weakened as it moved east but still managed to carpet lawns and fields in a fresh layer of white. Many schools opened late or closed early, and hundreds of flights were canceled.  The cold temperatures and miserable mixture of snow and rain had people longing for more agreeable weather.”

A state who dominated LIHEAP-related news cycle over the early months of the new year, in light of the continually nasty weather and resulting drops in temperatures and rise in thermostats, US Rep Rosa L. DeLauro met with Twenty-three mayors and first selectmen from nearly every community in the 3rd Congressional District to plan for how the state would pick up the slack in LIHEAP funding cuts with the impending sequestration headaches set to hit shortly.  Complicating efforts by elected officials and State LIHEAP program personnel to meet the sudden spike in demand due to the aforementioned weather patterns, the Congresswoman – a leading LIHEAP advocate – warned that “this is something that will happen gradually, but with a profound effect,” adding that “we will lose about $4 million in LIHEAP (the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) alone.”

Elaborating on the broader picture of just how devastating the sequestration impact threatened to be on the program’s year-round budget, the Hartford Guardian reported that “the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, an agency aligned with the Department of Social Services, will receive about $67 million for the CT Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Plan. This is a reduction from its 2012 funding level of $79.5 million.  This year’s funding level is even more drastically lower than its 2010 funding level of $107.8 million, according to CT Facts-Campaign for Home Energy Assistance. The resulting cuts could be tough for low-income customers, who benefit the most from these programs, state officials (added).”

Putting a finer point on just how damaging the sequester threatened to be for the lives of tens of thousands of families around the state, a leading community action agency spokeswoman, Nancy Pappas, for the Community Renewal Team, told the Guardian that “home energy funds in Connecticut will be cut by $180 million during the sequester, bringing the average per family service down from $405 a month in 2012 to $375 a month in 2013 under LIHEAP.”  Another prominent local Community Action Agency weighed in with the hard fact that for families depending on the program, with Executive Director Pat Wrice of Operation Fuel (a subsidiary of the National Fuel Funds Network), pointing out that “as a result of the sequester, the state received 85 percent of its original funding request, with about $79.5 million for LIHEAP.”  To help bridge the difference between the 15% of lost funds and original appropriation level – already reduced from previous budget wars in Washington preceding the sequestration- Rice added that “with the 10 percent rolled over from last year, we will have $88 million for this year.”  With LIHEAP serving over 150,000 households throughout the state, according to The Connecticut Mirror, the aforementioned $88 million is still almost $10 million short of the 2011 level of $98.3 million.

In neighboring New York, the state’s most vulnerable residents were feeling left behind as well, with the Syracuse Post Standard in an editorial revealing that “the sequester will affect our communities, including senior citizens,” adding that nation-wide, “nearly 300,000 senior households will be denied The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) assistance paying their heating bills and literally be left in the cold.”  Up in New England, longtime leading LIHEAP advocate, U.S. Representative Ed Markey, highlighted the fact that alongside the elderly, other vulnerable demographics affected adversely by the sequestration would include “working families in Massachusetts and around the country” and “during such a harsh winter, no family should also worry about heating their home and keeping their kids and other family members safe from the weather.”

Congressman Markey offered hard data to back up his warning, quoting a report in an interview with the Boston’s Daily Free Press where he shared that “funding to LIHEAP could be cut by as much as $6.7 million in 2013 year due to the sequester. These cuts would total about $1.6 billion in cuts to the program since 2010.”  Boston area community action agency, Action of Boston Community Development’s Energy Services Director Kathy Tobin, reported that the local situation on the ground was especially exposed because Tobin reported to the Free Press that “estimated 50,000 households have already used all of their heating aid,” voicing her additional concern that because “we receive hundreds of calls and we have no funds to give and we are only at the end of February. Winter can last at least until May.’  We are estimating almost everyone will use up all of their aid before the winter is over…(and) are urging the state to supply more because this winter has been significantly colder than last year…(and) things look very bleak.”
Another reason for the urgency of the request, underscored by the director of another prominent local community action agency executive director, Joe Diamond, of the Massachusetts Association for Community Activism, pointed to the rapid rise in the cost of heating oil throughout the state, explaining that “the price of heating oil has gone up remarkably.  And we see that, per home, it’s about 300 gallons (per tank) so it’s a couple thousand dollars that each home spends on heating and so most people receiving aid have used it already. Most went through it before January.  Heating aid is a federal program, but since its low right now, we’re asking the state to supplement.  Last year they gave $126 million, this year $141 (million). Before that we’d been getting about $200 million. We’re still in winter and it doesn’t show any signs of abating.”  A particularly dangerous predicament for households throughout the state who “would have to be very conservative in how they heat their home,” Diamond added that the threat loomed large that “if people get desperate enough they might turn to dangerous methods like turning their stoves on or using face heaters.  People sometimes go without heat for the whole winter and that’s no good either.

In Vermont, Governor Peter Shumlin made an emergency announcement via the Vermont Public Radio network that the state would run out of funds by the end of the month, warning residents around the state that “it’s not going to be easy.  This is a really tough budget. But I know that there’s not a Vermonter out there that wants to see us have Vermonters go through the month of March cold and without a furnace that’s running.  Clearly we’re not going to be getting more federal dollars.”  With over 4500 families around the state already helped in 2013 alone through the State’s crisis fund, state LIHEAP director Richard Moffi cautioned that as a result of the state running out of funds, “it’s going to be a real big help for folks getting through the next few weeks, especially as the weather goes from really nice to kind of bitter.”  Rallying to help his state’s residents avoid having to shoulder the brunt of the pain from the funding shortage, Governor Shumlin and his colleagues in the legislature were hustling to raise $900,000 for the aforementioned crisis fund to help residents get through the rest of the freezing prolonged winter season, telling Vermont Business Magazine that while he was proud of the fact his state was  “running a great program,” he acknowledged still that “it could be more efficient, and clearly we are not going to get more federal dollars.”

In another, long-term step toward reducing resident dependence on LIHEAP by taking the lead in the northeast among states working most aggressively to expand weatherization efforts throughout the state’s program-dependant households, The Vermont Digger reported that the state House of Representatives had passed legislation that would “help Vermonters insulate their homes, save money on their heating bills and cut down on their carbon emissions.”  Speaker of the House Shap Smith explained that “this bill directs weatherization to the lowest-income homes that are the least energy efficient. Over time, this will allow us to distribute LIHEAP fuel aid more efficiently.  In our cold state we must keep Vermonters warm, spend less, and improve energy efficiency. This bill moves us in that direction.”  Aiming for 80,000 newly weatherized homes by 2020, another State Rep., Margaret Cheney – Vice Chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee – reasoned the move was necessarily in response to the cold, hard fact that presently “Vermonters are now spending twice what they were ten years ago to heat their homes and businesses, and that spending has contributed nothing to the local economy.”

Down in the Granite State of Pennsylvania, Governor Tom Corbett raced to counter the coming cuts by making the strategic decision to extend the LIHEAP application period from March 29th to April 26th, in response partially to the Governor’s office’s report that the state had received 86,551 applications for crisis grants already.  Explaining why his administration felt there wasn’t any other move but to do so with the deadline, Gov. Corbett explained that “each year we work to set our budget for the LIHEAP program in anticipation of the upcoming heating season.  At the beginning of each season there are many unknowns, including the severity of the weather and fuel prices, but through running an efficient program and via prudent planning, we are now able to extend the program by nearly a month.”

Throughout the Midwest and South, the spirit was much the same, with Kentucky Attorney General, Jack Conway, announcing at the top of March the welcome news to nervous LIHEAP agencies and dependant households around the state that the state, as a result of what Conway’s office described as “a March 2012 settlement between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Constellation Energy Commodities Group over Constellation’s alleged manipulation of the wholesale energy market,” that an additional $49,700  in aid would be allotted from the settlement in additional LIHEAP funding.  A true and timely relief for Community Action Agencies throughout the state, Community Action Kentucky’s Energy Program Director Mike Moynahan, underscored how vital a difference the additional monies would make on the ground with his comment that “these funds could NOT have come at a more opportune time.  The five agencies in Eastern Kentucky have exhausted their initial allotment for LIHEAP so this influx will enable more families to receive assistance during the rest of the winter.”  In working to help his state bridge the gap between rising demand and lower LIHEAP funding levels as a consequence of the Washington sequestration battle, AG Conway communicated on behalf of his colleagues at the state level that “I am pleased that we were able to secure additional funds for Kentucky families struggling to heat their homes.  This money was put into use immediately to assist Kentucky households facing imminent termination of their electric services.

In an effort to work with the additional hardship LIHEAP-dependant households throughout Illinois were facing in the face of the Sequester and extended winter weather, a leading utility provider – Ameren Illinois – announced they were launching a flexible repayment plan for overdue utility bills, starting with a modest 10% of the outstanding balance due at the end of March, whereafter Customer Service assistant manager Marianne Luna explained to local television station, WQUAD Channel 8, that “eligible customers can pay 10 percent of their outstanding balance and then the remaining amount in monthly installments.”

Out West, the Las Vegas Sun shared the troubling news that throughout Nevada, LIHEAP recipient families were facing similar shortages in their LIHEAP aid disbursement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the state’s senior US Senator, confirmed that indeed “there are things that are happening in Nevada because of the sequester that I would like to have taken out of this bill. They’re not good things that are happening, either.”  Quoting Richard Kogan, a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the stark reality of impossible choices faced by the state’s LIHEAP officials was illustrated with Kogan’s point that “when choosing between Head Start or WIC or LIHEAP (a program to assist low-income families with home heating and cooling costs), you can’t say which you can defer for a year.  They’re more just steady, ongoing needs that you can’t short.”

In Washington State, LIHEAP representatives were focused on longer-term solutions aimed at reducing the need for households to require dependence on the program’s helping hand entirely, focusing on weatherization efforts that the state’s LIHEAP Weatherization Program Manager Donna Regan explained centered around a waver request wherein “the goal of the…request is to help low-income households reduce their long-term home energy costs.  It especially helps those with the lowest incomes, who spend a high proportion of their household income for home energy.”  The Nisqually Valley News added that because “Federal regulations required that 85 percent of this money must be used to help pay heating bills,” only 15% could presently be used to weatherize homes.  The state was pushing as aggressively as it was for the waver, the paper explained, because if allowed an additional 10% of funding to appropriate toward expanded weatherization efforts, “Commerce estimated the state may weatherize up to 745 additional homes as a result.”

Known as the Hoosier state for its famed college basketball team, Indiana has long held a unique distinction among the Midwestern states as “the crossroads of America.”  This past year, that moniker took on a crisis-like context amid being hit in its winter season by frigid, bitter temperatures across the same wind-swept plains that in the summer are routinely scorched by punishing heat waves.  USA Today reported in July, 2012 on the severity of the “nation’s record-setting heat wave” that the punishing heat had been “caused by a high-pressure system that loitered for days over the Plains and the Midwest. Combined with a drought that has left little moisture in the ground to provide evaporative cooling, desert-like conditions persisted over much of the country…A Sampling of worst-hit cities by the 2012 heat wave (included)…Indianapolis: 4 days over 100.”

Heading into the winter of 2012, the state’s thousands of LIHEAP-dependant families received little relief on their utility bills, as air conditioners turned on high shifted to heaters, in both thermostat temperature dials and accompanying heating bills.  This cyclical reality of hardship was confirmed by Energy Assistance Program Manager Taura Edwards, who revealed that “at the start of this winter, we saw a lot of clients whose heating sources were disconnected at the end of winter and had not been reconnected prior to the start of the winter season. We also saw fairly high electric bills from the warm summer.”

Among those whose lives are most threatened by both summer and winter weather were the state’s elderly population, who June Lyle, AARP’s Indiana State Director shared with Inside Indiana Business accounted for “26 percent…of Hoosier households assisted by LIHEAP last year,” adding that in light of that statistic, “this program is critical to the health and well-being of so many of our seniors.”  Because “elderly and disabled clients account for nearly 50 percent of our population,” Director Edwards explained that the state prioritizes their application process accordingly to ensure that “these clients receive their applications in the mail prior to the start of the season. This practice ensures that their benefits are stable and there isn’t a disruption in their service. There has not been a spike in services to them.”  Another advocate for this ever-vulnerable demographic, Kevin Polivick, a leader within the Indiana Community Action Association, underscored to Inside Indiana Business that this order of seniority in the application   process is appropriate because “LIHEAP dollars are prioritized to assist those who are least able to withstand the extremes of cold and heat: the elderly, the disabled, and children under the age of 6. Unaffordable utility costs are also one of the greatest obstacles for homeowners financially struggling to stay in their homes. We are therefore tremendously grateful for…LIHEAP to help these vulnerable homeowners stay warm and housed.”

Indiana’s political apparatus has remained a unified front of support for the program, taking up many bi-partisan measures to make up for shortfalls in Federal funding to ensure the maximum number of households helped to stay warm or cool, depending on the season.  A year-round commitment, the state began 2012 with a strong show of such support when the Courier Press reported that the Indiana State House was considering passage of an exemption for Hoosier households that qualified for LIHEAP from paying a 7% sales tax on their utilities.  Sponsored by State Representative Peggy Welch of Bloomington, she reasoned that the move was a necessary in light of complaints from constituents about skyrocketing utility bills against the backdrop of the aforementioned extreme temperatures, offering to that end that “the No. 1 call for the 211 program is people who need help with their utility bills…(so) the state is now stepping up to say: Yes we want to have an investment also in taking care of our low income families.”

The state’s Governor, Mitch Daniels, in March of last year unveiled another new measure aimed at providing relief for LIHEAP-dependant families by pumping an additional $4 million into state funding for LIHEAP.  Courtesy of House Bill 1141, the state opted to invest their share of a multi-shake mortgage foreclosure settlement into expanded funding for a program that The Statehouse File reported “will receive about $82.3 million for LIHEAP this year, down from more than $107 million (in 2011).”  Translating that loss into the punishing impact its had on the State’s ability to help the maximum number of households applying for assistance, Director Edwards    “like every state, there is a definite impact when the block grant decreases. However, our office strives to find a balance between providing a benefit amount that will assist with the clients’ energy burden while maximizing the number of clients we can serve throughout the state.”

Indiana’s LIHEAP program has enjoyed another staunch ally in partnership with their utility providers, who Director Edwards confirms “have good working relationships with Indiana.  Part of our communication strategy with the utilities has been: providing training calls the companies or statewide associations, allowing them to speak at training sessions for local providers, and sending out bi-monthly program updates. Indiana also has a consortium of local providers with a heart for ensuring that low income clients are served during the winter months called ‘Coalition to Keep Indiana Warm.’ This group includes: State lead office, utilities, state United Way association, and other statewide service providers that impact low income clients.”  Prominent examples of that cooperative effort in action within the last year have included Indiana Michigan Power’s announcement in November, 2012 that it would continue funding its Energy Share program for the 8th year in a row.  Described by the utility provider as an energy assistance partnership with the state’s Community Action Association, the utility donated $200,000 to help keep Hoosier households warm, with the company’s Director of Communications and Community Relations, Sarah Bodner, sharing of her company’s efforts toward the latter end that “Indiana Michigan Power is grateful for the support of our community action partners as we reach out to help customers who are most in need, especially during the heating season,” adding that “Low-income customers may also qualify for energy efficiency programs designed to reduce the overall energy usage in the household.”

Elaborating on the history of the program’s progress in helping Indiana households keep warm, Bodner added that “since the shareholder-funded program began, $900,000 has been offered for low-income energy assistance. In the past year, nearly 1,000 customers received an average of $195 for energy assistance.  More recently, in February of this year, Duke Energy – another of the state’s largest utility providers – announced that it would contribute $3.5 million over the next 5 years to the utility’s ‘Helping Hand’ program, which the LIHEAP Clearing House reported “gives eligible customers up to $300 toward their electric bills. Before this current boost, program participants could only receive $100. The new funding will be distributed in $700,000 amounts annually over the five years. This year’s infusion will be combined with the $100,000 already contributed by Duke Energy customers, giving Helping Hand a total of $800,000.”

The state’s focus in the longer term has also focused on programs like energy conservation and weatherization, which Director Edwards explained begins with “our office having updated the energy education materials so that the agencies can provide energy conservation tips as a part of the EAP application process. Indiana strongly supports the weatherization efforts within the LIHEAP program. Indiana has the great luxury of having the EAP and Weatherization programs within the same department of the same agency. Our primary charge is energy conservation and education for our clients. We see an average of 19-20 percent in energy savings after weatherization is completed.  With our community action agencies, who are important intermediaries between the clients, utilities, and the state office, each year, the state office hosts an annual training and end of year wrap up session with the community action agencies and at these sessions, the agencies provide feedback about the impact of policy changes, offer suggestions to current policies and technologies, and input into the program implementation process.”

As 2013 unfolds, while Director Edwards reports on the negative front that “last year, benefits were lower in preparation for funding cuts,” in looking ahead into the rest of 2013, good news was on the horizon for LIHEAP families because “the benefit amount is being increased from the 2012 level to cover some of the impact of climactic changes on their energy bills.”  Regardless of how the benefit levels rise and fall as states like Indiana sail the stormy seas of Washington’s budget battles, Director Edwards feels proud of the fact that even “As the benefit levels have ebbed and flowed, Indiana has preserved at least 90 percent of its client pool from year to year,” adding in closing on LIHEAP’s behalf that the program will always remain vital to hundreds of thousands of households around her state for the simple fact that “LIHEAP provides support to a basic life necessity that can often times be overlooked.”

The campaign to improve energy efficiency kicked off 2013 with a pair of HIGH PROFILE efforts to expand key areas within its purview, those of expanding the focus on the importance of weatherization and energy efficiency, and more locally, making up for the short-fall in funding on the state level where LIHEAP assistance levels were concerned. Beginning with the national side of that drive, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer – Chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee -introduced a bill that Politico.com reported aimed at improving “building energy efficiency as one means of mitigating climate change.”  Boxer commented within announcing the legislation that her focus on weatherization of Federal Office Buildings was designed to lead by example and illustrate that where energy efficiency was concerned: “There doesn’t have to be ‘a bill’ on climate, there are going to be many approaches.”

The first bill being pushed by Boxer addressed the embattled GSA (General Services Administration) – who, arguably as part of their image makeover and toward the end of demonstrating that the U.S. Government was doing its part to promote and implement enhanced energy efficiency efforts throughout the thousands of properties owned and managed by the GSA around the country – would be required under the legislation to “identify ways to improve efficiency, reduce costs and pay for themselves within 10 years as well as calculate costs that could be saved. GSA would have to report to Congress and the public within a year on the energy and cost savings tied to improving efficiency and set minimum energy-intensity and lighting-efficiency standards for all building leases entered into by the federal government. GSA would also be required to detail energy and water-efficiency information in the leases it submits to Congress for approval,” Politico.com reported.

Boxer’s other focus, on national energy efficiency, was announced in a letter to the Economic Development Administration, where she announced her intent to sponsor a bill modeled after The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act that aimed- according to Politico.com’s report – to set up a program to “fund projects in local communities to improve energy efficiency, toughen public works to respond to disasters and save money.”  Elaborating personally on the reach of the proposed program, Boxer explained that among other advantages, “this TIFIA-like program, which I call BIFIA (for buildings), can help a community invest in clean technologies that reduce energy demands, lower energy bills, and promote more durable energy systems. Leveraging private-sector funds while promoting investments in jobs, infrastructure, innovation and technology can help communities keep pace with the changing global economy.”

On the local level, energy efficiency – specifically in the form of support for the LIHEAP program – received another high profile endorsement with the donation of a rare, collector’s edition copy of the novel ‘The Regulators’ by legendary suspense author Stephen King during a fuel drive in frigid Maine as part of a fundraiser auction.   Reporting on the donation, The Bangor Daily News reporting the fundraiser was necessary because “although they’ve been told that the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, funds are coming, the money has yet to arrive…Signed by King under his pen name Richard Bachman, (the book is)…listed as being worth $1,450 to nearly $2,000.”

Speaking to the difference the money from the book’s sale would immediately make to local residents in need of assistance in lue of the LIHEAP aid arriving, the fundraiser’s head, Sister Lucille MacDonald of the Emmaus Center, shared with the Bangor Daily News that “this is a great idea, and it is wonderful that Stephen agreed to sign the book.  People are so generous, and I am so grateful…I just got off the phone with a woman with a desperate need for fuel. The stories are just heart wrenching.  You just never know what little ways people are struggling on the opposite side, to try and find ways and means to help people… People are sitting at home under blankets.  People are struggling. What do they do in the interim time? We are the gap to help these people.”

Local Bangor television station, WABITV, reporting in greater depth on the human side of the headlines focused on the real stories of freezing, desperate households suffering throughout the state, quoted one community action organization’s LIHEAP Division Manager, Barbara Stone of Penquis Cap., confirming to the station that “(we’ve been) very busy. To date, we’ve taken over ten thousand applications and we’ve served about half of them, spending over 3.5 million dollars, at this point.”  Adding to the stress all around, Director Stone candidly shared, was the shame on the faces of so many of the state’s hard working blue-collar families applying for aid, explaining that “they’re frustrated; they don’t even want to do it. They come in and they’re like, ‘I don’t even want to be here,’ but you know it’s like, you’re eligible just like the next person. You lost your job. You should be applying for assistance.”

Reflecting on why the state is undertaking such a hustle to bring extra dollars so urgently this month, another prominent Charity and longstanding LIHEAP ally, United Way of Eastern Maine’s President and CEO, John Kuropchak, added in comments to the TV station that “this year is especially bad.  I think two things have an impact on that. First of all, heating oil prices are well over $3 a gallon. In addition, there have been severe cuts, both last year and the year before in federal assistance to low, moderate income families and to seniors. When you add the two together, it almost spells disaster.”  In addition to reaching out to apply for assistance with utility bills, Kuropchak also underscored the importance of households taking advantage of longer term solutions to lowering their energy costs, namely “winterization, weatherization, putting plastic on windows, doing new weather stripping around doors to bring down the actual cost and consumption.  We (also)…have a program called financial coaching which will help individuals budget for, and prepare for these spikes in heating costs.”

In neighboring Vermont, Governor Peter Shumlin, one of the nation’s leading LIHEAP advocated on the state level, made as a centerpiece to his annual Budget (or State of the State as its commonly known) Address with the announcement of his intent to focus on making up from the state level the Federal shortfall in LIHEAP budgeting, reasoning the move was a necessary one as “we heat about sixty percent of our homes with traditional heating oil – a huge and growing expense for Vermonters, and a huge cost to our environment. Meanwhile, we have for several winters now kept needy Vermonters from freezing in their homes by scrambling to pay for heating oil as the federal government callously slashes its contribution to the LIHEAP program. We must do better. That is why my budget proposes to join our neighbors in Connecticut and Massachusetts by assessing a ten-percent surcharge on the retail value of break open tickets and applying the $17 million raised to comprehensive energy program funding. I propose to allocate the $17 million for three purposes: First, to keep low income Vermonters warm in the winter through the State’s first-ever base budget contribution to LIHEAP, at the level of $6 million. Let’s recognize the sad fact that Washington is unlikely to fund this critical program adequately and let’s do something about it, so that all Vermonters stay warm in the winter.”

Echoing the governor, the Conservation Law Foundation made an impassioned case in an editorial published by The Vermont Digger that the time was NOW “for affordable heat.”  Perhaps motivated by the news that the state had emerged as among the nation’s leaders in electric energy savings, with $775 million since 2000 saved through the state’s efforts, the Foundation in its editorial made a noted point to single out LIHEAP as a program that “every year Vermont struggles to fund…With affordable heat, Vermont can reduce the funds needed and can use LIHEAP dollars to help more Vermonters. Cutting fuel use by one-quarter means that for every four homes that are weatherized, help is available for one additional family,” concluding with the persuasive argument that “Vermont’s commitment to affordable heat is our ticket to more comfortable homes and businesses, and a thriving and affordable clean energy economy.”

In Virginia, state officials were praised for their efforts to make applying for LIHEAP assistance more consumer-convenient with their introduction of online portals where Med-Tech Media reported that “as healthcare companies try to bring consumer-friendly technologies to patients, some states are working to do the same with government services. Especially in healthcare and social services, government information executives see a large potential for expanding online transactions and simplifying administration with better IT.”  First introduced in March, 2012 by Virginia’s Department of Social Services, the Electronic Health and Human Resources Project – a $101 Million program financed under a Government Modernization initiative founded by Governor Bob McDonnell – the program, called ‘CommonHelp,’ has been adopted by all 120 of the state’s social service offices, and according to Med-Tech Media’s report, “the success of the citizen portals, which are set to be available for Medicaid, TANF, SNAP and LIHEAP by 2014.”

Down in the Midwest, demand for LIHEAP assistance was so popular that the North Central Arkansas Development Council- which serves Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas- sold out of LIHEAP spots by 11 on the first morning their office opened offering sign-up appointments.  Fulton County Coordinator JoAnn Lowrie explained that “our office is allocated about $8,000 a week, and it was pretty much gone by 11 a.m,” while NADC Director Brad Cummings added that throughout all of the organization’s five offices, “the first day in Stone County more than 150 people came in to apply for assistance.  People who are familiar with the program know assistance is available on a first come, first served basis, so they get in here right away.  We had about 500 to 600 applicants in the entire five county area the first day (Jan. 7). It was busy all week.”  Comparing demand, which Director Cummings revealed to The Southern Missouri News was up this winter over last year, he explained that 2013 was already proving more stressful due to the fact that “last winter, funds for the regular assistance program did not run out until April because weather was mild, but the recent Christmas snow storm and cold weather probably ratcheted bills up, so more families are needing help paying December bills.”

Quoting residents throughout the region among those 600 applicant families to put a finer point on why crisis assistance requests have been skyrocketing, one such recipient who opted to remain anonymous, told the Southern Missouri News that things got so dire for his family that “we have closed off our house for the winter and use just one room. We try to stretch our propane through the winter.  In the crisis program, we should be able to get 100 or 150 gallons of propane, which is about the only time we can get any.”  Another resident, speaking for the elderly who rely on LIHEAP assistance to help supplement the limitations of the fixed income they’re already relying upon to keep the heat on, offered the paper a “look at this utility bill: I owe $214 this month, and only get $859 a month from Social Security. This program, which I can get help twice a year, is a big help!”

That grateful sentiment continued across state lines in Ohio and Kentucky, where another resident- Devan Fabre, a mother of 5- who relied in January on LIHEAP for her family’s literal survival, told Cinncinnati.com as part of a cover story on the life-saving difference the program was making for Ohioans day in and out that “if this program wasn’t here, I’d probably be living on the streets.  If you get a disconnect notice when you’re living in Section 8 housing, you lose your Section 8. With me having five kids, I wouldn’t have anywhere else to go.”  Reporting that Fabre was one of a staggering 320 families from across counties shared on the border between Ohio and Kentucky who flocked to their local community action agencies on a Monday Morning in mid-January to apply on the first day of Crisis Assistance applications.  With $1,085,607 available among those 5 counties in crisis assistance – a figure reduced by 23% from 2012’s figure of $1,414,954 according to the aforementioned website – and $82,918.84 handed out in just that single Monday, demand is clearly eating through funding at a rapid pace.  Still, another resident who kept from freezing to death in January due to the assistance, Benita Gregory of Covington, KY, stated in unequivocal terms and tone that “this program saved my life, I don’t know what I would have done without it,” underscoring why bi-partisan calls for funding increases at the Federal Level continued to ring out throughout the New Year, as well as local announcements around the country by Congressmen and State Representatives and Senators encouraging residents in need of LIHEAP winter crisis assistance to reach out and apply as soon as possible.

In Pennsylvania, one such call came from PA State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, who emphasized in an interview with The Uniontown Herald Standard aimed at reaching out to households throughout his district in need of aid with the message that “LIHEAP crisis grants…are a key part of the safety net, as a recent report noted that almost 16,000 Pennsylvania households entered the winter season without heat-related utility service… (These grants) address emergencies such as broken heating equipment, a lack of fuel, or a danger of being without fuel.”  A bi-partisan message indeed, state Rep. Matt Gabler (R-Clearfield/Elk), added with earnest encouragement that “if you have an existing heating emergency and already received a cash grant late last year during the first phase of LIHEAP, you need only call your local county assistance office to request the crisis grant.”

Christmas came early for many Northeastern LIHEAP-reliant states this winter, both in the not-so-hot arrival of frigid weather and by contrast, the welcome news that Tens of Millions of dollars in LIHEAP funding was being released just in the nick of time to aid hundreds of thousands of families in keeping the heat on.    Beginning with one of New England’s traditionally iciest states, Maine, outgoing senior US Senator Olympia Snowe announced the farewell gift of $34.9 Million in federal heating assistance, hailing the funding as “invaluable for our state’s most vulnerable families who will struggle to pay heating bills.”

WLBZ Bangor Channel 2 reported that local community action agencies and related private charity efforts were underway around the state to provide supplemental assistance to the Federally-released funds, one notably creative endeavor to that end in November including a fundraising concert sponsored by the Bradbury Mountain Arts that also featured a ‘Keep ME Warm’ art series.  Running for the next 3 months on January 12, February 9, and March 9 with the aim of raising money for the town’s heating assistance fund, the events feature 3 bands, a quit gallery and raffle.  Quoting Keep ME Warm organizer Kathy Hogue shared from the front lines of the fight to fully fund LIHEAP that “I think it’s becoming more and more aware through different communities that they need to kind of step up and different people need to maybe organize some things that will bring extra money in that’s not there in LIHEAP right now.”

In the still suffering & recovering state of New Jersey- already the victim of over $20 billion in devastating damage from Hurricane Sandy earlier in the fall- while power had been restored to most households, families throughout the state were already badly in need of utility bill assistance.  This reality made the announcement by Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) of a staggering $119,394,579 in LIHEAP winter heating assistance being released to the Garden State a holiday miracle, supported by local paper The Paramus Post’s report that guidelines for aid usage had been expanded in the wake of the hurricane to include “During an energy crisis, LIHEAP allows states greater flexibility. After a disaster, LIHEAP funds can be used to deal with crisis situations, particularly with respect to assistance for home energy related needs… Particularly important as the state recovers from Hurricane Sandy, the program’s funds may also be used to place people in locations with access to heating. The money, which is usually used for fuel to heat homes, can also be used to purchase temporary rentals, blankets and generators for LIHEAP beneficiaries impacted by the storm…(and) for the costs to temporarily shelter or house individuals in hotels, costs for transportation to move individuals away from the crisis area to shelters, utility reconnection costs, repair or replacement costs for furnaces, insulation repair, coats, blankets, crisis payments for utilities and utility deposits and the purchase of generators.”

Commenting first-hand on just how crucial the funding and its timing was for his constituents, Senator Menendez emphasized that “in the wake of super storm Sandy…this funding is literally a lifeline for thousands of low income families, seniors, and laid off workers who are already struggling to make ends meet in a tough economic environment and simply can’t afford the steep cost of heating their homes,” while fellow Senator Lautenberg doubled down on his colleague’s comment, adding that “this funding will help provide better living conditions for families across the state.”

In neighboring Vermont, the congressional delegation announced the release of $17.69 million in winter heating aid, inspiring senior US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to point to the cold, hard fact that with “winter…already upon many Vermont families, heating fuel is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Funding from the LIHEAP program helps many Vermonters get through long months of harshly cold days and nights.”  Congressman Peter Welch added that with the economic conditions on the ground still as frosty as ever, “energy assistance is a vital lifeline for many Vermonters, so this is very good news that comes just in time for the cold weather now settling in. But this is just a down payment on what Vermont will need to meet the demand this winter. We’ll continue fighting to ensure LIHEAP is fully funded and available for those who need it when they need it.”

Down in Connecticut, spirits were similarly raised at the receipt of the news that $72.4 million in assistance was coming as part of  what local paper the REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN reported was part of a larger move by the Obama Administration to release LIHEAP funds nationally as part of a wave of “block grants nationwide, about 90 percent of the full-year funding ‘for states, tribes and territories’… a higher proportion than is typically made available in the initial allocation, and gives states more certainty to plan for their upcoming heating season, while allowing Congress flexibility in setting its final funding level for the program.”

In the granite state of Pennsylvania, Pittsburg Steelers Hall of Fame Running Back Franco Harris stepped up to the plate to raise LIHEAP visibility among residents throughout the state – many still unaware of the availability of assistance – about the fact that indeed it was, commenting to CBS Pittsburg: “I have been around a long time telling people about LIHEAP and every year it’s important. The importance does not go away.”   Fellow celebrity, Pulse radio’s Pat Lamarche, raised $4000 in LIHEAP donations courtesy of a stunt in its second year where the host – according to a report by Bangor, Maine’s WABI-TV 5 – the host lived “in a small wooden shed called a hobbit hole all week.”  Elaborating on the unique campaign to raise funds and awareness for the LIHEAP program, Lamarche announced at the outset of his effort that  “I’ll be here Thanksgiving, I’ll be here all those times when people who can afford to be warm will be really thankful for how warm they are and hopefully that sort of generosity will overflow and they’ll help. They can reach their hand right into Stephen King’s pocket. They take $20 out of their pocket, they’re reaching into Stephen King’s pocket and taking out a matching $20.”

Beyond fundraising efforts, in Midwestern states like Iowa, the Iowa City Press Citizen reported that non-profit advocacy organizations like MidAmerican Energy Co were also offering a website with “information about how to reduce energy costs and use energy efficiently. The company also offers a free home energy audit program — in home and online — which allows customers to take a critical look at their energy use and compare their energy use to similar homes in the area.”  Organization spokesman Tim Grabinski explained that “these audits allow customers to have an expert come into their home and look at what they have and make suggestions and give them resources to improve the efficiency in their home and really make a difference in the way their home performs.”  Along with the aforementioned measures, Grabinski added that “MidAmerican operates the I CARE program, which allows customers who are financially able to donate money to those in need in their community through their monthly bill.  For every dollar donated through I CARE, MidAmerican Energy matches it by 25 percent.  Every bit saved is less energy that needs to be produced, so it can help us keep costs down in the future, keeps reliability strong for everyone.”

Families throughout Carter County, Kentucky expressed relief after a leading local Community Action Agency, the Northeast Kentucky Community Action Agency, announced that funds they’d feared might not reach the state after a delay that threatened, according to the Journal-Times, to leave nearly 2,500 households in the cold, based off statistics from homes helped throughout the county in 2011.  With upward of $390,000 disbursed last year, the NKCAA was understandably relieved and eager to begin getting both the word out about funds and residents in need in the door to begin the delayed application process, following the Journal-Times’ report that “last week (the agency)…had yet to receive the money it normally gets from the federal government to fund the program.”

Out West in Utah, the state put out the good word that winter funds for LIHEAP- or H.E.A.T., as the program that helped 41,500 families last year- is locally known throughout the state, were available starting November 1st.  The announcement came just in the nick of time according to Housing and Community Development Div. Director Gordon Walker, who pointed out that with “falling temperatures put even more pressure on families as they weigh the need to turn on their furnaces.  The energy subsidies we are releasing this season will help more families afford heat and avert difficult choices too many Utahans face between paying for heat and paying for other essentials like food and medicine.”

New Jersey’s two senior US Senators, Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), already earning praise for their collaborative work with Governor Chris Christie and the Whitehouse to secure disaster relief funding for their hard hit state in the wake of Hurricane Sandy last month, garnered additional applause with their announcement that the Garden State would receive almost $120,000,000 in winter heating LIHEAP assistance.  Senator Menendez commented of the generous appropriation that “these funds can provide critical help to at-risk families still suffering without heat,” while colleague Senator Lautenberg underscored in the wake of the aforementioned natural disaster that the helping hand couldn’t have come at a more needed time, reasoning that “home heating assistance for New Jersey families is especially critical in the wake of Superstorm Sandy…This is a critical federal program and we’ll keep fighting to ensure the federal government can provide this safety net for New Jersey families.”

Vermont’s US Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, sang LIHEAP’s similar praises with their joint announcement of $19.5 that they had helped secure for the state, beginning with senior Senator Patrick Leahy hammering home the reality – even amid the good news – that “without the assistance from this program, the winter would present a major threat to the health and lives of many of our friends and neighbors. I will continue to demand additional support for the LIHEAP program to ensure that all Vermonters in need are able to heat their homes this winter.”  Sanders, among the Senate’s most vocal LIHEAP advocates, brought the difference LIHEAP made in the lives of his constituents down to a human level, reasoning that “in Vermont, the fuel assistance program is a lifeline to dignity for tens of thousands of senior citizens living on fixed incomes, families with young children, and persons with disabilities. I will continue to fight as hard as I can to fully fund LIHEAP.”

Outgoing Maine Senior US Senator Olympia Snowe, arguably among the program’s most visible political crusaders, earned notice for her honest assessment of the recent reality of LIHEAP funding being cut year after year even as her state received news of the winter, FY2012 arrival of almost $35 million in winter heating assistance, offering her admirably honest opinion that “regrettably, the LIHEAP lifeline has been disproportionately cut over the last few years, but I am encouraged that this funding will protect Mainers from the bitter cold as we approach Thanksgiving and Maine’s harsh winter months.”

In Pennsylvania, State Rep. Bryan Cutler and Governor Bob Corbett gathered for the bi-partisan signing of the LIHEAP FRAUD Protection Act, along with co-authors Rep. Ron Waters and Auditor General Jack Wagener.  Praising the legislation as an opportunity to “will return accountability to the LIHEAP and weatherization programs and will deter fraud,” Rep. Cutler added that “Act 164 will implement fraud detection and prevention mechanisms through the use of an Income Eligibility Verification System and will strengthen fraud reporting measures and whistle blower protections. The law also requires periodic performance audits by the Pennsylvania Department of Auditor General.”

Congressman Jim Langevin of Rhode Island earned standout spotlight this month for his eloquent articulation of why LIHEAP should stand apart and above partisan politics because “unlike most programs, LIHEAP is used almost exclusively during this part of the year in the Northeast,” adding that, on a humane level, he was “grateful that even in a difficult budgeting climate Secretary Sebelius has made it a top priority to assure our communities that as much funding as possible will be available this winter.”

US Senator Lisa Murkowski earned mention for her welcome announcement that Alaska would receive $9.7 million in winter heating aid, a Christmas miracle the Senator would argue, “for the most vulnerable Alaskans.”

With the winter of 2012 fast approaching on the winds of already-especially chilly temperatures that only promise to grow colder as thermostats drop and heating bills sky-rocket, Bloomberg News in October shined a spotlight on among arguably the most vulnerable of these demographics sure to be affected- the Northeastern U.S.  Already plagued by the horrific damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy, millions of households throughout Eastern states running from New York and ravaged New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut all the way up through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine that warm their homes with heating oil, as Bloomberg reported, “will face record prices this winter as weather forecasters predict colder temperatures in the Northeast will drive up demand.”

Citing a comprehensive review by The Energy Information Administration, Business Week stated in their coverage of this impending crisis reported that “households will spend 19 percent more on average for heating oil and 15 percent more for natural gas from Oct. 1 to March 31, the period covered in its short- term energy and winter fuels outlook.”  An especially vulnerable spread of states – in light of the recent billions of dollars in damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in late October – and the affect that damage will have on raising fuel prices even higher than they were already heading in the short term.   According to the aforementioned EIA study, “while only 6 percent of U.S. homes use heating oil, 80 percent of families that use the fuel are clustered in the northeastern part of the country,” translating to “households relying on heating oil will spend an average of about $407 more this winter, a 19 percent increase over last year, as a result of higher prices and consumption. The average expenditures are expected to reach record levels.”

Taking swift action in their respective states to head off this perfect storm of misery with action from both the state, and more significantly, the Federal level, a bi-partisan coalition of Congressmen and Senators, beginning with New Hampshire Republican, Rep. Frank Guinta, brought to the attention of Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius- in a letter he authored and published on his official Congressional website- underscored the fact that with winter weather fast approaching, “this program is extremely important to our state and region, I wanted to let you know about the strong bi-partisan effort in Congress to make sure this program is properly funded and to guarantee the dollars are released to help our families and neighbors during the fall and winter months…The reason why this is important is because we have seen LIHEAP funding reduced from $5.1 billion in FY09 to $3.5 billion in FY12.”

            Acting aggressively to protect the program’s funding, not just nationally, but specifically where the especially-vulnerable Northeast was concerned, Rep. Guinta added that “as a long time supporter, I recently signed onto Congressman Mike Michaud’s (D-ME) legislation as an original co-sponsor. His bill, HR 6533, the LIHEAP Stability Act, would protect states that are particularly dependent on heating oil, specifically ones in which 25 percent or more of the households use heating oil. Since almost 49 percent of New Hampshire homes rely on heating oil, our state would continue to receive at least FY2010 funding levels if the price of heating oil continues to increase for the 2012-2013 winter…The average U.S. household spent $2,298 to heat their homes using oil in 2011— compared to electricity at $957 and natural gas at $724. Given the cost increases of heating oil, families across New Hampshire are particularly hard hit by LIHEAP cuts.”

            US Senators were equally as strong in their advocating for greater security over the threat of LIHEAP funding levels dropping any further while temperatures rose, with the New England coalition that included New Hampshire Senators Kelly Ayotte (Republican) and Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat), and Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, all co-signing a letter sent months ahead of time in anticipation of just these sorts of plunging temperatures requesting that the White House maintain at a minimum current funding levels of $4.7 Billion.  In the letter to President Obama, the coalition of New England Senators argued that funding at any lower level “presents a real challenge for low income households” and promised to have nothing short of a “devastating impact…on seniors and low-income families.”

            Speaking specifically on her state’s behalf, retiring Republican Senator Olympia Snowe in her final appeal of many over her years of boldly spearheading the push in the Senate for increases in LIHEAP funding, relaying the urgent message from her home state that: “It is absolutely vital federal funding for the LIHEAP program is released well in advance of winter so Maine’s agencies have the time necessary to make allotments to our Mainers most in need. I strongly urge Secretary Sebelius to release these funds as quickly as possible to ensure Maine families can heat their homes during the approaching cold months.  In Congress, we must also move heaven and earth to prioritize funding for the program. With heating oil prices as high as $3.93 per gallon in Maine, the LIHEAP remains below the level it should be to ensure the most vulnerable Mainers can stay warm.”

From the state level, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley directed a letter to the attention of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting in light of the reality that her state’s families were expected to be paying a monthly heating bill that was 20% higher than 2011, that the Federal govt. release LIHEAP contingency funds “as quickly and at as high of a level as possible.”  With the increase translating to a total average heating cost of nearly $2500 per family for the coming winter, AG Coakley urgently noted that “this news could not come at a worse time.”  Quoting neighboring New Hampshire office of Energy and Planning head Celeste Lovett, the BU News Service revealed that her office was facing similar dilemma, where while her state would be in a position “to provide some benefits to the people who needed it,” the cold, stark reality of the shortage in Federal funding meant that as demand for assistance continued to climb, LIHEAP aid would not be “extended to as many families as in prior years.”  Emphasizing that now was the time for households potentially vulnerable to get ahead of the storm by signing up ASAP for “fuel assistance if you think you might have a hard time paying your energy bills… Let the states worry about funding; it’s important to be in the database.” 

Out in the Southwest, the state’s weatherization effort was boosted by the US Agriculture Under Secretary Dallas Tonsager’s announcement, as the Liberty County Vindicator reported, that “more than $4.4 million in funding announced today is being provided through USDA Rural Development’s Housing Preservation Grant program,” including three recipients in Texas that the paper reported “have been awarded over $236,000 to help low- and very-low income rural homeowners eliminate safety or health challenges…(including) Community Services, Inc. will receive $18,000 to assist 5 homeowners with leveraged funds from the DOE and LIHEAP Weatherization Programs for plumbing, electrical and structural repairs required to bring houses into code compliance and for energy saving measures.”  Emphasizing why this kind of grant would make a significant difference around the state, Undersecretary Tonsager explained that “for many rural residents, maintaining a home with basic features such as indoor plumbing and safe electrical wiring is often unaffordable.  This program supports basic repairs to improve living conditions for rural residents with extremely limited incomes.”

            Along with fighting for these traditional LIHEAP constituencies, Congress has begun advocating aggressively in the past few years – and continued to aggressively do so in the fall of 2012 – on behalf of a new and among the fastest rising demographics of new faces reaching out for LIHEAP assistance: that being the hundreds of thousands of returning US Veterans coming home from long tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Underscoring just how expansive the necessity of LIHEAP’s helping hand has become in recent years for the tens of thousands of US Servicemen returning home, the New York Times in a January, 2012 editorial painted a vivid picture of this reality with their report on the stark and staggering facts that “Veterans now make up 20 percent of all recipients of the aid, up from 12 percent four years ago… The number of low-income veterans receiving government assistance for their heating and cooling bills hit a new high last year… Over the last four years, the survey found, the number of low-income households with at least one military veteran receiving federal energy assistance rose by about 1.1 million households, to 1.78 million.”  The previously-quoted New Times paper added a month later in their own cover story that this increase represented an expansion of “over 150 percent during the past four years.”

As America has long touted the pledge ‘We Take Care of Our Own’ when its come to the nations’ millions of veterans, to that end, in spite of the gridlock that has plagued Washington DC’s spending priorities the past few years, one area where a harmonious chorus of agreement has emerged among lawmakers is highlighting the importance LIHEAP plays in the lives of these veterans.  Consider the Boston Globe’s report at the top of 2012 that “LIHEAP is not just a service to the households struggling in these difficult economic times, but it is a vital resource to our elderly and our veterans…LIHEAP also serves 1.78 million veterans in this country annually.”  Highlighting their home state as a poignant example, the Globe added that “in Massachusetts, 41,297 veterans and/or the families of active servicemen and women who are deployed make up 20 percent of the households who are recipients of federal help to heat their homes. We see this percentage rise every year, as it was only 12 percent last year.”

With an ever-growing coalition of bi-partisan politicians underscoring the importance LIHEAP plays in veterans and their families throughout congressional districts around the country, Pennsylvania Congressman Lou Barletta told the Times News in 2011 that in spite of the program’s availability, “many veterans who might be eligible for LIHEAP don’t know they can take advantage of the program, but they absolutely can. We need to help our veterans and seniors stay warm in the winter. We can’t let them slip through the cracks. We need to fund LIHEAP.”  Concurring, neighboring Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown confirmed that around his state, “many veterans rely heavily on…non-veteran specific government benefits like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps individuals and families pay their energy bills.” 

Rallying to stand up in Washington on behalf of these millions of veterans with the same passion they’d first defended the nation in the course of earning such benefits, now-retired Senior Congressman Barney Frank (MA) that same month went so far as to single out LIHEAP as among “the MAIN federal program that provides home energy assistance to…Veterans.”  Frank went on to add that along with the Post-traumatic psychological stresses plaguing many of these soldiers, they were additionally battling on the economic home-front where, according to Frank, “families fortunate enough to receive funding at all, experienced on average, a 26% cut in their household LIHEAP grant from 2011 to 2012…Despite the fact that a growing number of Americans need this program to heat their homes during winter, the funding of the program below its authorized level has meant that only 20% of those eligible are currently receiving assistance.” 

Fellow Massachusetts Congressman and longtime LIHEAP advocate, the above-quoted Rep. Ed Markey rallied, his troops on Capitol Hill this past winter specifically on behalf of veterans and their families, noting that time was of the essence to fully fund the program “with a cold snap hitting the Northeast and international unrest sending oil prices higher, several House Democrats, low-income energy assistance groups and military veterans will call for an increase in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, this Wednesday at a Capitol Hill. He was joined by: Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.)”

            Looking toward the winter of 2012 and beyond, among political parties state and nation-wide, the consensus appears to be an ever-growing one that the LIHEAP program warrants being prioritized as highly as the demographics it serves.  From the elderly and disabled to this country’s millions of returning veterans and on to the aforementioned victims of skyrocketing heating oil costs, The White House recently signaled it was beginning to hear the sirens sounding regarding the program’s vital necessity and rising demand, announcing to that end in their FY2013 budget that “the President’s Budget provides $3 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help struggling families make ends meet by offsetting some of their home heating and cooling costs. While the cost of natural gas — which is the heating fuel most LIHEAP households use — has not risen in recent years, the price of heating oil has been on the rise. The additional $450 million over the 2012 request reflects expected home heating costs for winter 2012-2013.”

By Jake Brown

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley took to front pages of The Boston Herald this past month to advocate on behalf of LIHEAP-dependant “families across Massachusetts and the Northeast” who she explained are in desperate need of program funding because they’ve “continued to cut back on essential services through these tough economic times in order to address increasing home heating, electric and gas bills. LIHEAP assistance is desperately needed by these most vulnerable Massachusetts households who cannot continue to absorb these rising costs.”

New Hampshire Republican, Rep. Frank Guinta, earned recognition for his full-court press to ensure that “as New Hampshire agencies prepare their LIHEAP programs for the coming winter, it is imperative the Department of Health and Human Services immediately release this funding.”  Continuing, Guinta argued this aggressive move was necessary due to the fact that “during these difficult economic times, a growing number of our friends and family members have had to rely on the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, more commonly known as LIHEAP.  Spending patterns for LIHEAP assistance are not consistent throughout the fiscal year. Instead, the majority of assistance in New Hampshire is distributed during the winter months.  October marks the beginning of the coldest months for many families, and with a difficult economy, this year’s heating season will be an even greater struggle. It is crucial we release the majority of funding now to allow states to get prepared.”

Democratic colleague Congressman Charles F. Bass, also representing the people of New Hampshire, earned acknowledgement for echoing his colleague’s call for maximum LIHEAP funding, reasoning the urgency was called for “with the arrival of colder mornings and evenings,” and pointing to the fact that, as a consequence, “many Granite Staters have already turned on their heat. Unfortunately, there are many New Hampshire families struggling to pay their bills, and the high cost of home heating needs is an added burden. LIHEAP is an important and necessary program that helps thousands of families in our state meet their heating needs. Immediately releasing LIHEAP funds now, at the start of what will likely be another long winter, will help states better plan their needs and start helping those who need help now.”

Longtime LIHEAP trooper, Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey – a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee- garnered praise for his continued strong vocal support for maximum program funding, arguing this past month that “No household should suffer chills in order to pay their bills this winter, and this LIHEAP funding will help families stay warm and make ends meet during these tough economic times,” Markey said in a statement, while adding: “I will continue to work to ensure that critical LIHEAP funds are released as needed this winter.”

 Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin earned accolades for his proactive approach to making up for expected shortfalls in LIHEAP funding, asking his state’s Emergency Legislative Board in October to approve $9 Million in additional LIHEAP funding to ensure – according to a report by Fox News 44 – that over 28,000 families throughout the state receive the necessary assistance to keep the heat on, reasoning the action was necessary in his estimation because “we’re a state where neighbors take care of neighbors and neighbors take care of strangers. There is not a Vermonter who wants to see lower income Vermonters cold in their homes making terrible choices between heat and the medicine they need to survive.”

Rhode Island Senior US Senator Jake Reed was also very vocal in his urgent call for the release of winter LIHEAP funds, insisting the program served within his state as a lifeline to “families in need (to)… keep the heat on during the cold winter months.  With winter approaching, it is critical to quickly get this assistance out to ensure seniors and low-income families do not get left out in the cold.”

LIHEAP played a major role in the relief efforts of states across the country throughout the middle and later summer, as Governors, state legislatures, local community action agencies, and US Congressmen and Senators home for August recess listened to millions of constituents around the country emphasize how significant a helping hand the program had played in their survival of a deadly heat wave- one that led to over half the country’s counties being declared disaster zones due to record droughts.  As the heat beat down in the North East, one high-profile example of this bi-partisan recognition and support of the program came in New Jersey, when Governor Chris Christie praised the difference LIHEAP had made in the lives of over a quarter-million families throughout his state, with Christie commenting during the top of August announcement of the funds’ release that “I am pleased that my administration will be able to help New Jersey families this year by providing additional benefits to eligible households to help them pay their home heating bills for this past winter season.”

While at least some of those funds were arguably going toward summer utility bills as well, the upcoming winter months were definitely on the minds of Maine families who depend on LIHEAP aid as a life-line during the state’s routinely frigid winters, as the Associated Press carried nationally the Maine State Housing Authority’s announcement that the state was projecting a $5 million reduction in Federally-allotted funding.  Dropping to $33.5 million from the FY2011 level of $38.5 million, Housing Authority spokeswoman noting that deficit as translating to the 58,000 families that were aided last year as a number they expected to fall to 54,000, threatening to leave 4,000 families – quite literally- out in the cold.  Virginia was experiencing a similar predicament, with PewStates.org reporting that the state was forced to “cut its cooling benefit this year to $250 from an average of around $330 over the past four years due to a projected increase in demand and falling funding.”

In the Midwest, the Associated Press – proving itself a LIHEAP supporter – in late July ran a feature on the State of Illinois’ efforts to set aside a head-turning $10 million to make up for the shortfall in Federal LIHEAP funding.  Estimated by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to aid an additional 60,000 families in need of aid, the Dept.’s spokeswoman, Marcelyn Love, reported that the move was a necessary one in order to save lives, reasoning that “when temperatures reach the triple digits, then we essentially have to take some of the money that would be used for the winter months and use it in the summer.”  Private utility giant Ameren Corp – who reportedly serve 1,200 communities and 43,700 square miles, including 1.2 million electric and 813,000 natural gas customers- announced it was kicking in to help pick up the slack with the announcement at the top of August of $500,000 in aid to struggling customers with their summer cooling bills throughout the Central and Southern regions of the state.  Company President/CEO Richard Mark felt the move to provide additional aid- which comes on the heals of an earlier contribution of $670,000 ($50,000 to Illinois military families and more than $600,000 to senior citizens) released at the top of the summer- was a necessary one following “the recent weeks of record-breaking extreme temperatures have made life difficult for many of our customer.  Just as we’ve been working hard to keep the delivery system reliable, we remain committed to providing energy assistance to those in need, especially now.”
In the upper Midwestern state of Iowa, charitable organizations were stepping up to the plate to come to the aid of thousands of struggling families by providing it literally in the form of organizations like the Salvation Army providing $50 payments per family.  With the Cedar Rapids Gazette reporting that 234,000 Iowa families were behind on utility bills statewide in June, and utilities disconnected 4,500 people that month.  In neighboring state of Wisconsin, PewStates.org reported that while the state “doesn’t operate a cooling assistance program, but heat and demand forced officials to divert heating aid money this summer. Bruer says as many as 100 people per day have been coming in for assistance.

Kansas faced a similar spike in requests for demand after the Department of Children and Families reported last month that thousands of families were witnessing up to a 200% increase in their monthly electric bills thanks to record heat that averaged 100 degrees every day in the month of July. In response, the state opted to release $18.3 million in supplemental LIHEAP funding to bring relief to what the Dept. noted was a head-turning 54,000 households around the state who were struggling to pay their skyrocketing summer utility bills, at an average of $340 per family.  ABC 7 in Little Rock added of this year’s LIHEAP disbursement couldn’t have come at a more crucial time when, contrasting the disparity between the number of families helped in FY2012 compared with FY2011 as a steep difference where “just a little over 50,000 getting aid in 2012…(where) last year, 63,000 people were helped. With that cut from last year’s amount down to $3.5 (billion), thousands of people who are eligible not actually receive LIHEAP aid.”  Another local television station, KARK 4 News, quoted utility provider and LIHEAP partner Entergy’s Director of Customer Service, Oscar Washington, as endorsing the life line the program provides as essential with “Arkansas’ 18 percent poverty rate is America’s sixth-highest.  With record heat and a lagging economy, this makes for a critical situation for thousands of our customers…So far this summer, Little Rock reached 100 degrees or above a combined 15 days in June and July, and other towns and cities across Arkansas have experienced searing heat.  We’re doing all we can to help Arkansans meet their utility needs because we know LIHEAP saves lives.”

Down in the deep south of hard-hit Louisiana- whose 18.8 poverty rate was reported this year as the US’s fifth highest- a consortium of LIHEAP advocates joined voices across multi-industries, including utility giant Entergy Louisiana and prominent local community action organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank and NOVA Workforce, spoke up on behalf of the monumental difference the program has made to tens of thousands of families throughout the state, underscored by Entergy Louisiana and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana C.E.O. Bill Mohl’s strongly-worded statement that “LIHEAP saves lives. It’s especially important to Louisiana’s elderly and infirm who are ill-equipped to handle these record temperatures…Combined with hotter temperatures, America’s continued recession is endangering more and more of our neighbors. An additional 674,000 Americans became impoverished between 2008 and 2011 in just the four states Entergy serves. Louisiana families need LIHEAP more than ever.”

Noting that, on average, there are 400 heat-related deaths a year in the U.S, local paper Amite-Tangi Digest, covering the press event, the paper added that LIHEAP aid has remained essential throughout 2012 because “Louisiana started the year with its second warmest six-month period (January – June) in 118 years, driving record power usage in many parts of the state.” To help offset the loss in federal LIHEAP funding over the past several years even as temperatures and demand has continued to rise for the program, Entergy Louisiana has rallied to the aid of LIHEAP-dependant families by introducing new company-sponsored relief programs like Beat the Heat program and the Power to Care fund, with CEO Bill Mohl adding that “initiatives like these can really make a difference as energy costs as a percentage of income can be four times higher for LIHEAP-eligible families than for those with higher incomes.”
In neighboring Mississippi, the Salvation Army and utility provider Entergy Mississippi were continuing the spirit of public-private partnerships in support of promoting LIHEAP with their joint get-out-the-word effort, the Jackson Free Press reported, courtesy of the Outreach EXPO 2012, with the Free Press sharing in their coverage news of an event that took place at the top of August when “Entergy and The Salvation Army are at the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation’s Outreach Expo 2012 to help people sign up for this LIHEAP assistance. Participants can also get free CFL lightbulbs, ‘smart’ power strips and energy-efficient tips.”
Out in the Western United States, LIHEAP officials and organizations were feeling the similar heat – both from scorching temperatures and from desperate residents around the state- as demand for LIHEAP summer cooling aid shot sky-high amid NorthWestern Energy’s report that “this summer customers…are using about 15 percent more power compared with the same period last year, with a bill to match.”  The Sioux Falls Business Journal added that “in Xcel Energy’s Upper Midwest service area, the company saw a peak demand of 9,481 megawatts July 2, just shy of the record 9,544 megawatts set last summer. East River Electric Power Cooperative, which markets power wholesale to 24 rural East River cooperatives and the city of Elk Point, set a new summer peak of 518 megawatts July 19…Its largest customer is Sioux Valley Energy, where demand is up about 10 percent over last year, according to Ted Smith, the company’s director of engineering and operations.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie led the September LIHEAP Political Profiles with his announcement last month that 267,273 New Jersey families would receive a supplemental LIHEAP benefit that, according to the Cape May County Herald, includes “nearly 158,000 households that heat their homes with gas will receive an added benefit of $100 while those that heat with electric will receive a $250 benefit. Approximately 28,000 families that heat with deliverable fuels, such as oil or propane, will receive a $175 supplemental benefit. Also, about 51,000 households that received medically-required cooling assistance will receive a $100 supplemental benefit.”

Praising the difference the program makes in the lives of thousands of struggling families around the state, Christie said of the program that “the LIHEAP program is yet another tool that benefits…New Jerseyans.”

Meanwhile, up north in Vermont, Responding to reports that Federal budget cuts would again short Vermont on their previously projected LIHEAP funding, the Vermont Digger reported that “if the state doesn’t kick in extra aid, the average fuel assistance benefit for FY 2013 will drop from $900 to $543 over the course of the winter season.”

Assuring residents that protecting LIHEAP funding was at the top of the Governor’s priority list, Governor and Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding both earned praise for their strong defense of the program, beginning with Governor Peter Shumlin acknowledging that while the budget outlook “is ugly (and) we cannot in the state of Vermont afford to bail out every single program that this Congress continues to cut. However, we are not going to let Vermonters freeze in their homes.”

Secretary of State Jeb Spaulding added that “fuel assistance is one that the governor, legislators and everyday people feel is very important. So we will do our best to come up with the funds to at least not go backwards.”

New York City Assemblyman David G. McDonough earned a spotlight for his strong advocacy on LIHEAP’s behalf locally in NYC, made his constituents aware of $3 million the state had released to assist residents in purchasing air conditioners to battle the deadly heat waves that punished the city throughout July and August.
Emphasizing the life-saving difference LIHEAP aid like the aforementioned funds made in the lives of thousands of vulnerable residents throughout the city, McDonough commented that “periods of extreme heat can be dangerous for local seniors and residents with chronic medical conditions.  Extended periods of hot weather can lead to serious health concerns, like heat stroke and exhaustion. I strongly encourage residents who believe they would qualify to take advantage of this program to help beat the heat. I would also ask local residents to take extra time to check-in on elderly family members and neighbors to ensure they are taking the necessary precautions during heat waves.”