Best Practices

The OACAA Best Practice Awards is a partnership between John Glenn School of Public Affairs of the Ohio State University, The Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies to honor innovative and effective Community Action Agency programs that measurably meet the needs of their clients, their families and their communities by helping low-income people become more self-sufficient. Using an outcomes-based evaluation system know as ROMA—Results Oriented Management and Accountability, the Best Practices Awards serve as a showcase for innovative Community Action Agency efforts that make a measurable and life-changing difference.

What is ROMA?

Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) is an approach to management that builds accountability into the daily activities of employees and the daily operations of an organization. ROMA is an avenue for organizations to continually evaluate the effectiveness of their programs and plot a course for improvements in agency capacity and performance. ROMA is also the common language for members of the Community Action Network to use to respond to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 requiring federally funded programs to demonstrate measurable outcomes.

In August 1994, the Director of the Office of Community Services (OCS) chartered the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Monitoring and Assessment Task Force. The task force created six broad goals for members of the Community Action Network to use when responding to GPRA. They are:

Family Level
-Low-income people become more self-sufficient (Category 1)
-Low-income people, especially vulnerable populations, achieve their potential by strengthening family and other supportive systems (Category 6)

Community Level
-Conditions in which low-income people live are improved (Category 2)
-Low-income people own a stake in their community (Category 3)

Agency Level
-Partnerships among supporters and providers of services to low-income people are achieved (Category 4)
-Agencies increase their capacity to achieve results (Category 5)