The Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development is a large and diverse agency. The 2009 Resource Book describes their many programs. It includes staff contacts for each program.

This may be a useful resource for librarians looking to help a customer looking for employment, housing assistance, or temporary aid. It may also be useful to local community organizations which provide similar services.

The 2009 Resource Book is located at http://cted.wa.gov/UPLOADS/agencyresource/CTED2009ResourceBook.pdf . A print version is not available this year given the tight budgets all are experiencing.

One area of interest may be the Community Services Division Program Fact Sheets which start on page 41 of the Resource Book. Examples of these programs and select links follow.

Community Services Division Program

The mission of the Community Services Division is to strengthen the health, safety, self-reliance, and economic vitality of individuals and families by building community partnerships to provide service and advocacy.

Asset Building for Working Families

Asset Building for Working Families provides innovative ways to improve local economies
and the lives Washington residents. In partnership with the Washington Asset Building
Coalition and others, the program promotes financial literacy, earned income tax credits,
incentives to invest in appreciable assets for long-term prosperity, and many other benefits
for low-income families.

Assistive Technology
Providing tools to those in need to connect with services and gain employment.

The Community Voice Mail (CVM) Program brings social service
delivery into the 21st Century by using telecommunications technology
to link people who would be otherwise be out-of-touch with employers,
landlords and health care providers.

Community Programs

Community Programs include Community Service Block Grant to assist local communities
in combating poverty and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to
help households in need make heating more affordable and avoid shutoff of utility services in
winter. Both programs are federally funded, allocated through CTED’s local community
partners. We also staff the state’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman program.

WorkFirst

WorkFirst is Washington State’s welfare-to-work strategy. CTED is one of four state
agency partners in the program, also known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF), providing assistance that will lead to family independence through employment.
Everyone has abilities needed in today’s workforce and work is the foundation building
block to help families to get off welfare.

Also see:

Economic Development Grants Inventory

Numerous public libraries are participating in the Economic Development Grants Inventory. You may recognize the vendor used by CTED as “GrantStation” and their weekly newsletter as “GrantStation Insider”. The fact sheet for this program states, “Developed inventory of all state agencies offering grant and loan opportunities, now included in the state section of GrantStation’s Web site.”

When you go to the CTED Grants site, be sure to scroll past the Growth Management grant information until you arrive at the paragraph or heading – Grants Resources Offered Free to Cities. From this point to the bottom of the page you will find information on “GrantStation” and other resources of interest.

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