My work as a Policy Analyst at APPRISE includes collaboration with state and tribal/territorial offices responsible for administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). This program provides grants to improve home heating and cooling affordability for low-income households. I advise LIHEAP coordinators in reporting information on LIHEAP beneficiaries, expenditures, and performance measures. What makes my work exciting is the opportunity to engage with administrators and to learn about how their programs uniquely serve households, and in some cases, to share my insights on how they can use data to better target benefits to vulnerable households with high energy costs.

This is a short video I put together that showcased Illinois’ effort to use LIHEAP Data and Census Data to analyze the share of the income-eligible population served by LIHEAP.

The administration of LIHEAP isn’t without its challenges. State and tribal/territorial grant recipients face unique hurdles targeting benefits or reporting data back to the federal government. APPRISE plays a crucial role by collaborating closely with The Office of Community Services (OCS), the federal entity overseeing LIHEAP. APPRISE works with OCS to offer specialized training and technical support to grant recipients in the form of virtual webinars and meetings. In select cases, OCS and APPRISE determine a grant recipient would benefit from an in-person training, which was the case with New Hampshire.

These are screenshots from an annual webinar that APPRISE puts together on the Performance Measures report. This is a federal report that grant recipients need to put together to provide information on LIHEAP impacts and targeting performance. This data is used to assist OCS and all grant recipients with performance management.

In November, I had the privilege of visiting the New Hampshire Department of Energy (NHDOE) as part of a team from APPRISE. Our mission: to understand their specific program operations and training needs. We flew to Concord, the capital city of New Hampshire, and engaged in a comprehensive three-day discussion with NHDOE members. Our discussions delved into program processes, data collection procedures, and reporting structures. We aimed to provide tailored recommendations and resources to improve New Hampshire’s LIHEAP administration.

During our visit, we discovered that several NHDOE members were relatively new to their program roles. Our discussion was guided by specific questions to clarify program expectations, their collaboration with local agencies, application processing, and the utilization of LIHEAP funds for weatherization. Together, we pinpointed actionable steps they could take to enhance the coordination of responsibilities, setting them on the path to submit complete and timely reports.

My trip to New Hampshire was rewarding on multiple levels. Meeting coordinators in person provided valuable insights into LIHEAP administration and enhanced my understanding of state-specific management challenges. Armed with this knowledge, I developed new ideas about how to approach our current training and technical assistance offerings to better support the unique needs of coordinators. All in all, this journey to New Hampshire was an enriching opportunity, and one of many rewarding experiences you can have as an APPRISE Policy Analyst!

Written by: Nicolas Mititelu, APPRISE Policy Analyst; Dec 2023

Nicolas Mititelu – Policy Analyst