Commerce director briefs committee on CSBG funding that served 33,000 families
April 16, 2026 | 2026 Legislature OK, Oklahoma
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Marshall Votes, director of community development at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, briefed a legislative committee about the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), which he said comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is distributed to community action agencies by formula.
"My name is Marshall Votes. I am the director of community development for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce," he said. He explained that Commerce administers CSBG, retaining about 5% for administrative oversight, training and compliance, and passes roughly 90% of the funds to 17 community action agencies that serve all 77 counties.
Votes provided program figures: the department is administering about $8,900,000 in CSBG funding, he said, and the program served about 33,000 low‑income families last year. He described leveraging that federal allocation into "a $2.50 plus million dollar leverage" and noted many hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours contributed to the effort. He said the department administers CSBG within a broader Community Development Division and under an umbrella called CORE, which was created by recent legislation.
Votes emphasized CSBG’s flexibility: "it can do anything, anything that addresses the causes and conditions of poverty," including employment, housing, transportation, education, asset building, health, nutrition and partnerships with faith‑based organizations and local governments. He told members the briefing satisfied a federal grant requirement and said he did not need action from the committee at this time.
A committee member asked about staff capacity. Votes said the Oklahoma Department of Commerce has "a little over 100 employees," that he oversees roughly 30–32 staff in community development, and that CSBG supports "probably about 3 to 4 FTE" with several staff working across multiple grants.
The briefing closed without committee action; the chair thanked the director and adjourned the meeting.
"My name is Marshall Votes. I am the director of community development for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce," he said. He explained that Commerce administers CSBG, retaining about 5% for administrative oversight, training and compliance, and passes roughly 90% of the funds to 17 community action agencies that serve all 77 counties.
Votes provided program figures: the department is administering about $8,900,000 in CSBG funding, he said, and the program served about 33,000 low‑income families last year. He described leveraging that federal allocation into "a $2.50 plus million dollar leverage" and noted many hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours contributed to the effort. He said the department administers CSBG within a broader Community Development Division and under an umbrella called CORE, which was created by recent legislation.
Votes emphasized CSBG’s flexibility: "it can do anything, anything that addresses the causes and conditions of poverty," including employment, housing, transportation, education, asset building, health, nutrition and partnerships with faith‑based organizations and local governments. He told members the briefing satisfied a federal grant requirement and said he did not need action from the committee at this time.
A committee member asked about staff capacity. Votes said the Oklahoma Department of Commerce has "a little over 100 employees," that he oversees roughly 30–32 staff in community development, and that CSBG supports "probably about 3 to 4 FTE" with several staff working across multiple grants.
The briefing closed without committee action; the chair thanked the director and adjourned the meeting.
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