Most Community Action Agencies had their beginning with the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and the “War on Poverty”.  The block grant provisions were enacted in 1981. Today, the entire state is being served by community action agencies.  Twenty-seven of our CAAs are community-based nonprofit organizations and four are local government entities.

The official mission of a CAA is “to stimulate a better focusing of all available, state, local, private, and federal resources upon the goal of enabling low-income families, and low-income individuals of all ages in rural and urban areas, to attain the skills, knowledge, and motivations and secure the opportunities needed for them to become self-sufficient.”

All CAAs must have a tripartite board composed of low-income people, elected officials or their delegates, and members of the business, labor, religious, law enforcement or education communities that fully participate in the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of the program to serve low-income people. Furthermore, CAAs must:

administer funds according to Office of Management and Budget cost and accounting

survey their service areas to determine the priority needs of low-income people

plan for the most effective use of CSBG resources

seek additional resources that can be directed to CSBG goals

report outcomes according to the Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) framework and the six national goals for CSBG