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ABOUT COMMUNITY ACTION

Community Action Agencies (CAAs) promote self-sufficiency and support individuals and families striving to become economically secure while investing in the future of their local communities. This national network of 1060 agencies, funded in part by the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), serves approximately 7 million families, totaling 16 million low-income persons each year. More than two-thirds have incomes at or below the federal poverty guideline.
 
To achieve the goal of reducing poverty, the CAA staffs manage a mix of public and private resources averaging $11 billion annually. Almost one third of this money comes from non-federal sources, including more than a billion dollars of private funding. CAAs mobilize hundreds of thousands of local volunteers to enact positive change in their communities every year. In 2010, the network expanded to meet the ballooning needs of America’s many unemployed and underemployed families. Last year, CAAs served 20.3 million individuals using more than $16 billion, including resources from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

CAAs address causes of poverty, not the symptoms, which means that:

  • CAAs work to ensure their community offers everyone opportunities to become economically secure, and
  • We invest in individuals and their families who are striving to develop their skills

(source: National Community Action Foundation website, retrieved 5/1/12)

Learn more about the community action movement, its history, philosophy, mission, goals:

Community Action Kentucky (CAK), our statewide association. Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission is one of twenty-three CAA's in Kentucky. Links to the other agencies in Kentucky can be found on the CAK website.

Community Action Partnership is the national association that works with local community action agencies to provide training, technical assistance, national advocacy, etc.

National Community Action Foundation is our voice in Washington, providing information and advocacy on political issues facing the community action network.

National Association of State Community Services Programs includes all the state's directors who administer Community Services Block Grants and community action agency programming.

Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) is the national reporting mechanism for statistically demonstrating the effectiveness of community action programs across the country.