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Community Action Partnership
Award for Excellence in Community Action
2004 Award Recipients
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Community Action Council of South Texas
Rio Grande City, Texas
- Francisco G. Zarate, Executive Director
- Adrian Clarke, Board President
The Community Action Council of South Texas (CACST) has been serving low-income families since 1965 with efforts that help people move from poverty to self-sufficiency. Founded as the Community Council of Starr County, the CAA has expanded to become the designated Community Action Agency providing services in the region encompassing the four deep South Texas Counties of Starr, Zapata, Jim Hogg, and Duval. CACST also provides limited services to Hidalgo, Kenedy, Kleberg, McMullen, and San Patricio counties.
CACST is the single most comprehensive service delivery system in an area that includes four of the poorest counties in Texas, with a poverty rate at least 2 to 2½ times that of the state and 3 to 4 times the national average. In 2002, CACST, with a total audited operating budget of over $17 million, provided services to 35,699 individuals. The agency’s 25-member tripartite board of directors includes representatives of the poor, public officials, and private interest groups. The agency employs approximately 450 people and has volunteers donating over 97,000 hours in all program divisions throughout the year.
The agency has organized its programs and services into the following divisions: Child Development, Health Services, Transportation, Community Services, Housing Services & Colonias Initiatives, Substance Abuse Services, Senior Citizen’s Programs, Weatherization, Special Programs, and Youth Initiatives. Programs and services offered include Head Start, Early Head Start, Day Care, the Child Care Food Program, Energy Assistance, Migrant/Farm Worker Assistance, direct family support assistance, WIC, Immunizations, Maternal & Child Services, primary health care, Podiatry, Family Planning, Dental Services, home repair and rehabilitation, Homeownership counseling, fixed-route and demand-response taxi services known as "Rainbow Lines," Meals-On-Wheels, Adult Day Care Centers, Adult Nutrition Centers, Podemos!, heating and cooling assistance, and YouthBuild.
"A catalyst for positive change" — as the agency’s vision statement says — CACST is a pillar of the community of South Texas, exemplary of what can be accomplished by committed people, longevity, perseverance, and efficient management.
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Fayette County Community Action Agency
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
- James M. Stark, Executive Director
- Frank A. Lucente, Board President
The Fayette County Community Action Agency has been helping people and changing lives in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, since 1966. FCCAA’s mission is to strengthen individuals and families to become more self-sufficient, achieving their potential by taking advantage of opportunities, improving conditions in which they live, and taking ownership of their community.
Fayette County has many alarming statistics that are among the highest in Pennsylvania, including poverty, teenage pregnancy, unemployment, and welfare dependency. Fayette County also has an extremely high percentage of elderly residents.
The agency currently offers more than 70 programs and services in the areas of nutrition, case management, housing and energy assistance, education, vocational training, healthcare, dental services, senior centers, home delivered meals, in-home services for seniors, and senior housing. The agency also serves its clients in the areas of technology, housing development, and community development.
In the area of technology, the agency developed the Family Access Management System (FAMS), which was named as a USDA Best Practice. FAMS is a client tracking and case management software program currently used by more than 50 health and human service agencies.
FCCAA’s hallmark community development project has been the revitalization of a deteriorating warehouse district that is now a state-of-the-art "one-stop shop" for health, human, and social services known as the Campus of Services.
Buildings on the Campus are the Community Service Center, which houses the Uniontown Senior Center, the Family Service Center that is the agency’s headquarters, the Food Bank and Warehouse along with Meadow Heights Apartments — a 60-unit elderly housing complex. In addition the all of the agency’s programs, the Campus of Services provides space for 20 additional health and human service agencies that are tenants.
In order to address the agency’s mission, values, direction, and performance expectations, every program at the agency is enriched through feedback from an advisory board, comprised largely of low-income constituents. Senior leaders then work with the agency’s board of directors to meet the requests and changing needs of the community.
Annually, the agency completes a Quality Review Process that focuses on goal achievement, accountability, customer service, development, facilities, and finances. Through this process, the agency understands the voices of clients, customers, constituents, and stakeholders in the community.
Additionally, FCCAA has been recognized in Pennsylvania and nationally for its leadership role in incorporating ROMA principles and practices into its management and services delivery systems.
FCCAA is also responsible for seven additional corporations and entities, including a community development corporation, a housing development corporation, a loan fund, a medical and dental center, a training school, and a property holding company. In all, FCCAA manages more than $15 million annually.
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