Equity Starts Here

This month we celebrate Community Action Month during which we highlight the critical role that our community action agencies (CAAs) have played in creating pathways to opportunity and prosperity for vulnerable families.

For 57 years, CAAs have been trusted leaders working collaboratively with various local, state and national partners to help families escape the harmful grip of poverty and despair. As legacies of the civil rights movement, the 1,000 national CAAs serve 99% percent of the nation’s counties. These agencies operate a plethora of programs and services designed to give struggling families, the elderly, disabled, veterans and citizens returning to their communities from incarceration, the tools, resources, and opportunities needed to lead healthy productive lives.

Economic growth is the key to eliminating poverty, and equity across all communities brings the same benefits to the poor as to the non-poor. With escalating national protests calling for justice, how do we create an equitable playing field where all citizens can prosper and feel safe?