Transforming Virginia's CAA's - Goal 8
Over the course of the next several months we will be reintroducing the Transforming Virginia goals through newsletter articles, trainings and webinars.
This month we are going to focus on Goal 8: Primary focus and most outcomes are at the client level → A major focus is on community-level problem solving and systemic change - This shift calls for a broader focus on changing systems and policies at the community level rather than just addressing individual needs.
Across Virginia, Community Action Agencies are strengthening families every day through vital direct services—housing supports, employment pathways, early childhood efforts, financial empowerment, and more. But the next phase of transformation calls for something deeper: expanding our focus beyond individual outcomes and leaning into community‑level problem solving and systemic change.
This shift—highlighted in Transforming Virginia Goal #8—encourages agencies to think bigger, collaborate more intentionally, and address the root causes that keep families in poverty. While client‑level work will always remain essential, long-term impact depends on changing the systems, conditions, and policies that shape community well-being.
What Does This Shift Look Like in Practice?
Community‑level change involves efforts such as increasing affordable housing stock, strengthening local transportation access, improving food systems, advocating for policy reforms, expanding workforce pipelines, or aligning community partners around shared priorities. These initiatives take longer, require collaboration, and often rely on shared measurement—but they have the power to transform entire regions, not just individual households.
Tools & Resources for Advancing Community-Level Impact
- Community Needs Assessments (CNA) as a Systems Roadmap:
Recent CNAs are a rich source of systems-level data. Agencies can repurpose CNA findings to identify systemic barriers (e.g., lack of child care slots, gaps in transportation, fragmented behavioral health access) and build multi-year community initiatives.
- Collective Impact and Backbone Structures:
Community-level change often requires coordinated partnerships. The Collective Impact model offers a structured approach for aligning organizations around shared goals, data, and activities.
Agencies can safely engage in nonpartisan advocacy by educating legislators, sharing data, and elevating community voices.
- Community Action Partnership’s Whole Family/2Gen Framework:
This model helps agencies align individual-level services with system-level reforms in education, housing, transportation, and workforce development.
How Agencies Can Begin Shifting Toward Community-Level Systems Work
- Engage partners early and often—schools, DSS, health systems, workforce boards, housing authorities, and local governments.
- Translate CNA results into long-term community change goals.
- Identify one or two systems-level priorities to champion each year.
- Use shared community data dashboards to monitor progress.
- Include community-level indicators in your strategic plan, CSBG plan, and ROMA cycle.
- Document community-level work (partnerships, policy changes, new collaborations)
Why This Matters
Direct services stabilize families—but system change prevents families from needing those services in the first place. By advancing community-level strategies, agencies can reduce the burden on safety-net programs, strengthen local capacity, and create conditions where all households can thrive. This shift reflects the heart of Community Action: not only serving people in crisis, but addressing the causes and conditions of poverty at their source.
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