As you may have heard, the NC Community Action network of agencies recently received $26 million of funding through the CARES Act. Have questions about the supplemental CARES Act funds the network received? This frequently asked questions can help answer those questions for yourself and clients. |
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Immediate Open Positions at the NCCAA |
We are hiring immediately for two positions: Communications Director and Community Impact Manager. Applications are due no later than September 4th by 4 pm. Please email your resume and brief cover letter to [email protected]. Click the buttons to read the full job descriptions. |
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Case Management and Head Start Family Engagement Certifications |
Want to train your new staff members, or give your current staff a professional development opportunity? Our next certification cohorts are an excellent choice for professional development and training. They come highly rated by our past participants, are 100% online, last 8 weeks and come with a university-sealed certificate.
The Head Start Family Engagement certification starts September 21 and the Case Management certification starts October 12. Learn more and register below!
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Success Story: Provided by Sandhills Community Action
We are so proud of all the success our agencies achieve! These stories have been collected, adapted, and edited for clarity.
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Logan is a 20 year old young man who was enrolled into the STARS Self Sufficiency Program in 2018. Logan came to Sandhills Community Action seeking financial assistance for school. He has been accepted in RN Program at Richmond Community College but was not eligible for financial aid. He entered the program working part time with an annual income of $3,191. Thanks to Sandhills Community Action's support, Logan has successfully completed the RN Nursing program and obtained his RN License. He now works full time making $44,425 a year. Logan is off to a bright future and we are very proud of him and all of his accomplishments.
This story represents one of thousands of customers enrolled in a program at their local community action agency. Community Action Works!
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Community Action News, Publications and Features |
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I-CARE is working closely with their local leaders to help remove barriers to people of color in their community and end poverty.
"To help with this process, he [the board chairman] announced that, together with I-Care CEO Bryan Duncan, the county commissioners will look into “defining a process” to ease the strain that poverty puts on families and help individuals “break free” from the cycle of poverty." Great work, I-CARE!
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Mountain Projects celebrated the beginning of two new workforce houses with a groundbreaking ceremony. The new owners are going to have a beautiful view. Congratulations Mountain Projects! |
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The NCCAA was featured in this article highlighting our Healthy Home fund in partnership with Duke Energy. Sharon Goodson was even quoted: "Sharon Goodson, Executive Director of the North Carolina Community Action Association, reflected on the power of the intersectional coalition that brought this win to reality. 'We appreciate the partnership between organizations that are committed to ending poverty and increasing affordable
housing with those pushing for clean energy. These goals must go hand in hand,' said Goodson."
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Unite Us created a full web page on NCCARE360 showing how the program has spread across the state. They reached out to our Executive Director, Sharon Goodness, for a quote about the impact NCCARE360 has had on our network. You can find the quote towards the bottom of the page. |
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Over 250 children in Avery County received food boxes as well as educational activities this summer. WAMY Community Action’s Community Kids’ program delivered packets of activities as well as food boxes to children that are normally in their after school program. “We don’t want these students to lose their excitement for learning over the summer”, says Emily Greer, Director of Youth Development for WAMY. The kids loved the activities and sent pictures back to WAMY showing their enthusiasm. WAMY has been operating after school in Avery County for more than 22 years and has developed a close relationship with many of the families in the area. |
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Our friends in Missouri are coordinating a nationwide virtual run. You can sign up for a 1 mile, 5k or 10k run. Registration is $20 for Community Action employees and $25 for everyone else. Half of the funds for those who sign up from NC goes straight to our network. Join the run and get your friends to join too!
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Greene Lamp has created a series of story time and circle time videos in English and Spanish. Check them out on their YouTube channel. |
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ESR has opened the registration for their annual golf tournament. Registration fee is $80 per player and $320 per team. All players will receive a cart and green fees, breakfast, lunch, and a swag bag.
This event will be held in accordance with social distancing guidelines mandated by the State of North Carolina and the City of Winston-Salem. The event will be postponed to a later date if the City and State remain only in Phase 2 of lifting COVID-19 restrictions.
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On July 22-24 YVEDDI held 9 drive through volunteer recognition events. Over 120 volunteers were recognized for their service over the past year. They were each given a certificate of recognition for the number of hours they served, as well as a goodie bag. Barbara George was presented with a plaque for having the most total hours volunteering with 1,743 hours for the year. Henry Hutchens received the award for Yadkin County with a total of 1,185 hours of volunteering for the year. Our volunteers gave over 20,500 hours of service. |
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Friendship Missionary Baptist Church is donating 10-15 tubs of age appropriate books they received for their school from Scholastic. A Memorial Presbyterian Family has donated and prepared 100 personal hygiene kits. Memorial Presbyterian Church has allocated funding to purchase school supplies and Friendship has also offered to give us additional school supplies left over from their school year. Sheriff McFadden and the Sheriff’s office is donating 500 bags with 5 masks in each and other materials
Angie Drakeford at ParentChild+ is donating “parenting through Covid” informational materials and 20 backpacks for pre-k siblings. Christine Edwards – Civic Engagement Materials
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The NCCAA has partnered with WRAL radio to do a weekly radio talk show covering the issues Community Action agencies address and face. You can listen to the Listen Up NC radio shows on our Facebook page or on our Youtube! Feel free to share these on your platforms.
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*Social determinants of health is a new buzz word within social services. Social determinants represent factors of our physical, emotional and social environment that have key impacts on our health. In fact, 80% of our health outcomes are determined by where we live, work and play. For more than 50 years, community action agencies have provided a variety of programs and services which improve social determinants of health for low-income citizens. Each month, we will highlight a Community Action Agency and their work to improve the living conditions and environments of
low-income citizens.
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Social Determinants of Health*: Making Every Home a Little Safer |
This month's feature is Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity Inc. Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity Inc. is one of our agencies that provides weatherization and home safety updates to North Carolinians. This work helps create safer homes, which can help reduce medical bills, accidents and safety risks. Recently, they helped “Jasmine”, a senior citizen in Vance county, who has never had air conditioning in her home. As she continues to get older, the heat is harder on her health. The funding from the Healthy Homes Initiative Program was leveraged with funding from LIHEAP to allow a new state-of-the-art HVAC to be installed. Without the Healthy Homes Initiative, the agency would not have had enough funds to address this need. Read more success stories from Franklin-Vance-Warren's here.
Great work, Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity Inc! Thanks for helping your clients have a safe home! And thanks to BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina for investing in our communities!
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Shout out and Congratulations!...... Amber Moore! This is what WAMY had to say about her, "Amber has been with WAMY since 2017 and has quickly become a vital part of our Housing & Energy Department. She works as the Program Coordinator, but she is the glue that holds the framework of many of our projects together. WAMY operates several different housing programs – sometimes juggling as many as 5 grants at a time. Amber is able to pull all those funding sources together to maximize the impact for our families. She has mastered the complicated eligibility and documentation processes of each grant and works behind the scenes to make everything flow seamlessly. What really drives Amber is our clients. She is the one that hears their stories and often sees their living conditions first hand. That experience motivates her to do all she can to help them get the help they need. She has even volunteered to work on homes herself if the need arises."
We are so thrilled to have your as part of our network, Amber! And we look forward to you contributions to the NC Community Action network!
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Please join us in welcoming Marionna Poke-Stewart, who assumed the role of Director for the Office of Economic Opportunity on August 10.
Marionna Poke-Stewart is recognized for her transformational leadership in community service management on local, state, regional and national levels. She has over 35 years of experience in program development, strategic planning, grant management, fiscal monitoring and program administration.
She has served on various boards and committees throughout her career in NC and other states, including United Way Boards of Allocation, Tremont Redevelopment Board, North Carolina’s Food Runners Collaborative Board and the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association Executive Committee.
Marionna holds a M.A. in Business Administration from St. Mary’s University, and an M.A. in Public Administration from Park University. She also holds a B.A. in Business Administration and Political Science from St. Mary’s University.
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Congratulations to Ginell Rogers from NEED, Inc and Susan Salzman from Gaston Community Action who have passed the Certified Community Action Professional (CCAP) exam! We are proud of both of you for your commitment to professional development and the network.
If you know you would like to join the next CCAP cohort, please email [email protected] to reserve your space and to join us at our first virtual study sessions on September 23rd and October 7th.
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Training and Technical Assistance Survey |
If you are a staff member of any Community Action agency, please fill out this survey on the training topics you think apply to you. It should only take 10-15 minutes. |
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NCCAA Conference Will Be Virtual This Year |
The pandemic has been changing how we do business, and the NCCAA is not immune. This year, for everyone's safety, we are planning to hold a virtual conference. Your registration automatically transfers and we hope the lack of travel will allow you to participate in this professional virtual conference.
Stay tune for the full agenda!
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We provide training on demand based on your specific needs and goals. Whether you want ROMA, marketing, human resources, board training, strategic planning, or special topics like secondary trauma and motivational interviewing.
Request a training by emailing [email protected] and tell us what you're looking for!
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Miss any of the webinars in our series? Email us at [email protected] to get the recording! Recordings are available at no cost to NCCAA members. |
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Deadline: Rolling Basis
If your agency has land that you wish to turn into a playground consider applying for a KABOOM! grant. They are offering up to $15,000 toward the purchase of playground equipment and assembly. You will have up to one year to build the playground and will receive support from KABOOM! staff.
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If your agency’s school has ever wanted to start a garden or needs the tools and support to keep your current garden going, Annie’s wants to help. Annie’s believes that showing future generations how sustainable food is grown can change their lives.
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A Culture of Health is one in which good health and well-being flourish across geographic, demographic, and social sectors; everyone can make choices that lead to healthy lifestyles. Any agency with a goal of creating a culture of health in their community should consider applying.
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Deadline: September 30, 2020
Cigna is offering funding for programs that target the health and well-being of children. They fund programs that foster collaboration between stakeholders including school administrators and teachers, clinicians, and local and national nonprofits to address mental health and emotional well-being challenges for children.
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Deadline: September 30, 2020
Cigna wants to work with organizations that are on the ground, in the communities, working to address food security. They want to fill the gaps that exist in and outside the school environment through programs that attempt to address gaps in delivering food and nutritional education to children. Weekends and summers, nutritional support, and addressing the needs of pre-school children are some of their main focuses.
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September
October
November
Got thoughts, articles, ideas, suggestions for OUR newsletter? We'd love to hear them. Please take a minute to share - send to [email protected]. Thank you!
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