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What Are CAAs?
Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are nonprofit private and
public organizations established under the Economic Opportunity
Act of 1964 to fight America's War on Poverty. Community
Action Agencies help people to help themselves in achieving
self-sufficiency. Today there are approximately 1,000 Community
Action Agencies in the United States (click the following
link to view a list of major agencies nationwide). http://www.communityactionpartnership.com/about/links/map.asp
The CAA Network - Community Action
Agencies Across America
The service areas of Community Action Agencies (CAAs) cover
96 percent of the nation's counties.* These agencies are
connected by a national network that includes a national
association, state associations, regional associations,
a national lobbying organization, and a national association
of Community Service Block Grant (the core funding for CAAs)
administrators.
CAAs are a primary source of support for the more than
34.5 million people who are living in poverty in the United
States.** The majority of CAA program participants are extremely
poor, with incomes below 75 percent of the federal poverty
threshold, or $9,735 for a family of three (the average
family size for the client population).*
CAAs as a network serve approximately:
- 9.3 million individuals
per year *
- 3.3 million families per
year *
Addititional CAA Facts:
- 54% of CAAs are in rural
areas.
- 36% of CAAs are in areas
considered both urban and rural.
- 10% of CAAs are located
in urban areas.
The average population of a CAA’s service area is approximately
300,000 people. The average number of low-income people within
these service areas is 37,600.
* Source: The National Association for State Community
Services Programs
** Source: Census Bureau
Other figures obtained through a 1998 survey of CAAs. Response
rate: 37 percent.
Board, Staff, and Volunteers
Composition of a CAA board of directors:
- ·at least one-third of a board’s members
must be from the low-income community
- exactly one-third must be public officials
- up to one-third may be from the private sector
- The average size of a CAA board is 25 people
- The typical size of agency staff is 115 full-time equivalent
workers.
- On average each CAA has 813 people volunteering at the
agency each year.
Learn about the Dayton Community Action
Partnership:
-- About CAP - Your
local Community Action Agency
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