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 serving the poor in every state as well as Puerto Rico and the Trust Territories.

The CAA Network
Community Action Agencies Across America

The service areas of Community Action Agencies (CAAs) cover 96 percent of the nation's counties.* Our agencies are connected by a national network that includes the Community Action Partnership national association, regional associations, state associations, a national lobbying organization, and a national association of Community Service Block Grant administrators.

CAAs are a primary source of direct support for the more than 34.5 million people who live 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).*

The Community Action network serves approximately:

  • 11 million individuals per year *
  • 3.3 million families per year *

CAAs serve all regions and populations:

  • 54% of CAAs serve rural areas.
  • 36% of CAAs serve areas considered both urban and rural.
  • 10% of CAAs serve urban areas.

The average population a CAA serves is approximately 300,000 people. The average number of low-income people within each service area 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
CAA boards of directors have a unique composition of:

  • at least one-third members from the low-income community
  • exactly one-third public officials
  • up to one-third members 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.

What CAAs Do

Because each Community Action Agency is governed locally, each provides a differnt mix of programs and services. The following represent the percentages of Community Action Agencies that deliver these services:

Advocating for Low-Income People
National Community Action Month and the Community Dialogue

Each year, the CAA network recognizes May as National Community Action Month. During May, the Community Action Partnership and CAAs celebrate Community Action successes and re-commit to fighting poverty. Every four years during National Community Action Month, the network leads a series of dialogues on poverty to discuss how to attack the root causes of poverty at the local, state, and national levels. The National Dialogue on Poverty began in 1996 with more than 150,000 people participating in over 3,000 local dialogues convened by 500 CAAs across America. Sixty-four percent of the 1996 participants identified well-paying jobs with benefits as the top priority in eliminating the causes of poverty. Other important concerns included basic needs, affordable housing, education, and healthcare. The Partnership's follow-up Dialogue 2000 focused on how communities and CAAs can advocate for the implementation of public policies to achieve their priorities and produced An Agenda for Every American.

For more information about Community Action Agencies, please contact:

HOPES, Inc.
124 Grand Street
Hoboken, New Jersey 07030
Phone: (201) 656-3711
E-Mail: info@hopes.org

Monday through Friday,
9 AM until 5 PM

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