Special Initiatives

As the legislative advocate for the nation’s Community Action Agencies, NCAF always seeks opportunities to raise the profile of Community Action, to ensure that Congress recognizes and supports the unique importance of Community Action during moments of crisis, and to create new and innovative opportunities through public-private partnerships and special initiatives.

Some examples include:

• CSBG Coronavirus Supplemental: $1 billion dollars in funding for Community Action Agencies to address the COVID-19 pandemic nationwide. This is the most flexible funding CAAs can receive during this time of crisis. Previously, NCAF worked to obtain $1 billion for the Community Action network in response to the economic crisis of 2009 and $25 million to respond to natural disasters in 2019.

• Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty: Connecting almost 30 colleges and universities to national efforts to reduce poverty by integrating classroom studies of poverty with summer internships and co-curricular activities. In 2019, Shepherd placed 121 students in summer internships and partnered with 84 direct service providers.

• Southern New Hampshire University: Development of a graduate program in Community Economic Development that allowed numerous students the opportunity to earn a graduate degree affordably.

• CAPLAW: NCAF was instrumental in founding CAPLAW, which provides legal and financial resources to Community Action Agencies.