Statewide Initiatives
Statewide Initiatives
Champions
Our Story
EMPOWERING OUR AGENCIES TO HELP COMMUNITIES THRIVE
ABOUT US
North Carolina Community Action Association (NCCAA) is a trusted resource and proven advocate for our statewide network of 34 Community Action Agencies. We are here to give voice to the needs, concerns, and stories of NC's disadvantaged and low-income citizens, as well as, shed light on the collective impact of community action agencies.
NCCAA collaborates with community members, local governments, public and private partners, and thousands of local volunteers to invest in holistic community-based, anti-poverty strategies.
OUR PROMISE
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Community Action changes people's lives, embodies the spirit of hope, improves communities, and makes America a better place to live. We care about the entire community and we are dedicated to helping people help themselves and each other.
OUR MISSION
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Empower agencies to help communities thrive.
OUR HISTORY
In 1963, Governor Terry Sanford launched a statewide anti-poverty program to address the systematic causes of poverty in North Carolina. This demonstration was planned to run from 1963-1968 with funding from the Z. Smith Reynolds, the Ford and Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundations, the Office of Economic Opportunity, U.S. Departments of Labor and Housing and Urban Development, as well as, additional entities.
The NC Fund was the nation’s first anti-poverty initiative. It is the model that President Lyndon B. Johnson used when he created community action agencies as vehicles to address causes and conditions of poverty in communities across the country.
The North Carolina Community Action Association (NCCAA) was organized in November of 1966. Recognizing the need for a statewide organization that would represent community action agencies across the state, leaders of several agencies met in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and formed the NCCAA which received its charter in 1967.
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The leadership of the NCCAA pledges cooperation with all statewide organizations interested in improving the quality of life for low-income North Carolinians. Today, NCCAA's membership is open to these organizations and interested citizens who share our anti-poverty mission by providing opportunities for vulnerable people to help themselves and each other, while building strong vibrant communities for all people to live, work, play and learn.