The History of Community Action Agencies
| ||||||
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
From the days of the earliest settlers,
the spirit of helping others has been
a key element of American society.
As communities sprang up and
population grew, the church became
an important social institution and
helpmate to those less fortunate.
The Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s witnessed the development
of the settlement house, one of the early examples of a physical facility,
other than a church, that served as a center of activity for community
problem-solving.
In the early 1900s, schools began to offer formal training in the
principles and methods of social work, which led to the birth of a new
profession. The great depression of the 1930s overwhelmed the
nation's communities, leaving churches and voluntary social welfare
programs unable to cope with the magnitude of the existing social
problems.
The federal government stepped in to provide additional retirement
income through a new Social Security Program and to assist those
temporarily unemployed with the Unemployment Insurance System. It
created new banking and labor laws to strengthen the economy. A
program to provide "temporary public assistance" to widows and
children of men killed in industrial accidents also was created. Social
workers were hired to determine eligibility, advise recipients about how
to use the money, and help them obtain services necessary to get them
off welfare.
From the 1930s to the late 1950s, state and local governments had
much of the responsibility for administering the programs created during
the depression.
As the communications media expanded their scope across the U.S.,
the American public became more aware of the problems of the aged,
the effects of segregation, of poor education, of health problems caused
by malnutrition and hunger, of the need to educate people so they might
work, and of the growing difficulties of the low-income population.
The American public soon believed that everyone could live "the good
life" and that society as a whole had a responsibility for helping people
overcome barriers that prevented them from sharing in the benefits of
American society.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954 in Brown v. Board of
Education declared that separate schools for blacks and whites in
Topeka, Kansas, did not provide an equal education; i.e., that "separate
was not equal." This landmark decision led to an expansion of federal
policymaking into what had previously been a local arena, That decision
served as a catalyst in the area of publicly financed activity such as
transportation and licensed public accommodations, including lunch
counters, restaurants, and hotels. Citizens began to organize to
guarantee their rights, and the Civil Rights Movement expanded rapidly.
In 1961, President Kennedy's "New Frontier" included support for
programs to prevent juvenile delinquency with the focal point, the
President's Council on Juvenile Delinquency, chaired by U.S. Attorney
General Robert Kennedy. In NY City, the President's Council funded
Mobilization for Youth (MFY) with the Ford Foundation and the City of NY.
MFY organized and coordinated neighborhood councils composed of
local officials, service providers, and neighbors to develop plans to
correct conditions which led to juvenile delinquency. It also enlisted the
aid of school board and city council members to implement those plans.
It was called COMMUNITY ACTION, and it looked like an effective and
inexpensive way to solve problems.
The Ford Foundation was funding other projects, including one in New
Haven, Conn., which recruited people from all sectors of the community
to come together to plan and implement programs to help low-income
people. MFY and New Haven are often cited as the "models" for a
community action agency.
Creation:1964
After the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, President
Johnson expanded the policy ideas initiated in the Kennedy
Administration. In his message to Congress on Jan.8, 1964, President
Johnson said:
Let us carry forward the plans and programs of John Kennedy, not
because of our sorrow or sympathy, but because they are right...This
Administration today, here and now declares an unconditional War on
Poverty in America....Our joint Federal-local effort must pursue poverty,
pursue it wherever it exists. In city slums, in small towns, in
sharecroppers' shacks, or in migrant worker camps, on Indian
reservations, among whites as well as Negroes, among the young as
well as the aged, in the boom towns and in the depressed areas.
The "War on Poverty" was born. In Feb., Sargent Shriver was asked to
head a task force to draft legislation. In August, the Economic
Opportunity Act of 1964 (EOA) was passed, creating a federal Office of
Economic Opportunity (OSEO) placed in the President's Executive Office.
"Sarge" Shriver was named Director, serving until 1969.
Congress also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, guaranteeing equal
opportunity for all. The Economic Opportunity Act, designed to implement
that guarantee in the economic sector, stated in part: "It is therefore the
policy of the U.S. to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty
in this nation by opening, to everyone, the opportunity for education and
training, the opportunity to work, and the opportunity to live in decency
and dignity."
The EOA included new education, employment and training, and
work-experience programs such as the Job Corps, the Neighborhood
Youth Corps, and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA, the "domestic
Peace Corps"). Congress bypassed the state and local governments
and provided for direct funding of community groups: the community
action concept.
Formative Years: 1964 - 1967
The federal OEO was to lead the efforts of the War on Poverty and
coordinate related programs of all other federal agencies. So-called
community action agencies (CAAs) were created at the local level to fight
the War on Poverty "at home."
The EOA also provided for the creation of economic opportunity offices at
the state level in order to involve governors in the War on Poverty. While
governors were not authorized to give prior approval on OEO grants, they
did retain the right to veto any of these they thought inappropriate. Many,
especially those in the South, exercised this right, only to be checked by
another EOA provision for veto override by the Director of OEO. Indeed,
Shriver overrode virtually all vetoes.
CAAs varied from grass-roots, community-controlled groups to those
with experienced board members and a highly visible professional staff.
Most were incorporated as private nonprofit organizations. A few were
city agencies.
Funds were provided through the OEO. The local CAAs determined the
use of the funds to meet the problems of the poor as they defined them.
These were called "local initiative funds" and were used for a variety of
purposes.
One provision of the EOA called for the poor to have "maximum feasible
participation" in identifying problems and in developing solutions.
Across the nation, CAAs opened neighborhood centers in storefronts,
housing projects, and other buildings in low-income areas to identify
people who needed help and to determine eligibility.
A new group of community leaders developed out of these
neighborhood organizations, voicing the concerns of the poor and
insisting on change. The philosophy, the strength, and the personal
commitments of community action were formed during this period. It
was also during this phase that OEA hired 3,000 new federal employees
to manage and monitor all the new programs. Most of these people
came from the CAAs, civil rights groups, churches, labor unions, and
other activist organizations.
The community action program grew rapidly and poured large amounts
of federal funds into communities, leaving some local elected officials
concerned over the control of the CAA boards. Unhappy with the new
power blocks outside their own political organizations, a few big-city
mayors communicated their concerns to Congress and President
Johnson. As a result, Congress began to earmark new funds into
Congressionally defined National Emphasis Programs that reduced the
ability of the CAAs to use the funds for other purposes. The President's
enthusiasm began to decline.
Restructuring Phase: 1967 - 1968
In late 1967, Congress passed the Green Amendment, which required
that a CAA must be designated as the official CAA for that area by local
elected officials in order to operate in that community. After designation,
OEO could then recognize the CAA and provide funds. After months of
negotiations, over 95 percent of the existing CAAs were designated. In
several large cities, the CAA was taken over by the mayor and turned into
a public agency.
Congress also passed the Quie Amendment, which required that CAA
boards of directors be composed of one-third elected officials appointed
by them, at least one third low-income representatives selected by a
democratic process, and the balance from the private sector.
By 1968, there were 1,600 CAAs covering 2,300 of the nation's 3,300
counties. OEO also required many small, single-county CAAs to join
together into multicounty units. Buy 1969, about 1,000 CAAs had been
designated under the Green Amendment and recognized by OEO,
reorganized to meet the Quie Amendment criteria, and consolidated in
accordance with OEO policy. Almost all of these CAAs are in existence
today and operate the programs.
These amendments had a positive effect on most CAA boards, though
the issue of increasing the influence of local elected officials on the
board of directors was a significant issue to the leaders of poverty
groups which had been operating independently. The formal connection
of the political, economic, and community power structures proved to be
a tremendous strength. In many places, the CAA's board became the
arena for local officials, the business sector, and the poor to reach
agreement on the policies, self-help activities, and programs to help the
poor in their community.
Transition Years: 1969 - 1974
By 1060, many successful self-help programs had been initiated by
OEO and the community action agencies, including Head Start, Family
Planning, Community Health Centers, Legal Services, VISTA, Foster
Grandparents, Economic Development, Neighborhood Centers,
Summer Youth Programs, Adult Basic Education, Senior Centers,
Congregate Meal Preparation, and others.
Picking up on the concept of using OEO and CAAs as "innovators and
the testing ground" for new programs, and spinning off successful
programs to be administered by other federal agencies, President
Nixon's Administration saw the transfer of several large programs from
OEO to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the
Department of Labor. Along with the program went administrative
oversight responsibility for a substantial part of CAA funding.
At the start of his second term in 1973, Nixon did not request any funds
for OEO's Community Action Program division. Congress nevertheless
provided funds. Nixon appointed Howard Phillips as Director of OEO and
told him to dismantle and close the agency, and not to spend the money
Congress provided.
After a series of lawsuits, the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C.,
ruled that the President could not refuse to spend funds that had been
appropriated by Congress. Phillips resigned without having been
confirmed by the Senate.
Program Management Years 1974 - 1981
Under President Ford, in 1974, the Community Services Amendments
were passed. OEO was dismantled and a "new" Community Services
Administration (CSA) replaced it. The employees remained and
continued to administer the programs. Community action had found a
new home in the federal government.
From 1974 to 1981, CSA continued to fund CAAs. CAAs continued to
help communities and neighborhoods to initiate self-help projects such
as gardening, solar greenhouses, and housing rehabilitation. They
additionally helped create and support federally funded senior centers
and congregate meal sites. Home weatherization and energy crisis
programs were initiated in the 1970s.
In the late 1070s, under prodding from Congress, the Administration of
President Carter initiated a large-scale effort to strengthen the role and
management systems of both CSA and the CAAs. This resurgence of
"local spirit and leadership came to a quick end with passage of the
Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1981.
In September 1981, Congress provided that all CAAs designated and
recognized by CSA were eligible to be funded under the 90 percent
pass-through requirement of the Community Services Block Grant.
Congress also rescinded the EOA and the Green Amendment,
eliminating the procedures and regulations for designation and
recognition of CAAs.
Block Grant years: 1981 - Present
President Reagan's Administration began a strong movement to reduce
substantially the federal government's support for domestic social
programs. They proposed to consolidate most federally funded human
human needs programs into several large, general purpose block
grants; to reduce the total amount of funding by 25 percent; and to
delegate the responsibility for administering these block grants to the
states.
The proposal was partially successful. Congress created eight new
block grants consolidating over 200 federal programs, reduced the core
funding, and turned administrative authority over to the states. However,
it did not accept the elimination of federal funding for CAAs.
On Sept. 30, 1981, the CSA was abolished and the Economic
Opportunity Act was rescinded. Approximately 1,000 CSA staff were fired.
The Community Services Block Grant ensured the continued funding of
the 'eligible entities"; i.e., the CAAs, migrant programs and certain other
organizations that had been financed through local initiative funds by
CSA.
Even with reduced core funding, CAAs have been able to leverage
additional funds. One survey showed that with a CSBG budget over
$300,000, the average community action agency was able to leverage
more than $2.9 million, a ratio of $9.50 for every dollar of core funding.
Agencies also recruited an average of eight volunteers for every paid
staff person.
Whatever the specific approach taken by individual states and the block
grant, the number of CAAs has increased since 1981 from about 932 to
nearly 1,000; the number of counties covered by a CAA has increased
from 2,300 to 2,700 of the nation's 3,300 counties; and the number of
dollars administered by CAAs has increased from about $1.9 billion in
1981 to about $3.5 billion in 1992.
Budget cuts in poverty programs continue, but CAAs still provide a "hand
up, not a hand out." The philosophy of eliminating "the paradox of poverty
in the midst of plenty" remains the key concept that motivates CAAs
today.
(This article was originally published by NACAA for the 25th Anniversary
of Community Action in 1989. It was written by Jim Masters.)
the spirit of helping others has been
a key element of American society.
As communities sprang up and
population grew, the church became
an important social institution and
helpmate to those less fortunate.
The Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s witnessed the development
of the settlement house, one of the early examples of a physical facility,
other than a church, that served as a center of activity for community
problem-solving.
In the early 1900s, schools began to offer formal training in the
principles and methods of social work, which led to the birth of a new
profession. The great depression of the 1930s overwhelmed the
nation's communities, leaving churches and voluntary social welfare
programs unable to cope with the magnitude of the existing social
problems.
The federal government stepped in to provide additional retirement
income through a new Social Security Program and to assist those
temporarily unemployed with the Unemployment Insurance System. It
created new banking and labor laws to strengthen the economy. A
program to provide "temporary public assistance" to widows and
children of men killed in industrial accidents also was created. Social
workers were hired to determine eligibility, advise recipients about how
to use the money, and help them obtain services necessary to get them
off welfare.
From the 1930s to the late 1950s, state and local governments had
much of the responsibility for administering the programs created during
the depression.
As the communications media expanded their scope across the U.S.,
the American public became more aware of the problems of the aged,
the effects of segregation, of poor education, of health problems caused
by malnutrition and hunger, of the need to educate people so they might
work, and of the growing difficulties of the low-income population.
The American public soon believed that everyone could live "the good
life" and that society as a whole had a responsibility for helping people
overcome barriers that prevented them from sharing in the benefits of
American society.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954 in Brown v. Board of
Education declared that separate schools for blacks and whites in
Topeka, Kansas, did not provide an equal education; i.e., that "separate
was not equal." This landmark decision led to an expansion of federal
policymaking into what had previously been a local arena, That decision
served as a catalyst in the area of publicly financed activity such as
transportation and licensed public accommodations, including lunch
counters, restaurants, and hotels. Citizens began to organize to
guarantee their rights, and the Civil Rights Movement expanded rapidly.
In 1961, President Kennedy's "New Frontier" included support for
programs to prevent juvenile delinquency with the focal point, the
President's Council on Juvenile Delinquency, chaired by U.S. Attorney
General Robert Kennedy. In NY City, the President's Council funded
Mobilization for Youth (MFY) with the Ford Foundation and the City of NY.
MFY organized and coordinated neighborhood councils composed of
local officials, service providers, and neighbors to develop plans to
correct conditions which led to juvenile delinquency. It also enlisted the
aid of school board and city council members to implement those plans.
It was called COMMUNITY ACTION, and it looked like an effective and
inexpensive way to solve problems.
The Ford Foundation was funding other projects, including one in New
Haven, Conn., which recruited people from all sectors of the community
to come together to plan and implement programs to help low-income
people. MFY and New Haven are often cited as the "models" for a
community action agency.
Creation:1964
After the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, President
Johnson expanded the policy ideas initiated in the Kennedy
Administration. In his message to Congress on Jan.8, 1964, President
Johnson said:
Let us carry forward the plans and programs of John Kennedy, not
because of our sorrow or sympathy, but because they are right...This
Administration today, here and now declares an unconditional War on
Poverty in America....Our joint Federal-local effort must pursue poverty,
pursue it wherever it exists. In city slums, in small towns, in
sharecroppers' shacks, or in migrant worker camps, on Indian
reservations, among whites as well as Negroes, among the young as
well as the aged, in the boom towns and in the depressed areas.
The "War on Poverty" was born. In Feb., Sargent Shriver was asked to
head a task force to draft legislation. In August, the Economic
Opportunity Act of 1964 (EOA) was passed, creating a federal Office of
Economic Opportunity (OSEO) placed in the President's Executive Office.
"Sarge" Shriver was named Director, serving until 1969.
Congress also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, guaranteeing equal
opportunity for all. The Economic Opportunity Act, designed to implement
that guarantee in the economic sector, stated in part: "It is therefore the
policy of the U.S. to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty
in this nation by opening, to everyone, the opportunity for education and
training, the opportunity to work, and the opportunity to live in decency
and dignity."
The EOA included new education, employment and training, and
work-experience programs such as the Job Corps, the Neighborhood
Youth Corps, and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA, the "domestic
Peace Corps"). Congress bypassed the state and local governments
and provided for direct funding of community groups: the community
action concept.
Formative Years: 1964 - 1967
The federal OEO was to lead the efforts of the War on Poverty and
coordinate related programs of all other federal agencies. So-called
community action agencies (CAAs) were created at the local level to fight
the War on Poverty "at home."
The EOA also provided for the creation of economic opportunity offices at
the state level in order to involve governors in the War on Poverty. While
governors were not authorized to give prior approval on OEO grants, they
did retain the right to veto any of these they thought inappropriate. Many,
especially those in the South, exercised this right, only to be checked by
another EOA provision for veto override by the Director of OEO. Indeed,
Shriver overrode virtually all vetoes.
CAAs varied from grass-roots, community-controlled groups to those
with experienced board members and a highly visible professional staff.
Most were incorporated as private nonprofit organizations. A few were
city agencies.
Funds were provided through the OEO. The local CAAs determined the
use of the funds to meet the problems of the poor as they defined them.
These were called "local initiative funds" and were used for a variety of
purposes.
One provision of the EOA called for the poor to have "maximum feasible
participation" in identifying problems and in developing solutions.
Across the nation, CAAs opened neighborhood centers in storefronts,
housing projects, and other buildings in low-income areas to identify
people who needed help and to determine eligibility.
A new group of community leaders developed out of these
neighborhood organizations, voicing the concerns of the poor and
insisting on change. The philosophy, the strength, and the personal
commitments of community action were formed during this period. It
was also during this phase that OEA hired 3,000 new federal employees
to manage and monitor all the new programs. Most of these people
came from the CAAs, civil rights groups, churches, labor unions, and
other activist organizations.
The community action program grew rapidly and poured large amounts
of federal funds into communities, leaving some local elected officials
concerned over the control of the CAA boards. Unhappy with the new
power blocks outside their own political organizations, a few big-city
mayors communicated their concerns to Congress and President
Johnson. As a result, Congress began to earmark new funds into
Congressionally defined National Emphasis Programs that reduced the
ability of the CAAs to use the funds for other purposes. The President's
enthusiasm began to decline.
Restructuring Phase: 1967 - 1968
In late 1967, Congress passed the Green Amendment, which required
that a CAA must be designated as the official CAA for that area by local
elected officials in order to operate in that community. After designation,
OEO could then recognize the CAA and provide funds. After months of
negotiations, over 95 percent of the existing CAAs were designated. In
several large cities, the CAA was taken over by the mayor and turned into
a public agency.
Congress also passed the Quie Amendment, which required that CAA
boards of directors be composed of one-third elected officials appointed
by them, at least one third low-income representatives selected by a
democratic process, and the balance from the private sector.
By 1968, there were 1,600 CAAs covering 2,300 of the nation's 3,300
counties. OEO also required many small, single-county CAAs to join
together into multicounty units. Buy 1969, about 1,000 CAAs had been
designated under the Green Amendment and recognized by OEO,
reorganized to meet the Quie Amendment criteria, and consolidated in
accordance with OEO policy. Almost all of these CAAs are in existence
today and operate the programs.
These amendments had a positive effect on most CAA boards, though
the issue of increasing the influence of local elected officials on the
board of directors was a significant issue to the leaders of poverty
groups which had been operating independently. The formal connection
of the political, economic, and community power structures proved to be
a tremendous strength. In many places, the CAA's board became the
arena for local officials, the business sector, and the poor to reach
agreement on the policies, self-help activities, and programs to help the
poor in their community.
Transition Years: 1969 - 1974
By 1060, many successful self-help programs had been initiated by
OEO and the community action agencies, including Head Start, Family
Planning, Community Health Centers, Legal Services, VISTA, Foster
Grandparents, Economic Development, Neighborhood Centers,
Summer Youth Programs, Adult Basic Education, Senior Centers,
Congregate Meal Preparation, and others.
Picking up on the concept of using OEO and CAAs as "innovators and
the testing ground" for new programs, and spinning off successful
programs to be administered by other federal agencies, President
Nixon's Administration saw the transfer of several large programs from
OEO to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the
Department of Labor. Along with the program went administrative
oversight responsibility for a substantial part of CAA funding.
At the start of his second term in 1973, Nixon did not request any funds
for OEO's Community Action Program division. Congress nevertheless
provided funds. Nixon appointed Howard Phillips as Director of OEO and
told him to dismantle and close the agency, and not to spend the money
Congress provided.
After a series of lawsuits, the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C.,
ruled that the President could not refuse to spend funds that had been
appropriated by Congress. Phillips resigned without having been
confirmed by the Senate.
Program Management Years 1974 - 1981
Under President Ford, in 1974, the Community Services Amendments
were passed. OEO was dismantled and a "new" Community Services
Administration (CSA) replaced it. The employees remained and
continued to administer the programs. Community action had found a
new home in the federal government.
From 1974 to 1981, CSA continued to fund CAAs. CAAs continued to
help communities and neighborhoods to initiate self-help projects such
as gardening, solar greenhouses, and housing rehabilitation. They
additionally helped create and support federally funded senior centers
and congregate meal sites. Home weatherization and energy crisis
programs were initiated in the 1970s.
In the late 1070s, under prodding from Congress, the Administration of
President Carter initiated a large-scale effort to strengthen the role and
management systems of both CSA and the CAAs. This resurgence of
"local spirit and leadership came to a quick end with passage of the
Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1981.
In September 1981, Congress provided that all CAAs designated and
recognized by CSA were eligible to be funded under the 90 percent
pass-through requirement of the Community Services Block Grant.
Congress also rescinded the EOA and the Green Amendment,
eliminating the procedures and regulations for designation and
recognition of CAAs.
Block Grant years: 1981 - Present
President Reagan's Administration began a strong movement to reduce
substantially the federal government's support for domestic social
programs. They proposed to consolidate most federally funded human
human needs programs into several large, general purpose block
grants; to reduce the total amount of funding by 25 percent; and to
delegate the responsibility for administering these block grants to the
states.
The proposal was partially successful. Congress created eight new
block grants consolidating over 200 federal programs, reduced the core
funding, and turned administrative authority over to the states. However,
it did not accept the elimination of federal funding for CAAs.
On Sept. 30, 1981, the CSA was abolished and the Economic
Opportunity Act was rescinded. Approximately 1,000 CSA staff were fired.
The Community Services Block Grant ensured the continued funding of
the 'eligible entities"; i.e., the CAAs, migrant programs and certain other
organizations that had been financed through local initiative funds by
CSA.
Even with reduced core funding, CAAs have been able to leverage
additional funds. One survey showed that with a CSBG budget over
$300,000, the average community action agency was able to leverage
more than $2.9 million, a ratio of $9.50 for every dollar of core funding.
Agencies also recruited an average of eight volunteers for every paid
staff person.
Whatever the specific approach taken by individual states and the block
grant, the number of CAAs has increased since 1981 from about 932 to
nearly 1,000; the number of counties covered by a CAA has increased
from 2,300 to 2,700 of the nation's 3,300 counties; and the number of
dollars administered by CAAs has increased from about $1.9 billion in
1981 to about $3.5 billion in 1992.
Budget cuts in poverty programs continue, but CAAs still provide a "hand
up, not a hand out." The philosophy of eliminating "the paradox of poverty
in the midst of plenty" remains the key concept that motivates CAAs
today.
(This article was originally published by NACAA for the 25th Anniversary
of Community Action in 1989. It was written by Jim Masters.)
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now, Inc. Making The Case For Change... Engaging The Community To End Poverty |