Thank you to everyone who attended our 2020 virtual conference!
Thank you to everyone who attended our conference! We had to do things a little different this year, but we are proud of how well everything went! It was great to be motivated, inspired, and educated with you! If you have any moments from the conference that stood out to you, please share them with us on social media and tag us at @NCCommAction on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn!
We look forward to seeing you in 2021!
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We also want to give a special thank you to our sponsors who supported the conference!
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Case Management and Head Start Family Engagement Certifications |
Want to train your new staff members, or give your current staff a professional development opportunity? Our next certification cohorts are an excellent choice for professional development and training. They come highly rated by our past participants, are 100% online, last 8 weeks and come with a university-sealed certificate.
Our next Head Start certification starts December 7 and the Case Management certification starts January 4. Learn more and register below!
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Success Story: Provided by Passage Home
We are so proud of all the success our agencies achieve! These stories have been collected, adapted, and edited for clarity.
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One of the greatest barriers to self-sufficiency is making a living wage. Most jobs that provide a living wage require certifications or a higher education, which can be difficult to obtain when you live in poverty. That's why all of our agencies provide education and job training courses.
Passage Home's HVAC course just finished and two of their graduates, Tierra and Tony, not only finished the course, they obtaining the NATE (North American Technician Excellence) Ready-to-Work and EPA 608 Universal Certifications. Tierra was even awarded Outstanding Student for the class. Way to go, Tierra and Tony! We're excited for you and your new careers!
This story represents one of thousands of customers enrolled in a program at their local community action agency. Community Action Works!
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Want to share your success stories? Send them to mariah.handy@nccaa.net |
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Community Action News, Publications and Features |
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"Charlotte Area Fund will steward a $1.1 million grant from IKEA US Community Foundation to help North Carolinians facing financial hardships worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic." Congratulations on the unrestricted funds! |
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“This initiative, which is a new source of funding, is essential to impacting the looming housing crisis that will occur when moratoriums and forbearances for mortgages, rental payments and utilities expires," said CADA Executive Director Sallie Surface. "The grant will help prevent increased homelessness, foreclosures, and bankruptcies. It will help our children have a safe place to learn and residents to be safely housed. The grant will also help boost the county’s economy, since most payments made on behalf of residents will be to local utilities and businesses that have also been hurt by the pandemic”. Congratulations on the new funding, Choanoke Area Development Association!
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"Victoria Combs moved her 95 year old mother into her home so that she could take care of her...The A/C unit stopped working, and Combs didn’t have the money to get it fixed...She soon learned about Blue Ridge Community Action, which is a nonprofit that offers free help to families in need to lower the cost of their energy bills, among many other services." Great work Blue Ridge Community Action!
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They are offering the NC Community Action network four scholarships for attendance. If you're interested in attending this conference by claiming one of the scholarships, act quickly! You can click the title of this section to see more information including the agenda or click the link below to register.
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Haywood county received a $1 million grant and are looking into how to transform a local abandoned armory using the money. $137,000 of that grant will be going to Mountain Projects to help families pay for rent and utility bills. Congratulations Mountain Projects! |
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"Governor Roy Cooper announced today that applications are now being accepted for the N.C. Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Evictions (HOPE) Program, which will assist eligible low- and- moderate-income renters experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. [...] The HOPE Program will provide $117 million for rent and utility assistance for renters who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, have a current household income that is 80 percent of the area median income or lower, and are behind on their rent or utilities when they apply.
Renters who need rent or utility assistance can apply online at nc211.org/hope. Applicants who cannot access the online application can also call 2-1-1 and speak with a program representative, who will assist the caller through the application on the phone. Callers can reach 2-1-1 Monday-Friday between 7 am and 6 pm."
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"Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity Inc. has partnered with Granville-Vance Public Health and with N.C. Central University to host a COVID-19 drive-thru testing site on Monday, Oct. 19, for all Granville County residents." |
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We are excited to have a new accessibility widget to our website. This tool is ADA compliant and allows more people to have full access to the website with features like increasing the size of the font, dyslexia friendly fonts, pause animations, changing the contrast, and a screen reader just to name a few. Check it out now!
If you're interested in adding this widget to your website, you can get all the information at Userway.org.
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The NCCAA has partnered with the NC Head Start Association and I Love Choice FM radio to do a weekly radio talk show covering the issues Community Action agencies address and face. You can listen to the Listen Up NC radio shows on our Facebook page or on our YouTube! Feel free to share these on your platforms.
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*Social determinants of health is a new buzz phrase within social services. Social determinants represent factors of our physical, emotional and social environment that have key impacts on our health. In fact, 80% of our health outcomes are determined by where we live, work and play. For more than 50 years, community action agencies have provided a variety of programs and services which improve social determinants of health for low-income citizens. Each month, we will highlight a Community Action Agency and their work to improve the living conditions and environments of
low-income citizens.
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Social Determinants of Health*: Helping a Woman Who Couldn't Afford a $10,000 Home Repair |
This month's feature is Blue Ridge Community Action. Blue Ridge Community Action is one of our agencies that provides weatherization and home safety updates to North Carolinians. This work helps create safer homes, which can help reduce medical bills, accidents and safety risks.
Recently, they were featured in the news for their work helping a woman get a new A/C unit. Victoria is taking care of her 95-year-old mother in her home. Victoria's A/C unit broke and it was going to cost her $10,000 to replace it, which she didn't have the money to do. She learned about Blue Ridge Community Action and the funding available to help people in her situation and was able to have her A/C replaced free of charge. Read the full article here.
After that story aired they were also featured in another news article that informed others in Mecklenburg and Gaston counties of how they could receive the same services. Read the story here.
Great work, Blue Ridge Community Action! Thanks for helping your clients have a safe home! And thanks to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina for investing in our communities!
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Shout out and Congratulations!...... Barry Saunders, who has joined the NCCAA team as the Director of Communications!
Barry, a native of Rockingham, is publisher of The Saunders Report online news site. He was an award - winning columnist for the News & Observer for 24 years and currently serves on the editorial board of McClatchy Newspapers, which includes the Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer newspapers.
"I am proud to join the NCCAA in its mission to empower the various agencies that empower low-income and disadvantaged citizens. It is a wonderful organization and I am delighted to have a chance to help the world learn more about the impact these community agencies have on the people of North Carolina. There is a lot of good in the world today, and a lot of it is being done by the agencies within the NCCAA. I am privileged to be able to not only help get that message out, but also to let people who need help know where they can find it,” he says.
We are so thrilled to have your as part of our network, Barry! And we look forward to your contributions to the NC Community Action network!
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Shout out and Congratulations!...... Elle Evans Peterson MPH, CHES, who has joined the NCCAA team as a Community Impact Manager, Social Determinants of Health!
Elle has been actively seeking policy, systems and environmental change for social determinants of health outcomes, chronic disease prevention and public health initiatives since 2008. She completed her Master of Public Health degree (MPH) from Wright State University (Dayton, OH) and her BA in Economics and Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a native North Carolinian, Elle grew up on a working farm in Wilson County North Carolina and still enjoys urban gardening, farmers markets and animals of all kinds. Elle lives in Fuquay-Varina with her husband, two of their four kids, and three quadrupeds.
We are so thrilled to have your as part of our network, Elle! And we look forward to your contributions to the NC Community Action network!
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Help People in Need Just by Drinking Coffee! |
If that sounds crazy easy to you, that's because it is! We worked hard to make donating to the NCCAA network as easy as drinking coffee every day. How? We developed a custom coffee blend called NEW Grounds Coffee. All the proceeds go directly to the NCCAA network so we can keep fighting poverty! These funds are unrestricted, which means they allow us to fund new projects, put more money behind our current programs, and fill the gaps that currently exist in our funding.
Drink that cup-o-joe each morning knowing you just helped another family in need. All you need to do is what you normally do: drink coffee! Buy our coffee blend today and get it delivered to your door! It comes in whole beans, drip, french press, espresso, turkish, and percolator.
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We are a strong network of 34 agencies and hundreds of members. Our members get all kinds of perks, like discounted tickets, advocacy, free webinar and webinar recordings, discount trainings and more! Membership for an individual is as little as $25 a year, and for an organization it's as little as $300!
If you are a staff member of a Community Action agency, you're already a member! Learn more about the benefits you get just by fighting the good fight with us!
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Donate to NCCAA this Giving Tuesday! |
Giving Tuesday is a nationwide charity day on December 1st. Please consider donating to our network this giving season! We help hundreds of North Carolinian's EACH DAY! We provide a wide variety of services from self-sufficiency classes to home repairs to education and job training to public transportation and housing. We believe in elevating people, not just giving them a handout. With 55+ years of success, we know your money will be put to good use. Donate using the button below! Every dollar goes to helping someone in need. |
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We provide training on demand based on your specific needs and goals. Whether you want training on ROMA, marketing, human resources, board training, strategic planning, or special topics like secondary trauma and motivational interviewing.
Request a training by emailing info@nccaa.net and tell us what you're looking for!
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Miss any of the webinars in our series? Email us at info@nccaa.net to get the recording! Recordings are available at no cost to NCCAA members. |
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Proposal Due date: December 21, 2020
The Foundation is currently accepting proposals focused on evaluating programs that have the potential of helping to close the opportunity and resulting achievement gaps associated with race and family income. The primary aim must concern evaluating the effectiveness of programs designed to promote positive cognitive and/or achievement outcomes for children from underserved groups and/or low-resourced communities in order to inform ways to close the educational opportunity gaps associated with race and income.
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Application Deadline: December 31
Walmart funding offers an open application process for local nonprofit organizations that operate locally and directly benefit the service area for which funding is requested for.
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The Reiman Foundation focuses its giving in four main areas: health care, education, the arts, and children. For the application they simply ask for information specific enough to give them a clear picture of the intended project, why you are proposing it, who will benefit and how it will be administered.
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Knight Foundation is looking to fund innovative ideas that advance informed and engaged communities. The first step is to submit your idea that summarizes the project and explains why you are the one to carry it out.
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November
December
January
February
Got thoughts, articles, ideas, suggestions for OUR newsletter? We'd love to hear them. Please take a minute to share - send to info@nccaa.net. Thank you!
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