Our Mission & Vision
Our mission is to strengthen the community through collaborations and services by promoting SELF-SUFFICIENCY, household stability, and family and childhood education.
The vision of Community Action Wayne/Medina is to create opportunities for all to thrive in strong and resilient communities.
History of Community Action
Since being incorporated on January 13, 1966, Community Action Wayne/Medina (CAW/M) has provided much-needed services and opportunities to thousands of low-income people and families each year, improving their lives and generating positive impact in the communities served. As a private, 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, CAW/M dedicates its resources to serving the low-income population of Wayne and Medina Counties through a strong network of supportive services that promote self-sufficiency based on customers' needs and by investing resources to strengthen the health, welfare, and education opportunities for the families served.
Community Action Agencies (CAAs) work to alleviate poverty and empower low-income families in their communities. For nearly 60 years, CAAs have provided the tools to help people move from poverty to self-sufficiency and they have done so at the local level ensuring the solutions work for local needs. The Community Action Agency Network is made up of more than 1,000 local, private, non-profit, and public agencies, created through the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. CAAs provide services to more than 15 million low-income people, including 4 million children, annually in 99 percent of the nation’s counties.
Ohio’s Community Action Agencies serve all 88 counties across the state. Each assesses local community needs to create local community solutions. There is no “typical” CAA because each is governed by the leadership and specific needs of its local community. But despite this fact, Community Action Agencies as a network approach fighting the causes of poverty and may do so in familiar ways such as by tacking workforce and economic development needs, improving education opportunities for children and adults, or coordinating emergency services.
Local agencies serve low-income children, families, and seniors and do so with a holistic approach to address the entire family and situation rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all approach. CAAs provide linkages to job training opportunities, GED preparation courses, and vocational education programs. They provide a range of services addressing poverty-related problems from income management and credit counseling to entrepreneurial development and small business incubators; from domestic violence crisis assistance to family development programs and parenting classes; from food pantries and emergency shelters to low-income housing development and community revitalization projects. Community Action helps people and changes lives by creating realistic pathways to success. The common goal is to enable people to become independent of any public or charitable assistance and reach their fullest potential.
For more information about Community Action’s history or to find other agencies in Ohio, visit Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.
