Welcome...
Welcome to the
Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois. We have served low-income
families and seniors of Central Illinois since 1966.
Community Action is a private, non-profit organization
that administers federal, state and local programs in order to provide
necessary services to low-income and senior individuals in our service area.
The $8.5 million in annual funding that Community
Action receives provides services in DeWitt, Mason, Menard, Fulton, Logan and Piatt
counties.
We are a 501(c)3 corporation headquartered in Lincoln, Illinois.
There are 11 Head Start sites throughout our counties and 5 outreach offices located in Lincoln, Havana, Clinton, Monticello, and Petersburg.
Community Action employs over 140 central Illinois citizens. Each year, we serve over
24,000 individuals with various forms of assistance.
The passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 as a part of President
Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" brought about the creation of Community
Action. The purpose of the statute was to eliminate the causes and
consequences of poverty. The act established a Federal Office of Economic
Opportunity, funded programs to provide services and created Community
Action Agencies to address and solve local issues of poverty. CAPCIL
is one of thirty-six (36) such agencies in Illinois. There are
currently over nine hundred (900) agencies nation-wide.
Poverty in America excludes millions of people from an ever-expanding
spectrum of economic and social opportunities. The low-income population is
large and diverse. It is found disproportionately among single female
heads of households, children below the age of eighteen, inner city African
Americans, migrant farm workers, undocumented aliens
and Indian and other
Native American peoples.
To open avenues
of escape from poverty, community action agencies operate on a variety of
fronts. They assess the needs and resources of low-income people, devise
strategies for eliminating poverty, identify sources of financial support
and administer a variety of programs.
