Mission Statement
New River Community Action’s mission is to promote and support the well-being and self-reliance of individuals, families and communities.
Vision Statement
A New River Valley where all people are empowered to thrive by ending multi-generational poverty and supporting our communities through services that are collaborative, accessible, respectful, and equitable.
Values
Empower
Diversity
Trust
Compassion
New River Community Action, Inc. strives to accomplish its mission by:
- Focusing on the needs of people through interactive, participatory processes
- Increasing community awareness regarding poverty issues
- Advocating for the needs of participants
- Striving for social justice
- Providing and promoting leadership
- Fostering a proactive approach
- Continuously developing, evaluating, and improving programs using an outcome measures approach
- Respecting all people and their contributions
- Recognizing individual and group achievements
- Creating a caring environment that encourages openness, trust and compassion
- Valuing independence, interdependence, and self-reliance
- Encouraging personal integrity, effectiveness, and performance
- Providing equal opportunities for individuals to achieve their full potential
- Encouraging innovation, creativity, risk taking and teamwork
- Fostering cooperative and collaborative relationships
- Maintaining organizational integrity and effectiveness
- Promoting responsible stewardship of resources
- Committing resources to organizational growth and development
Decades of lifting people out of poverty
Community Action Agencies (CAAs) were launched as key elements of President Lyndon Johnson’s Economic Opportunity Act of 1964: Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” Developers of early legislation recognized that poverty had no single cause. Therefore, Community Action Agencies were given the flexibility to develop programs that addressed issues of housing, health, education, nutrition, employment, emergency assistance, and other areas known to be related to poverty.
Today there are approximately 1,000 CAAs in the United States, established by invitation of local communities.
New River Community Action, Inc., established in 1965 as a private, non-profit organization, serves the Counties of Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, and Pulaski and the City of Radford, Virginia. This agency, like other CAAs, receives its core funding through the federal and state Community Services Block Grant. Other federal and state grant funds, local government and private support provide additional program revenues. All contributions are tax-deductible.
CAAs serve low-income individuals in need regardless of age, sex, handicap, religion or ethnic background.
Our success in Southwest Virginia
New River Community Action (CCA) has a proud history of service with the community. Working with local groups and citizens of all income levels, CCA has participated in the development of local independent agencies such as the:
- Free Medical Clinic of the New River Valley
- Women’s Resource Center
- Legal Aid Society
- New River Valley Habitat for Humanity
- New River Family Shelter
- Community Friendship Workshop
- Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program, Inc.
- Pulaski County Emergency Needs Task Force.
In addition to developing new organizations, NRCA serves as an umbrella agency for numerous local anti-poverty programs.
Staff located in five jurisdictions work with groups throughout the New River Valley to develop programs appropriate for each local area.
The agency’s Board of Directors is composed of volunteers representing local governments, low-income communities, and the private sector. It is a cross-section of people from different age groups and backgrounds united by a common desire to lift up their fellow neighbors in need.