Narrative:

Missouri’s nineteen (19) Community Action Agencies (CAA’s) provide assistance to individuals, families, and communities to reduce or eradicate poverty. CAA’s act as a catalyst for community coordination to bring about changes in their communities and to better the lives of the families they serve on a daily basis. CAA’s address the ‘whole family’ through a strengths based, family development approach to supporting individuals and families attain self–sufficiency which includes: • Intake, assessment and referral – individuals are guided through a process to identify their strengths and needs. • Family support and case management services – an intensive one on one relationship to empower individuals and families set goals toward achieving self–sufficiency. • Life skills classes to assist individuals in learning better ways to handle basic living skills, such as budgeting, employment readiness, etc… • Coordination and referral for services to address barriers to achieving self–sufficiency, including: education; transportation; housing; child care; and other issues.

Several CAA’s also have employment and training units within their organizational structure, including Missouri Works Assistance (MWA) programs, Missouri Job Centers (hosted by the CAA, or co–located with the CAA), WIA Youth Employment programs, Adult/Dislocated Worker Services, career preparation, internships, on–the–job training, mentoring, HiSET, and other supportive services. Community Action Agencies collaborate in the governance of the workforce development system by serving on Workforce Development Boards (WDBS), administering employment and training programs, sharing referrals with workforce partners, and coordinating services at the local level.

Missouri’s State CSBG office will work collaboratively with other state agency partners and with Community Action Agencies to nurture and extend the existing collaborative partnerships and develop new partnerships to enhance the effectiveness of the workforce system throughout the state.

(b)

In addition to the above noted services offered by Community Action Agencies, the programs listed below were developed in partnership with Community Action, or are CAA programs that employ innovative or collaborative approaches to helping individuals attain self–sufficiency:

Ozarks Small Business Incubator: The Ozarks Small Business Incubator (OzSBI) encourages new business development in their seven county area. OzSBI is a one–stop location created for anyone wanting to start a business or expand an existing enterprise within our Ozark regional boundaries. Every company or individual accepted into the incubator program has the opportunity to receive discounted rent on office space in the downtown West Plains OzSBI facility for up to five years. Clients are also offered many useful perks, additional discounts on a variety of facility services, and most importantly, access to a network of mentors, advisors, and investors. Since opening the doors in 2012, OzSBI has helped 13 tenant businesses and 25 affiliate businesses, helped create over 85 new jobs, hosted 64 business trainings attended by almost 800 people, generated 50 graduates of Operation JumpStart, and completed over 1,000 mentoring hours with our clients.

Microenterprise Initiative: Central Missouri Community Action Agency (CMCA) developed their microenterprise initiative for low–income persons looking to develop small businesses in their eight county service area. CMCA’s Microenterprise Initiative loan fund provides borrowers access to capital they might not otherwise be able to access. Classroom training, business planning, one–on–one consultation, group technical assistance, coaching, and post–loan technical assistance are offered to assist the entrepreneur to determine the feasibility of their idea and help them develop plans to get their start–up business off the ground. Funds for the program are provided through donations from Commerce Bank, Bank of Missouri, Callaway Bank, Community Foundation of Central Missouri, USDA–Rural Development, and private individuals.

Individual Development Accounts (IDA): The SEMO Assets Program through the East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA) is one example of an individual development account (IDA) that helps low–income families save money to be used in one of three ways: for the down payment on a first home; post–secondary education; or to start a small business. Families deposit their savings into local financial institutions, and their savings are matched at a 2 to 1 ratio. Participants must be in the program a minimum of six months, but can remain in the program for the life of the grant program (…in this case, six years). One adult must be working from the household. The family must make deposits monthly into their savings accounts, and they must attend financial literacy programs covering such topics as home ownership, economic education, career guidance, micro–enterprise development, etc… Successful IDA’s provide a great ‘return on investment’ by transforming a small contribution and hard work into a much larger payoff. Participants invest their IDA funds into their local communities, increase their incomes and become more self–sufficient.

Youth Entrepreneurship: The Missouri Alliance for the Development of Entrepreneurship (MADE) sponsors the MADE in Missouri State Entrepreneurship Competition. Participants under the age of nineteen that aspire to start or own their own business enter the youth competition, where they present their ideas to a panel of judges for consideration. Participants complete a preliminary round, where judges determine whether the proposed business idea should move into a final round of competition. Participants receive feedback and suggestions on their proposals, and are referred for technical assistance to help them polish their proposal for the final competition. Certificates and business investment awards are given to the top three youth businesses.

Reality Enrichment and Life Lessons (REALL): The Reality Enrichment and Life Lessons (REALL) project is a simulation designed to challenge youth to think critically about how choices and decisions made in adolescence may have consequences in adulthood. Participating youth are given the life of someone who has made reactive or negative choices (all have dropped out of high school, some have past legal histories, some have low paying jobs, etc). Following this, they are given the life of someone who has made proactive or positive choices (all have graduated from high school and obtained some type of higher education, all are employed at a living wage, all have affordable child care, etc.). Youth are challenged to live those two lives and compare and contrast the experiences to draw conclusions in their own lives. It is the expectation that youth will draw on their experiences at the Reality Enrichment and Life Lessons simulation to make proactive choices in their own lives, so they may know self–sufficiency in adulthood.

The SELF Program (Strengthening, Empowering, Lifting Families): The Jefferson Franklin Community Action Corporation (JFCAC) developed the SELF program as a six week course to provide education and practical tools to help families make positive changes in their lives and attain self–sufficiency. The target population for this project is low–income families participating in the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), Head Start Program, and those living in homeless shelters. Families attended the course together once a week. Parents and their children enjoyed a meal together before each session. Childcare was provided by local CASA volunteers while parents attended the sessions. The course included: Setting goals, exploring career paths, budgeting, gaining employment, parenting skills, and importance of nutrition & health. The adults gained skills and knowledge to help lift them from poverty, children benefited from seeing their parents in a positive learning environment, reinforcing the value of education. The local Mayor and Police Chief were guest presenters that offered hope and inspirational stories of their own life struggles.

Bank On, Save Up St. Louis: The Bank–On, Save–UP St. Louis initiative brought together partners from the human services with financial institutions to encourage low–income residents to open bank accounts and become more financially literate. The St. Louis model was modeled after Bank On initiatives in other cities, and is designed to increase access to mainstream financial products and services among low–and–moderate income (LMI) individuals. The Community Development department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis partnered with the Regional Unbanked Task Force to collect data and report findings on the program.

Social Enterprise: In 2014, Central Missouri Community Action (CMCA) purchased Cafe’ Via Roma in Jefferson City as the agency’s first social enterprise. One agency goal is to have two MWA participants actively working at the Cafe’ at all times. These work assignments begin strictly on a volunteer basis. As participants prove their commitment to the work place opportunity they are moved into a subsidized status and are paid minimum wage for their work through the MWA program. Participants can be subsidized up to 240 hours with the goal of moving into a permanent paid position with the Cafe’ or another employment opportunity within the community using their transferable skills gained through the work experience.

Participants learn the restaurant business including how to use the equipment, running a Point of Sale system, developing menus, designing new menus, opening and closing duties and customer service. The ultimate goal of the Cafe’ is to move people through the system quickly so they can find jobs that can pay higher salaries and provide more opportunities to grow.