Oct 11, 2014 2 min read

Since 1965, Community Action Southwest has been helping people and changing lives in Washington and Greene counties. As the director of the agency’s service area, tasked with helping lower-income people to break the cycle of poverty, I would like to give an overview of the opportunities we provide through our program Community Action WORKS.

Of the 17,643 area residents our agency assisted last year, 3,658 of those residents were served through Community Action WORKS. Regardless of why a resident accesses our agency, our staff is focused on linking them to as many additional services as possible in order to help them attain and maintain self-sufficiency.

Sometimes it may be a referral to just one program, while other clients may need to access an array of our programming in order to achieve their goals over time. Specifically, Community Action WORKS can help our clients to get their GED, enroll in a postsecondary school, secure a family-sustaining job, manage their money and even purchase a home.

We quilt our programming together so that our referrals are seamless. Our talented and devoted case managers and certified teachers work with clients to establish trust individually and in classroom settings. We also try to help our clients to understand their personal situations so they may one day become economically self-sufficient.

Our work isn’t easy but we truly are committed to ending poverty in our community, one household at a time.

Jessica Hajek-Bates

Washington

Editor’s note: Hajek-Bates is director of family economic success for Community Action Southwest.