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Salisbury Rowan Community Action Agency • Define a clear agency anti - poverty mission for community action and a strategy to address those needs. • Identify both immediate and longer term strategies in the context of existing resources and opportunities in the community; • Identify specific improvements, or results, to be achieved among low- income people and the community; and • Organize and implement programs, services, and activities, such as advocacy, within the agency and among "partnering" organizations, to achieve anticipated results. These aspects of the strategic plan were revisited at this year's agency's retreat. One recurring concern for the agency is the need for affordable housing solutions in both counties. The Board discussed and committed to making ongoing assessments of the housing need for participants and developing plans for addressing that need for low income families being served. ROMA Goal 5 DHHS Excels -Goals 1 and 2 Agencies increase their capacity to achieve results Manage resources that provide an elevated level of effective and efficient delivery of services and programs to North Carolinians; Expand understanding and use of information to enhance the health and safety of North Carolinians 2. Describe your agency's method and criteria for identifying poverty causes and list the identified causes. Also describe the methods and criteria used to determine priority and selection of strategies to be implemented that will address the poverty causes. Our agency identifies poverty causes by staying abreast of current literature on poverty, being active in the North Carolina and National Community Action Agency Associations, attending conferences, workshops and State (OEO) conferences, being knowledgeable about the communities and the participants in those communities, and assessing community need by asking low- income people and the people and agencies who serve them what those causes are. In 2012 the Community Assessment process conducted (for our agency by a Head Start consultant) a needs assessment and planning process that asks not only low income individuals but partners about changes in the socio- economic landscape of our counties, state and our nation. The Head Start requirement for this assessment is every three years. Certain factors that are determined to impact poverty or change the current landscape are consistent over the years. However, other sociolenvironmental factors such as economic downturns, fluctuation in the job market, growth in various industries or simultaneous decline in others, impact communities and the ability of residents to gain, maintain or improve employment options. Other shifts at the federal and state level, Department of Health and Human Services and the NC Dept. of Human Services, Commerce, and Health etc. such as adverse changes in Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid, SNAP, WorkFirst, and Child Care subsidies adversely affect our program participants and will continue to adversely impact the ability of our constituents to rise above poverty. One most recent example is the reauthorization of Food Stamps that has caused many participants to go long periods without assistance. This has created a shift of need regarding our services around keeping families fed. Based on the Community Assessment and other methods of feedback from our participants, the Board and Program staff determine and prioritize the service delivery strategies that can be implemented to best meet the needs of low- income persons. Fiscal Year 2014 -15 Community Services Block Grant Application Page 8 of 49 Attachment number 2 G -2 Page 276