NORTHWEST COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP HEADQUARTERS
Northwest Community Action Partnership
270 Pine Street
Chadron, NE 69337
1-800-361-3393
MISSION STATMENT
AHelping low-income families and individuals improve the quality of their lives and attain self-sufficiency.@
NORTHWEST COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP
Northwest Community Action Partnership (NCAP) is a community benefit agency formed in 1965 to carry out the goals of Title II of the Federal Economics Opportunity Act of 1964. The agency is one of the nine Community Action Agencies in Nebraska (CAN), and is governed by a fifteen member Board of Directors; individuals both elected by the citizens and appointed by various government and civic organizations from across our service area. The agency provides services in Box Butte, Cherry, Dawes, Sheridan, and Sioux counties. The administrative offices are located in Chadron. Programs and services offered by NCAP include Community Services/Family Development, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Foster Grandparents, Head Start& Early Head Start, Sheridan County Public Transportation, Housing and Weatherization.
SERVICES
COMMUNITY SERVICES/FAMILY DEVELOPMENT
Community Services provide services to qualifying families through Community Service Block Grant funds as well as other grant programs. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program through FEMA provides the clients with assistance in food pantries, rent assistance, and utility assistance. NCAP partners with several area organizations, such as, the ministerial associations in Dawes and Sheridan Counties, the Salvation Army, a domestic violence shelter, the American Red Cross, Native American Centers in Dawes and Box Butte Counties and local food pantries, to expand client services in our rural service areas. One example of this, is our new collaboration with Neighbors in Need and Chadron Community Hospital to provide lunches to homeless clients in Chadron. This service is just the first step in building a stronger foundation for future homeless services.
The Nebraska Homeless Prevention Program also assists qualified families with assistance in rent and utility, case management for our clients and overnight lodging. Commodities are available to qualified families on a monthly basis. Migrant funds assist the migrant families in Box Butte County. The Sheridan County Public Transportation System provides transportation for residents in Sheridan County. These are the largest programs of Community Services.
Tax assistance is also available and the referrals that connect our clients to other resources to help our clients= income stretch to meet the needs of the family.
WEATHERIZATION PROGRAM
The Weatherization program is designed to serve income eligible clients with homes in need of weatherization measures that could help lighten the load of ever-growing energy costs. The program helps by insuring efficient energy costs which puts more earned dollars into the family budget instead of unreachable energy bills. The program follows a priority system to identify the order in which qualifying person are served with elderly disable person being the number one priority. Some of the weatherization measures include weather-stripping, caulking and several types of insulation applications. In most cases, all weatherization measures are afforded to the qualifying household at little or no cost.
SENIOR VOLUNTEER SERVICES PROGRAM
The Senior Volunteer Services have a Volunteer list of over 450. The RSVP volunteers help other individuals, other programs and special events. Their combined man hours is a wealth of support for museums, Chadron State College, Chadron municipalities, and local organizations such as Keep Chadron Beautiful, Chadron Youth Baseball, Salvation Army and many, many others.
The Foster Grandparent Program is a help to qualified seniors by supplementing their incomes with stipends for volunteering in schools and Head Start Centers. The literacy assistance the program provides has many benefits for the recipient as well. Books for educators as well as classroom books are often part of the benefit for the recipient.
HEAD START/EARLY HEAD START PROGRAMS
The first Head Start program in the Northern Nebraska Panhandle was originally organized and administered by Chadron State College in Dawes County in 1965. It came under the umbrella of Northwest Community Action in 1967 and has expanded to Box Butte, Cherry, and Sheridan Counties. Currently NCAP Head Start operates eleven centers (four of which are collaborations with public schools, four home-based programs, one full day/full year program, and one child care collaboration serving 204 children ages 3 to 5. The Early Head Start program operates four home-based programs serving 36 children ages 0 to 3 years, pregnant women, and their families in Box Butte and Dawes Counties only. In June of 2005, meetings were held to collaborate with public school districts to write an Early Childhood Education Grant through the Nebraska Department of Education.
Preschool collaborations between NCAP Head Start and the public schools include, Crawford, Chadron, Gordon/Rushville and Hay Springs. The schools provide the collaborations with certified early childhood teachers to assist in strengthening quality child development for children, while Head Start provides family development to assist in strengthening families in becoming stable and self sufficient.
NORTHWEST COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP’S BOARD
Northwest Community Action Partnership is governed by a Tripartite Board of Directors. Tripartite means the board consists of three parts. Each part represents the interests of a specific segment of the community.
1/3 of the members are elected public officials, holding office on the date of selection, or their representatives, except that if the number of such elected officials reasonably available and willing to serve on the board is less than 1/3 of the membership of the board membership on the board of appointive public officials or their representatives may be counted in meeting such 1/3 requirement.
Not fewer than 1/3 of the members are persons chosen in accordance with democratic selection procedures adequate to assure that these members are representative o f low-income individuals and families in the neighborhood served and each representative of low-income individuals families selected to represent a specific neighborhood within a community resides in the neighborhood represented by the member.
The remainder of the members are officials or members of business, industry, labor, religious, law enforcement, education, or other major groups and interests in the community served.
PUBLIC INFORMATION
Copies of our 990 and Annual Audit Report are available for review during regular business hours at 270 Pine Street, Chadron, NE 69337.
