In the fall of 1963 (prior to the establishment of the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity by President Lyndon Johnson), a cross-racial group of community leaders in Rowan County met to discuss how the community could come together to battle the scourge of poverty afflicting many local residents. This group of legendary Rowan County leaders (including Jake Alexander and Wiley Lash) were greatly informed by a study developed by a UNC-Chapel Hill Grad Student named Sheldon Whitener. In 1964, Whitener conducted a survey of poverty conditions in Rowan County as his thesis for his Master’s Degree in Social Welfare at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The group of Rowan County leaders reviewed Whitener's study of county poverty and the group incorporated the Salisbury-Rowan Community Service Council, Inc. This new nonprofit was organized with the goal of securing funding from the North Carolina Fund to develop programs and initiatives to address the local needs of housing, health, education, welfare and employment (cited in Whitener's masters thesis).
In August 1964, the North Carolina Fund selected the Council as one of eleven areas in the state, in which to establish an experimental anti-poverty program. The Salisbury-Rowan Community Service Council, Inc. was chartered October 1, 1964 as an agency for the purpose of attacking and dealing with poverty. It is noted with much pride that our organizations predated the establishment of the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity, established by President Lyndon Johnson to spearhead the 'war on poverty.'
In May 1965, the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity officially approved the Salisbury-Rowan Community Service Council, Inc. as a Community Action Agency to operate its program with direct federal funds from Washington DC. These funds provided permanent staff for the Agency and the development of new programs. While the funding mechanisms have changed a lot between Washington DC and local community action agencies, our agency has never declared a 'ceasefire' in the War on Poverty.
During the past fifty years, our agency was one of the first in North Carolina to be granted the right and federal funding to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services . With humble beginnings in Rowan County, our agency was provided the privilege to serve low income preschoolers and their families in Davidson, Stanly, Montgomery and Moore Counties. We continue to provide hands-on self sufficiency programming in Rowan and Cabarrus Counties (through the CSBG grant), moving scores of low income individuals and families from poverty into self-sufficiency.
On June 20, 2007, the agency name was officially changed to the Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency, Inc. While our name hearkens to our history, our present and future service to the community increasingly takes a regional, statewide and national approach. The problems of poverty do not respect county, state or even national boundaries. As the late Dr. Martin Luther King said, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
As our community action agency moves into the future, we will continue to innovate in our ability to serve with a respect for the struggle towards justice, which the community action movement is but a part.
In August 1964, the North Carolina Fund selected the Council as one of eleven areas in the state, in which to establish an experimental anti-poverty program. The Salisbury-Rowan Community Service Council, Inc. was chartered October 1, 1964 as an agency for the purpose of attacking and dealing with poverty. It is noted with much pride that our organizations predated the establishment of the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity, established by President Lyndon Johnson to spearhead the 'war on poverty.'
In May 1965, the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity officially approved the Salisbury-Rowan Community Service Council, Inc. as a Community Action Agency to operate its program with direct federal funds from Washington DC. These funds provided permanent staff for the Agency and the development of new programs. While the funding mechanisms have changed a lot between Washington DC and local community action agencies, our agency has never declared a 'ceasefire' in the War on Poverty.
During the past fifty years, our agency was one of the first in North Carolina to be granted the right and federal funding to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services . With humble beginnings in Rowan County, our agency was provided the privilege to serve low income preschoolers and their families in Davidson, Stanly, Montgomery and Moore Counties. We continue to provide hands-on self sufficiency programming in Rowan and Cabarrus Counties (through the CSBG grant), moving scores of low income individuals and families from poverty into self-sufficiency.
On June 20, 2007, the agency name was officially changed to the Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency, Inc. While our name hearkens to our history, our present and future service to the community increasingly takes a regional, statewide and national approach. The problems of poverty do not respect county, state or even national boundaries. As the late Dr. Martin Luther King said, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
As our community action agency moves into the future, we will continue to innovate in our ability to serve with a respect for the struggle towards justice, which the community action movement is but a part.