York County Community Action Corp.

YCCAC aspires to achieve for our neighbors and communities, the vision set forth in the Preamble to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964:

York County Community Action Corporation has undergone—and continues to undergo—changes to improve its ability to deliver services to all clients, and to be as efficient and effective in our goals as possible.

Over the past fiscal year (2015/16), YCCAC established a program called Economic Opportunity, which oversees Community Outreach (Social Work/Case Management),York County CA$H (Creating Assets Savings & Hope), A Place for Us (formerly Pathways to Prosperity), and Access to Justice (Legal Advocacy). The Economic Opportunity program has been successful in integrating all YCCAC programs, so that clients are better served and YCCAC resources are used efficiently and to their best effect.

Our Children's Services program, which includes Head Start and Early Head Start, has expanded to new locations—Saco and Old Orchard Beach. There are now Head Start sites in nine (9) York County towns and cities (Biddeford, Buxton, Kittery, Lyman, North Berwick, Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Sanford and Waterboro), with a new total of 22 classrooms.

Nasson Health Care, our Health Services program, has expanded, with sites now in Biddeford, North Berwick, Alfred and Springvale. The North Berwick clinic is located at Noble High School, and is a collaborative effort between Nasson Health Care and Maine School Administrative District 60.

Women, Infant & Children, commonly called WIC, relocated its office in Limerick this year to better serve a growing need. The WIC program has six (6) clinic sites: Sanford, Biddeford, Kittery, Limerick, South Berwick, and Buxton.

In Energy Services, we introduced an easy and efficient way for LIHEAP clients to complete their applications—by phone.

In August, previous LIHEAP clients were notified by postcard of a date and time-range for a phone call from a LIHEAP Intake Specialist. The phone call took no more than 15 minutes, and the completed application was then mailed to the client, for review and signature. The client then returned the signed application—by mail or in person—and any outstanding documentation (e.g., electric bill, pay stubs) to the YCCAC Energy Services Department, in Sanford. It was that simple!

In addition, Energy Services has made an outreach to residents of Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach this year, with the expectation of reaching a significant number of residents who may be eligible for LIHEAP benefits but had never applied.

York County Community Action Corporation is on solid financial footing. Our programs are expanding, to provide better services to a body of individuals and families throughout York County, As noted in the “strategies" section of this report, we have instituted changes within the organization to make our programs more efficient, and to better utilize the our available resources.

Over the past two years, we have had several program directors retire. This has allowed us the opportunity to replace the leadership positions of Children's Services, Transportation, and Economic Opportunity (formerly known as Community Outreach), with new staff. These new leaders come to YCCAC with “fresh eyes," which allows for new perspectives on how to approach issues for better results, how to address problems from different angles, how to . . . “see" things that we may not have seen before. New leaders bring fresh ideas, creativity, and enthusiasm finding new ways to reach solutions.

In addition, we have created two new positions within the agency: Operations/Special Initiatives Manager, and Volunteer Coordinator. The Operations/Special Initiatives Manager has undertaken an extensive study of space usage at our main office complex in Sanford, and has made changes to office use to better serve our clients and our agency. (For example: All staff who do not work directly with clients but instead serve in a supportive capacity have been relocated to offices away from the main entry; YCCAC staff who do see clients now occupy those offices. The clients are now better able to meet with the YCCAC staff quickly, and the staff can greet the clients and escort them to their offices only a short distance from the reception room.) The volunteer coordinator has assumed responsibility for fundraising activities and creating/maintaining a solid volunteer base for the agency.

Nasson Health Care—our Health Care program and the only Community Health Center in York County—now has offices in Springvale, North Berwick, Alfred and Biddeford. This expansion has made access to quality medical, dental and behavioral health services available to more York County residents of low or-no income than ever before. With a current patient volume of just over 3,500, our goal is to provide care for 6,000 York County residents over the next 3 to 5 years.

The program formerly known as Community Outreach is now named Economic Opportunity, and houses the Community Outreach program and Housing Services program. Outreach staff have been more evenly distributed throughout York County to provide residents of the Biddeford, Saco, and Old Orchard Beach areas greater ease at accessing the services provided by Community Outreach.

Head Start, after closing classrooms as a result of funding cuts in recent years, has at last begun to grow, opening new classrooms in Saco and Old Orchard Beach over the past two years. We hope to continue this growth into 2017 and beyond

We have accomplished a great deal in recent years, but there is still much to be done.

Better integration of services is an area that the Economic Opportunity director has worked on this year, and will continue to improve. Our WIC program is reaching out to day care centers, schools, hospitals, and other non-profits to promote healthy eating, breastfeeding, and access to food vouchers for eligible clients. Our Transportation program is seeking new areas of service, to provide access to medical care, school and job training, and shopping for those without means of transport.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve our level of service. Our clients are always our first priority, and serving them better—more efficiently, more effectively, and with the best possible outcome—is our challenge, and our reward.