Community Action Partnership of Lancaster County
2020 Annual Report
Letter from the CEO
Page 5
Strategic Plan
Page 6
Overview
Page 7
Impact Team Reports
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 8-11
2020 Response
Page 12-13
2021 Rebuild
Page 14-15
Board of Directors and Committees
Page 16
Management and Oversight
Page 17
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COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
DEAR FRIEND, We entered 2020 with elevated anticipation for the future. We believed this would be the year of deeper clarity and refined opportunities – “2020 Vision!” Quickly, we learned that 2020 would be the year we all would grapple with our humanity. For CAP this would become the year where we would lean on our values to forge the way forward.
VANESSA PHILBERT
Letter from the CEO
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
We worked to maintain a safe and healthy environment while meeting the growing needs of our customers. From diaper drives, door-to-door food pantry drop-offs, and load-and-go WIC services to creating COVID-safe refuge for domestic violence survivors and shifting to hybrid learning for our kiddos, our core value of innovation was put to the test. As the economic grip tightened on our community, we ramped up our partnerships to distribute millions of dollars to those in need of rental and utility assistance. If there was a word for 2020, it would be STRETCH. We stretched to connect our mission to our neighbors’ needs, and our team stretched their capes out as they ignited their superpowers every day to meet those needs. 2020 curated much uncertainty, but the consistent and courageous investments of our donors and funders provided security. Our donors and funders repeatedly rose up to meet the moment. Thank you to those who invested their stimulus checks, to those who attended virtual events, and to those who gave back because they once benefited from the supports offered. CAP’s ability to meet the demands of the moment was fueled by your generosity. While the landscape of life as we knew it was shifting right under our feet, we realized that our best strategy for 2020 lay in our ability to keep our heads up and our eyes searching for the SILVER LININGS. As we Stretched the Silver Linings, it became clear – 2020 would be the year where our compassion would carry us past the crisis of the moment to the hope for the future. Amid the trauma of a global pandemic, we grappled with the historical oppression still realized by systemic racism – a system that was designed to keep those living in poverty pinned down for generations. NOW became the moment to challenge ourselves to look at our words and assess if our actions aligned. How can we create a more just, more prosperous, and more equitable community? Another Silver Lining moment was born as we set our strategic priorities for the future: 1. Embolden a pathway to economic equity for generations 2. Elevate excellence in programming 3. Establish a values-aligned culture to recruit and retain the best talent 2020 may have caused a tremor in our worlds, but at our core we know if we commit to empowering community, driving action, and building partnership we will be the Silver Lining our community needs. In the profound words of Gandhi, “The future depends on what you do today.” Here’s to making today count for those who may need us tomorrow. Vanessa Philbert
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AGENCY
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
STRATEGIC PLAN WINNING ASPIRATION We transform generational poverty into economic prosperity so that all can thrive
MISSION
VISION
Empowering community, driving action, and building partnership to eliminate poverty
Our community is a model of equity, justice and prosperity
Values Respect 6
Collaboration
Diversity
Innovation
Compassion
Excellence
Integrity
Hope
OVERVIEW
FAST FACTS CAP AT A GLANCE
People served every year
78% Women in senior leadership
>$800 Spent per customer per year
300+ Employees
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1.
2.
3.
How will we address race, power and privilege in our prosperity efforts with clients as well as internally with staff, board and volunteers?
How will we focus our programming on those key efforts which will help us transform generational poverty into economic prosperity?
How will we recruit, orient and develop mission-aligned staff and a high-performance, adaptive culture? COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
~40,000
BIG QUESTIONS
IMPACT TEAM STRUCTURE CAP is structured in four impact teams, including Safety and Empowerment, Education and Child Development, Household Stability, and Health and
Nutrition. These teams were created in an effort to build collaboration among programs with commonalities.
STATE OF POVERTY
The poverty rate went down in both Lancaster City and County. In the city the drop was significant: 1.7% from the previous year, resulting in a decrease in the total number of people in poverty by 6%. In the county the drop was 0.3% and 3.3%, respectively.
County locations
2
10.1%
24.8%
Programs serving multiple counties
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COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
SAFETY & EMPOWERMENT
Crispus Attucks Lends a Hand During 2020, the Crispus Attucks Community Center, part of CAP’s Safety & Empowerment Team, stepped up to feed the community in a big way. The Center has always been committed to making sure all of our neighbors have what they need, but those needs have never been quite so big before! Due to the pandemic lockdowns, many people unexpectedly found themselves in need of support they had never accessed before, and CACC was ready to respond. The Center doubled its number of monthly food pantry days, provided grab-and-go community meals, and served as a resource for any other needs our customers shared.
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One of our customers at the Center shared his experience visiting the pantry for the first time during COVID: “I have always been fortunate enough to be able to provide for my family. When the pandemic hit I was in the first round of cuts from my job. I went from being financially stable to having to choose which bill I would pay and what meal I could buy to last my family through the week. I was walking past Crispus Attucks Community Center and was greeted by an employee and I asked what was happening because the line was wrapped around the parking lot. The employee explained the food bank was taking place and gave
me the hours and even walked me along through the process of getting signed up. I am a very prideful person, but the reassurance and how genuine the staff were really made me feel welcomed. It was the simple things I noticed: they referred to us as customers and they provided items past food such as masks, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, etc. I also received help through their Emergency Rental Assistance Program. I never would have known about these resources had the staff never mentioned it us as we passed through the line. I am so grateful and thankful to know this Center is still in our community and truly living in its mission and values.”
EDUCATION & CHILD DEVELOPMENT Pandemic Innovations At-Home Learning Kits for Young Learners When COVID-19 forced schools to switch to remote learning models, CAP’s Education and Childhood Development team knew they would need to provide assistance to families in obtaining the supplies their children would need for at-home learning. A survey of families found that 42% had few to no basic learning
Head Start and Child Care Merge
ensure young learners in CAP’s early learning programs had access to all the at-home supplies they would need for virtual classes, CAP used funding from the PNC Foundation to deliver more than 300 home learning packets to students. Included in these supplies were basic items like scissors, playdough, paper, white boards, markers, erasers, crayons, STEM resources, books, and more. With this initiative, children were equipped to fully participate in classes either via
Thrive to Five (formerly Lancaster County Head Start and CAP Child Care) is a birth-5 aligned program that provides high-quality learning experiences for infants through pre-k.
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
supplies at home, including 81% who reported few to no math supplies at home, and 42% who reported few to no writing supplies at home. In order to
Zoom or with their parent, and families found it easier to engage with their child. Plus having a steady flow of resources allowed there to be enough change to keep their young children excited and participating in the activities.
This merger enables us to meet families where they are, providing high-quality education for those meeting income requirements of 100% of the poverty guidelines through 300% with free services funded through federal and state grants (Head Start and Pre-K Counts) .
Thrive to Five students explore STEM during their first week back in person.
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COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
HOUSEHOLD STABILITY
Lifted into Hope
CR is a young single mother to one child who joined the Learning In Full-Time Jobs (LIFT) program in January 2020. LIFT provided support with professional and personal development, financial empowerment, and a produce job at Four Seasons. She was interested in the program so she could build more connections within the community, gain skills to help her with a long-term career, and work toward her goal of continuing her education. CR lived with her parents for the duration of the program and LIFT stability funds were able to help her and her family remain stable by contributing
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towards some of their living expenses. She utilized the “Your Job Connection” shuttle provided by Four Seasons, High, and the Lancaster Chamber, and she was able to secure childcare assistance through ELRC, which ensured stable childcare while she was at work. During the start of her employment she was open to coaching around workplace expectations and was able to create a good relationship with Four Seasons and their staff. Then, the pandemic hit. Because Four Seasons is considered an essential company, they did not close down fully and CR was able to continue her employment without interruption and participate fully in the LIFT program.
Her childcare remained open because it was a smaller center and she also had support from her mother. In May 2020, CR was recognized by Four Seasons for her hard work and dedication to the job, which made her very proud. She continued to work throughout the pandemic and consistently participated in the LIFT group Zoom meetings. At the end of the program, Four Seasons offered her permanent employment which she accepted and officially started January 3, 2021. She has continued to work full-time at Four Seasons and is starting the process of applying to go to school for Psychology.
HEALTH & NUTRITION Meeting Nutritional Needs, Current and Future Food Distribution Rises to Meet Demand Since the beginning of March 2020, CAP’s Food Distribution Center distributed 1,039,000 pounds of food to our partner pantries, who in turn distribute it to Lancaster
We have also distributed 19,812 Emergency Food Boxes, either packed on our own or provided by the Central PA Food Bank.
Lancaster to discuss our WIC, SNAP-Ed, and Food Distribution programs and how we innovatively adjusted to accommodate our customers and the community.
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
County residents. That’s an average of 19,980 pounds per week distributed to Lancaster County pantries and feeding programs.
Although the number of Lancaster County households we are serving is about average for us at the moment, the number of individuals served in our last quarter was 75,686, higher than any other point in the last few years. Most of that increase is children, although support to adults and seniors also increased. That means that more households with children may be experiencing food insecurity and looking for help.
USDA Visits WIC The Community Action Partnership of Lancaster County welcomed U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (former) Administrator, Pam Miller, and Senior Policy Advisor, Lindsay Datlow, to
Senior Centers The seniors in our senior centers took a trip to the Dutch Apple Theater.
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2020 BY THE NUMBERS
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
FOOD DISTRIBUTION 35000 31500 28000 24500 21000 17500 14000 10500 7000 3500 0
1,039,000 Total pounds of food CAP distributed
19,980 Pounds of food distributed per week
01 /15 /29 /12 /26 /10 /24 /07 /21 /05 /19 /02 /16 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8
3/
Pounds of food CAP distributed from March to August
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES Total number served (unduplicated)
1,530
1,451
79
All Programs
Adults
Children
UTILITY ASSISTANCE Number of households served
12,334
Number of direct services to seniors
19,000
Average number of loaded cards
1,193
84
Per Day
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11,140
Virtual Visits
Instruction
Number of people who maintained housing
261
NUTRITION ED Virtual lessons for school age and adult participants
64 Total
SENIOR CENTERS
CRISPUS ATTUCKS Families served through the food pantry
1,965 190,600 Hours of Virtual
NAVIGATION
WOMEN INFANTS & CHILDREN Number of benefit cards loaded
THRIVE TO 5 PAT
Hot meals served
9,600
Number of meals distributed to seniors
2,476
CUSTOMER NEEDS Describe what your ideal future would look like if you woke up tomorrow and all your barriers were removed:
“
”
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
We would live in a large house with a patio, have two dogs, cats, space for my child to play outside. I would be helping other mothers, we would be happy. My child would be a good child, a good teenager - studious, peaceful, and helpful to many people.
-Lilia, CAP Customer It’s hard to find a way in which the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t turn the world upside down. Given this truth, it is necessary to take stock of the depth and breadth of the issues that plague those who are living in poverty or are considered low-income, to understand how COVID-19 may have further entrenched them in that state. While it is already a requirement for our agency to do a community needs assessment every three years (the last one was published in 2018), this year it feels more urgent than ever. The first step in the process of creating the needs assessment is surveying our customers on their satisfaction with our programs and services for the 2020 calendar year. We also used this survey as an opportunity to assess any outstanding needs our customers may have beyond those that have been met by our programs and services. Further, we assessed how COVID-19 affected their well-being.
Preliminary analysis from this survey shows that the greatest unmet needs of our clients are childcare and housing, followed by food and transportation. COVID-19’s effect on most of our clients was in the reduction of income/inability to pay bills and the rise of mental health issues. Only 13% of the 305 responses to that question said that COVID-19 had no effect on them. Additional insights can be gleaned from the full report, set to be released December 2021. Until then, rest assured that we are using a clientcentered and data-driven approach to address the deeper issues that led to many of our clients falling back rather than getting ahead.
Answers to the question: What other needs do you have that are currently not being met? 1% 1% 1% 11% 111 9
22% 18
8 10
6
7% 2%
10%
2
5
6%
3 19
12% 4%
23% Transportation Bills/Utilities Food Financial Childcare Employment
Gas Health/Healthcare Housing Music Program Social Security Help Internet
447 Total number of responses
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2021 REBUILD
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
DEI CAP believes in the opportunity to be a leading voice in community conversations regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. In order to position the organization as a leader in this space, it is important to ensure CAP has taken the appropriate steps to become an agency that infuses DEI best practices and principles throughout its many programs and staff. To that end, CAP will engage a professional consulting firm to conduct workshops, discussion circles and an audit of procedures and policies, among other things, in order to infuse DEI culture and practices into our everyday operations and our overall organizational strategy for success.
DVS Economic Impact
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, between 94% and 99% of survivors have experienced financial abuse, including being prevented from going to work, employment sabotage, debt run up in their names, having their credit scores destroyed by the abusive partner, and refusal to pay court-ordered spousal or child support. Domestic violence survivors deserve access to the resources they need. They deserve housing, jobs, and economic resources for their families. This is true whether they leave abusive relationships or remain in them. This year DVS received the Moving Forward grant from the Allstate Foundation, partially funded through the Pennsylva-
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nia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV). Through this initiative, the goal is to improve the social conditions that prevent long-term independence and safety through comprehensive domestic violence program advocate training and the continual development of tools and resources that address the barriers to economic stability and safety. To achieve this goal, the DVS team, led by our Economic/Financial Empowerment Advocate, is focused on providing advocates with the tools and resources to help survivors access education, develop budgeting skills, repair credit, build savings, find affordable housing and gain meaningful employment.
COMING SOON Water Program the City to secure CARES funding to support households behind on water payments. Filling this gap in services is important because water bills are only generated quarterly, and are typically larger, making it more difficult for those experiencing financial hardship to come up with payment on their own. In addition to adding new funding, Utility Assistance was able to quickly pivot to a virtual model, ensuring that customers were still able to access support during the pandemic!
Reentry
The Lancaster County Reentry Coalition has been dedicating efforts to build a robust group of agencies and individuals committed to supporting our vision and mission to cultivate
community engagement, collaboration, and capacity building to support the successful reentry of individuals to their communities. We have been focused on writing a strategic plan that addresses the persistent / emerging obstacles that reentrants face in our county. We currently have partners from various agencies and reentrants participating in four impact groups who each are addressing specific obstacles. Four additional impact groups are planned to begin in the fall of 2021. We also have a committed group of leaders from key agencies as part of a Steering Committee whose role is to ensure that we stay aligned with the vision and mission as well as addressing the systemic obstacles that reentrants face. We will have our strategic plan completed early fall 2021.
New Refrigerated Truck During the COVID-19 pandemic, CAP began packing food boxes to serve the increased need for food at our 30+ partner pantries, while also encouraging safety among customers picking up food. A local company generously donated a refrigerated truck for several months, which ensured perishables could be transported safely. In order to continue this enhanced service for pantries, CAP applied for a grant from the PA Department of Environmental Protection to secure funding to purchase our own refrigerated truck. We received the funding and purchased the truck, which will allow our food distribution team increased access to pick up perishables from food producers, processors and grocers that routinely offer donations, some of which
we had to decline in the past due to a lack of a safe way to retrieve them.
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COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
In 2020, households in Lancaster faced many tough decisions, such as which bills to pay first with limited income. In this circumstance many folks choose to delay utility payments, which seem like less pressing needs compared to things like food, rent, and medicine. However, falling behind on utility payments can catch up to you in a big way. Late fees and penalties, such as reconnection fees, make it so that once a customer is behind, it is very difficult to catch up. Utility shutoffs can lead to dangerous conditions, and ultimately be grounds for eviction. CAP’s Utility Assistance program worked with nearly 12,500 households to help individuals and families remain stable in their utility payments. In fact, the team was able to expand our services and in addition to funding for gas and electricity bills, CAP was able to partner with
BOARD OF DIRECTORS & COMMITTEES
COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
Our Board of Directors, which governs the agency, is made up of local elected officials and appointed government officials, community leaders, and representatives of low-income organizations and neighborhoods.
FINANCE COMMITTEE Scooter Haase, Chair Jim Kelly, Past Chair Francine Childs Chris Flores Dan Massey Corey Meyer Kristin Heller Lori Royer
BOARD Randolph Appley Member-At-Large
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Nicole Pedriani, Chair Nichole Baer Kathleen Eager Angela Eichelberger Sandra Garcia Jennifer Groff Deb Rohrer Heather Valudes
Sandra Garcia South Central Regional Mgr. and Latino Affairs Mgr., Office of US Sen. Bob Casey
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Kristin Heller – President Vice President/Team Leader, Fulton Bank Jim S. Amstutz, DMin – Vice President Teacher, Lancaster Mennonite School Scooter Haase – Treasurer Community Volunteer Anna Ramos – Secretary Chief Operating Officer, Lancaster County Workforce Development Board Anthony Chivinski – Immediate Past President Consultant, Leadership Advisory Services Margaret Costella, Esq. – Past President VP & Deputy General Counsel, Lancaster General Health/Penn Medicine
Lyn Keough Chair, Head Start Policy Council
Milzy Carrasco Director of Neighborhood Engagement, City of Lancaster Angela Eichelberger District Director, Office of PA Sen. Scott Martin
Darryl Gordon VP of Human Resources, The High Companies James Kelly Community Volunteer
Kareemah Mayer Associate, Barley Snyder Corey Meyer Supervisor, East Lampeter Township Nicole Pedriani Commercial Loan Officer/AVP, Mid Penn Bank Dr. Elizabeth Powers Associate Professor, Millersville University Rod Redcay Mayor, Denver Borough Jake Thorsen SoWe Neighborhood Director
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Jamie Widener Executive Director, Columbia Life Network
MANAGEMENT & OVERSIGHT
EXECUTIVE TEAM VANESSA PHILBERT, CEO
JAIME ARROYO, CIO
ANGIE LIGHTFOOT-ROTH, CFO
KRISTY AURAND, CDO
JOHN MCKOWEN, CBO
CENITA MEYERS-RICHARDSON, CPO COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | ANNUAL REPORT 2020
FINANCIALS Programs and Services
93.5% of our functional expenses support programs; only 6.5% support administrative expenses. Here those numbers are broken down even more by impact team and supporting services.
93.5%
Management Fundraising 0.4% Safety and 5% 30% Empowerment 5.5% 8%
Health and Nutrition
51%
Education and Child Development Household Stability
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601 S. Queen St. Lancaster, PA 17603 717.299.7301 www.caplanc.org