Our mission is to work in partnership with local communities to eliminate the causes and conditions of poverty and to promote individual independence and self-sufficiency.
Main Office: 719 S. Main St., Dayton, Ohio. 937-341-5000 www.miamivalleycap.org
Miami Valley Community Action Partnership has been helping people and changing lives for almost 60 years.
Since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act in 1964, MVCAP has been one of more than 1,100 Community Action Agencies across the country working to combat poverty at the local level.
MVCAP works in partnership with local communities to eliminate the causes and conditions of poverty and to promote individual independence and self-
sufficiency. The agency operates a wide range of anti-poverty programs designed to help families and individuals who are struggling with emergencies and seeking economic security.
In the past three years, MVCAP has been a keystone in rebuilding and renewing lives in the Miami Valley. The community had barely moved past a series of devastating Memorial Day tornados in 2019 when COVID-19 upended virtually every aspect of daily life.
MVCAP served more than 27,000 households by:
Distributing more than $20 million in Emergency Rental Assistance in partnership with Legal Aid of Southwest Ohio/Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Saint Vincent de Paul, and the Area Agency on Aging.
Extending energy assistance and energy efficiency modification. As a Weatherization expert, MVCAP works with clients to reduce their energy usage and lower their costs while also providing emergency assistance with with bill payments.
Maintaining a unique, multi-purpose legal clinic assisting with driver’s license reinstatement and record sealing and quickly transitioning to eviction prevention during COVID.
Miami Valley Community Action Partnership provides emergency and empowerment services to four core counties in the Dayton, Ohio area: Montgomery, Greene, Darke, and Preble. Additionally, MVCAP provides weatherization services to five more counties: Auglaize, Butler, Mercer, Miami, and Warren. Some additional services are also provided in Warren County in cooperation with its community action agency. In the nine counties, MVCAP serves a population of approximately 200,000 low-income families.
MVCAP is funded primarily by federal grants: Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), the Home Weatherization Assistance Program (HWAP), and the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), with a total budget of $12 million prior to receiving COVID relief dollars. With a $21.5 million budget for 2023, the agency still has very low administrative costs. Nearly 93% of its funds directly help local residents.
Low-income households are more likely to be burdened by high energy costs. MVCAP operates several programs designed to help residents restore service, pay bills, and lower costs to stay out of crisis situations. These programs operate in the agency’s four core counties and are funded by the U.S. Departments of Energy, and Health and Human Services. Emergency Services dollars from the Community Services Block Grant supplement the assistance where needed.
Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP): once per season benefit to help heat homes.
Winter Crisis Program: from November through March; helps residents who have had their heat disconnected or who have received a disconnect notice.
Summer Crisis Program: annually in July and August; helps residents who have had their electricity disconnected or who have received a disconnect notice.
Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP): lowers utility bills to a percentage of the household income; customers can also erase arrearages.
Low Income Household Water Assistance Program: helps with reestablishing water service and paying for water and/or sewer services.
To qualify for the utility assistance programs operated by MVCAP, households must live at or below 175% of the Federal Poverty Level. Historically, MVCAP helps more than 20,000 households with their utility bills every year.
MVCAP programs help lower the energy burden for more than 20,000 households every year.
MVCAP’s Home Weatherization Assistance Program serves homeowners and renters in nine counties making homes safer, more comfortable, and energy efficient. Weatherization has been proven to lower the cost of heating and cooling millions of homes nationwide.
After a comprehensive energy audit, services include attic, sidewall and basement insulation; weather stripping; safety inspections of furnaces and water heaters; as well as heating system repairs and replacements.
MVCAP is a leader in southwest Ohio in weatherization. In 2022, the agency partnered with the Ohio Weatherization Training Center and the Corporation for Appalachian Development to create a training hub in downtown Dayton.
The hub includes an early 19th-century single family home that has been converted to a lab for training weatherization technicians. MVCAP leverages HWAP dollars to create career opportunities for today’s workforce.
In addition to federal funding, MVCAP operates weatherization sub programs in partnership with Center Point Energy (formerly Vectren). Income qualifications range from 200% of the federal poverty level up to 300% for some programs.
In a typical year, MVCAP weatherizes nearly 1,000 homes of widely varying styles and ages.
Home may not be so sweet if you are struggling to make ends meet. MVCAP’s Emergency Services program provides CSBG funded help for immediate and emergency needs.
These services are available in the four core counties as well as through the delegate agency in Warren County.
CSBG funds also provide emergency home repairs in the four core counties up to $7,500 per household. Similar services are provided in Darke and Miami counties in partnership with the Ohio Department of Aging.
Keeping families in their homes and keeping the area’s housing stock in good repair preserves affordable housing in the community. Additionally, health and safety are improved and energy costs are lowered. Repairs may include bringing wiring up to code, repairs or updates to septic systems, and structural issues with roofs or ceilings.
MVCAP also:
Operates three emergency shelters in Greene County.
Manages the Metropolitan Housing Authority programs in Darke and Preble counties.
Provides housing and financial counseling services.
Distributed millions of dollars in emergency Home Relief Grant funds during the pandemic.
MVCAP’s Legal Clinic serves low-income residents who need assistance with eviction prevention or who are experiencing legal barriers to employment. Approximately one in four Ohio jobs is blocked or restricted for justice involved individuals. Funded by CSBG, services include:
Negotiating with various courts for the reduction and payment of fees, fines, and judgments, and/or arranging for community service in lieu of payment;
Sealing criminal records;
Filing and representing clients in obtaining Certificates of Qualification for Employment;
Restoring driver’s licenses or driving privileges;
Financial assistance with securing automobile insurance.
The clinic works closely with Legal Aid of Western Ohio/ABLE (Advocates for Basic Legal Equality), Dayton Center for Mediation, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, and the local courts and probation departments. The clinic was recognized in 2020 as an Exemplary Program by the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies and Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.
Nearly 93 percent of MVCAP’s annual budget goes directly to helping people in our communities.
MVCAP never closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dedicated employees worked tirelessly to keep services flowing, although in person encounters had to be suspended. Prior to the pandemic, MVCAP’s Emergency Services team distributed $137,254 in benefits that included rent assistance. When the State of Ohio entrusted Community Action Agencies with the Home Relief Grant and Emergency Rent Assistance funds the amount of rent assistance alone skyrocketed to more than $20 million.
MVCAP also operates the Save the Dream program administered by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency which helps homeowners struggling with mortgage payments or other housing costs due to the pandemic.
MVCAP continues to provide help to victims of the 2019 Memorial Day tornadoes. Families may qualify for help with purchasing, constructing or repairing their primary residence through the Federal Home Loan Bank Disaster Reconstruction Program. To date, MVCAP has helped rebuild or repair more than 200 homes.
MVCAP’s long history and strategically positioned regional offices allow it to meet the unique local needs of its diverse service area.
While working to help families and individuals with emergencies, the agency also removes barriers to economic security.
MVCAP supports its community with efforts from monthly food boxes for seniors to supporting entrepreneurs. All programs are designed to enable low-income people of all ages to secure the opportunities they need to obtain and maintain economic security.