The community action agency of western connecticut, INC. (caawc) is one of 9 community action agencies in the state of connecticut

Founded in 1965 as part of president lyndon b. Johnson's war on poverty program, caawc has been a staple in the community in the provision of services for low-income individuals and families. Caawc works hard to connect its clients with services provided by the department of social services, the agency itself and local community initiatives and programs. All of the agency's initiatives and programming has one central theme; helping clients move towards self-sufficiency. The mission of caawc is to provide social services and programs to low-income individuals and families in the western area of connecticut to help them stabilize and improve their lives. Currently the agency offers many services including energy assistance, early childcare education, comprehensive case management, job skills training, volunteer income tax assistance, diaper program, food pantry, and rsvp. In july 2009, caawc made its commitment to services for seniors by assuming rsvp sponsorship from the american red cross. To date, caawc operates the rsvp program of northern fairfield county. Caawc serves a 25 town catchment area in fairfield and litchfield counties. The territory served by rsvp encompasses the following towns: bethel, brookfield, danbury, new fairfield, newtown, redding, ridgefield and sherman. The aggregated population exceeded 194,000 according to the 2010 US census. In fairfield county, over 21,000 people ages 65 and older live in these towns, which is expected to grow as baby boomers age. Caawc has enjoyed administering rsvp and looks forward to continuing to serve the area and providing needed services with active volunteers in the program. Caawc is proposing 40 rsvp volunteers. They will provide early childhood education and food security through 4 volunteer work stations/placement sites. The primary focus area of this project is education and healthy futures. In education, 90% of students will exhibit improvement in early childhood development skills that will be assessed by pre and post tests. In healthy futures, 75% of individuals served will report that they received enough food to prevent them from going hungry which will be obtained from a client evaluation/survey. The cncs federal investment of $40,000 will be supplemented by $17,384.