Johnston Lee Harnett Community Action Incorporated

Johnston Lee Harnett Community Action Incorporated (Division: Johnston-Lee-Harnett Community Action, Inc.) is a minority-owned, woman-owned non-profit community action agency based in Smithfield, North Carolina, that operates as a federal grant recipient delivering early childhood education, family support services, and homelessness prevention programs to low-income communities in North Carolina. The organization does not compete for federal contracts; it works exclusively as a prime recipient on federal grant awards and as a sub-recipient on grants passed through state agencies.

The organization's federal footprint centers on two distinct program areas. As a prime grant recipient, Johnston Lee Harnett holds a five-year Head Start program award from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (CFDA 93.600), valued at $3,898,852, extending through June 30, 2031. This award represents continuation of the organization's Head Start operations, which have received over $38 million in cumulative Head Start funding from HHS ACF since April 2021. Head Start services delivered by Johnston Lee Harnett encompass early childhood education, health screenings, nutritional support, social services, and family engagement activities designed to promote school readiness among preschool-age children and infants and toddlers in the organization's service area.

As a sub-recipient, Johnston Lee Harnett receives grant allocations from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to support poverty-reduction, community revitalization, and family economic independence initiatives, with a secondary focus on homelessness prevention and crisis response. Sub-award work includes Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) operations that employ low-barrier, housing-focused approaches to ensure homelessness remains rare, brief, and non-recurring. Sub-recipient awards track from January 2023 through July 2026, indicating sustained pass-through funding from state and federal housing authorities.

Customer concentration is dominated by HHS Administration for Children and Families, which accounts for four prime grant awards and a significant share of total obligated dollars. HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development together represent 74% of the organization's recent award count across prime and sub-award activity. Award activity over the past five years shows a pattern of intermittent awards (one per year in 2021 and 2023, three in 2024, two in 2025 and 2026), with a combined dollars obligated of $140.2 million across nineteen distinct federal awards and sub-awards since 2006.