North East Kingdom Community Action, Inc.

North East Kingdom Community Action, Inc., doing business as Nekca, is a tax-exempt nonprofit community action agency based in Newport, Vermont, operating as a federal grant recipient (29% of recent awards as prime recipient) and subrecipient (71% of recent awards under state and federal prime grantees). Nekca does not hold federal contracts; its federal footprint is entirely grant-funded work in community development, early childhood education, food assistance, housing and homelessness services, digital equity outreach, and crisis support programs across rural and low-income communities in the Northeast Kingdom region.

Nekca's prime grant recipient work centers on three federal programs. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service funds Head Start and Early Head Start services under a project grant running through November 2028, supporting comprehensive early childhood development and family services in the region. The Federal Communications Commission funded Nekca as a prime recipient under the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program in July 2023 to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among eligible low-income households. The Rural Utilities Service has awarded Nekca two project grants: a Community Facilities Technical and Training Grant completed in September 2024, and a Community Project Grant (congressionally delegated) awarded in July 2025 running through July 2027.

Nekca's customer concentration reflects its mission focus on HHS and USDA community programs. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 12 awards, and the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families accounts for 11 awards (combined coverage of 63% of recent awards). Nekca also receives sub-awards from state prime grantees — the Vermont Agency of Human Services and the Vermont State Agency of Education — as a subrecipient on Child and Adult Food Programs, Community Services Block Grants, DULCE (Dual Language Early Care and Education) grants, HUD Continuum of Care homeless services, crisis fuel assistance, balanced and restorative justice initiatives, and parents-as-teachers programming. Since 2022, sub-awards have accelerated — from two awards in 2022 to fourteen in 2025 — reflecting increased flow-through funding from state agencies managing federal community development and family service programs.

Activity has grown steadily across the past five years, from two awards in 2022 to a peak of fourteen in 2025, with ten awards year to date in 2026. Only one award (combined potential value) is scheduled for ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete pressure in the immediate window. Nekca's grant portfolio carries a combined $141.8 million in obligated federal dollars across fifty-six awards spanning seventeen distinct funding agencies, though the majority of dollar volume flows through its four prime Head Start, Affordable Connectivity, and Rural Utilities Service awards and its recurring subrecipient role under Vermont state agencies administering USDA and HHS block grants and categorical programs.