Salt Lake Community Action Program

Salt Lake Community Action Program, doing business as Salt Lake Community Action Program of Tooele County, is a tax-exempt nonprofit community action agency based in Salt Lake City, Utah, that receives federal grants as a prime recipient (14% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient (86% of recent awards) to deliver early childhood education, nutrition support, energy assistance, and homelessness prevention services across Utah.

The organization's federal footprint centers on two primary grantor agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) dominates the grant activity with a combined 23 awards spanning Head Start and Early Head Start programming. Most prominently, Salt Lake Community Action Program holds a $59.97 million Head Start Project Grant (CFDA 93.600) from HHS/ACF effective January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2030, under which it delivers comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and family engagement services to low-income children and families across Salt Lake County and Tooele County. The program serves both traditional Head Start populations (three- and four-year-old children) and Early Head Start populations (infants, toddlers, and pregnant women) and is required to provide a 20 percent non-federal match while meeting federal Head Start performance standards. The organization also holds an Early Head Start Project Grant from HHS/ACF running through July 31, 2029. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service constitutes the second major customer, with 62 awards spanning child nutrition programs—child and adult day care meals, school breakfast programs, national school lunch free and reduced price meals, summer food service programs, and cash-in-lieu (CIL) arrangements—all routed through the Utah State Board of Education as the prime grantee.

Beyond the top two funders, Salt Lake Community Action Program receives sub-awards from the Department of Work Services (Utah) for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) housing assistance; from Salt Lake City Corporation for housing information, short-term rental/mortgage/utilities (STRMU), permanent supportive housing (PSH), and supportive services; and from the Utah Health Policy Project for Medicaid and CHIP outreach and enrollment support tied to Head Start family engagement. The organization also administers emergency rental assistance and homelessness diversion programming through HUD-related sub-awards. Combined dollars obligated across all 105 awards total $952 million, though the vast majority reflects the high-volume, lower-dollar nutrition sub-awards flowing from USDA through the state education board. Activity has expanded sharply—two awards in 2021 to 43 in 2024 to 31 in 2025 to 11 in the first five months of 2026—driven primarily by monthly nutrition pass-throughs and quarterly energy assistance sub-allocations. Only one award faces ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, limiting near-term recompete exposure on the current grant portfolio.