Lori Schultz, LSW???
Tri-Cap Executive Director
As Community Action Turns 50, Tri-County Action Program Inc. would like to reflect on its service to the residents of Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties.
On Aug. 20, 1964 in Washington, D.C., President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act. The EOA created a variety of programs – including Community Action Agencies – as part of his War on Poverty. Tri-CAP was one of those agencies established to address local poverty problems in rural, urban and suburban communities across the country.
Tri-CAP got its start on Jan. 12, 1965 as the first Community Action Agency in a non-metro area in Minnesota. The agency’s creation was due to efforts of then St. Cloud Mayor Ed Henry, who called together a group that included representation from all three counties and worked hard to cajole and convince others that having this agency would be beneficial to area residents.
The agency started with no staff and a $10,000 budget to “research problems relevant to the antipoverty program.” From that point, the agency grew as programs and services developed. In the first year of operation, the organization had total revenues of $16,480.
Forty-nine years later, Tri-CAP has grown into an agency that provides more than 20 different essential services all geared toward helping people and changing lives. The agency’s most recent fiscal audit showed total revenues of more than $5.8 million directly serving more than 22,000 people in Central Minnesota.
Our staff prides themselves on providing exceptional customer service through a professional and kind approach as people build their skills and work toward economic and social stability.
The unrelenting duties of volunteers who served the agency during the past years are invaluable. The commitment of the board of directors and the community have kept us on the path toward maintaining family stability, while endeavoring daily to assure all of our practices are transparent and sound.
Community Action changes lives every day, one person at a time. Thank you Central Minnesota for supporting our endeavors now and into the future.
