The Ashtabula County Prevention Coalition would like to highlight Ashtabula County Community Action Agency as this month’s Community Partner in Prevention.
Ashtabula County Community Action Agency’s mission is to help people achieve self-sufficiency and to rise above issues of poverty, offering help with housing stability, providing information on resources through 2-1-1 Ashtabula County, offering nutritional services for young children and seniors, providing educational programs, utility assistance, community learning centers in our school systems, and more. Their programs are ever-changing. As they continue to see needs in the community, they work on ways to develop new programs and find grant opportunities to assist with those needs.
In partnership with the Ashtabula Educational Service Center, ACCAA is continuing to expand the Community Learning Centers to more school districts in our county. Ashtabula City Schools has the Dragon Empowerment Center (DEC), Grand Valley Schools has the Mustang Stable, and Buckeye Local Schools will soon be expanding The EDGE. These Community Learning Centers are vital to assist in the needs of that school district by offering food, clothing, school supplies, and a continuum of resources based on the needs presented to the centers. This not only helps the students that attend the schools but is open to the community around that school district as well.
Christy Fisher, ACCAA’s Program Services Coordinated states, “I enjoy being a part of the Ashtabula County Prevention Coalition because I love seeing all the different agencies working together to better our community. I like to learn about all the services the agencies are providing and also services that may still be needed. This helps me to see if there are things that I can be doing or offering at my agency to fill those gaps. I also love the partnerships that are formed and new ideas that come from attending the meetings and volunteering for the sub-committees as well.”
