New Coastal Community Action Director Shares Agency Mission

Ms. Dickson, the new CCA Director, answers
questions from club members after the program

Paula Dickson, the new Executive Director of Coastal Community Action, was the program at Newport Rotary Monday night, April 9, 2012. She told us about her experiences leading up to her selection as CCA Executive Director, and an explained the various programs CCA operates in their 7 county service area.

Ms. Dickson worked with a Christian ministry in the Oakland, CA for many years gaining experience in relevant areas that community action agencies operate, and later moved into working with community action agencies in that area and in several areas in Wyoming. She praised Rotary for the community involvement she had witnessed at each stop of her professional life. She has been Executive Director at Carteret Community Action for 2 weeks.  

CCA is a 501(c)(3) charity, and is one of about 1,200 community action agencies across the country. The goal of the agency is to help improve lives by providing needed resources and support, with an aim toward breaking the cycle of poverty. It manages and operates a broad mix of senior, family and housing services including Head Start, Self-Sufficiency, Weatherization, Foster Grandparent, Senior Companion, Retired Senior Volunteers Program, and Section 8 HUD Housing.

Rotarians shared that CCA was started by Leon Mann, Jr., the former Mayor of Newport, and member of the Rotary club, and PDG Bevin Wall was a long-time Board Member and Chair of the Board.