The Wisconsin Community Action Program Association (WISCAP) is the statewide association for Wisconsin’s sixteen (16) Community Action Agencies and two single-purpose agencies with statewide focus: the Foundation for Rural Housing and United Migrant Opportunities Services (UMOS).

Community Action Agencies were created to provide programs “… which provide services, assistance and other activities of sufficient scope … to give the promise of progress toward the elimination of poverty.”

WISCAP was incorporated on March 1, 1974. The association was founded on the principal that bringing about economic self-sufficiency for the state’s low-income households should be a coordinated endeavor – including strengthening policy, resources mobilization, training and development, and advocacy efforts.

WISCAP is organized as a private, not-for-profit corporation governed by a Board of Directors. The Board is comprised of the Executive Directors from each of the association’s member agencies. Member agency dues comprise the core funding of WISCAP. Funding for program and training initiatives is derived, in part, from various state and federal agencies and generous contributions of sponsors at conference and training events.

For over 40 years, WISCAP has served the needs of its members by:

• sponsoring professional training on anti-poverty initiatives;
• facilitating quarterly meetings of agency Board members and leadership staff;
• serving as a conduit for resource development;
• advocating for public policy based on locally-developed goals of member agencies; and
• advancing laws, rules, regulations and policy to further economic opportunity, community development and locally-designed strategies.

Mission Statement

“We advance the work of our member organizations to help people and communities become economically secure.”

What are Community Action Agencies?

For over 40 years, the Community Action Network has been a catalyst for change and a vital part of the effort to eliminate poverty in Wisconsin. CAA’s are independent, non-profit organizations that are community-based and locally controlled by boards composed of one-third people experiencing poverty, one-third local elected officials, and one-third community and business leaders.

Every year, CAAs analyze their communities needs to identify strategies that will work best in attacking poverty; with a full scale community needs assessment’ every three years to identify major poverty problems and needs of local residents and their communities. Each member of the Wisconsin Community Action Program Association is unique because their programs reflect the needs of their local communities which are prioritized by their board. Because the problems of poverty are complex, so, too must be the solutions.