Community Action History

President Lyndon Johnson fired the first shot in the War on Poverty in his 1964 State of the Union address when he proclaimed, “we have the power to strike away the barriers to full participation in our society. Having the power, we have the duty…” Soon thereafter he signed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to eliminate the “paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty…by opening to everyone the opportunity to work and the opportunity to live in decency and dignity.” The EOA provided for the creation of Community Action Agencies (CAA) fulfill that mission.

In 1990 Skyline CAP was designated as the Community Action Agency for Greene and Madison County. Its first major programs were Rental Assistance and the nationally recognized Head Start program. In subsequent years Head Start was expanded to Shenandoah, Page, Warren and Shenandoah Counties. The Agency became Orange County’s community action agency in 2000, thus expanding its comprehensive services to over 63,000 residents in just it’s designated counties.