Valley County Community Action Program

110 W. Pine

P.O. Box 129

Cascade, Idaho 83611

208-382-4577

Fax 208-382-4255

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Employment

We offer assistance to customers regarding employment, such as job preparation, placement and development (activities to assist low-income people to secure and maintain meaningful employment).  This includes: information about employment and job training services; referral to employment; assistance with job hunting skills; job placement and skills training.  

Education

We assist low-income customers in obtaining more education.  This includes: primary, secondary, and adult basic education.  We also give information about education opportunities and referral to educational services, as well as helping with applications for educational grants.   We also partner with Head Start to get children enrolled in programs to ensure school readiness.  We receive donations of school supplies that we have available to low-income customers.  

Money management

WICAP has trained staff available to help families manage their money in a positive way.   This includes information budgeting techniques, referrals to agencies that provide financial management classes, and counseling regarding personal credit issues.  We also have information on energy conservation and general consumer education.  In the winter months there is a Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that helps with a one- time benefit for heating costs.  

Housing

WICAP is dedicated to help families and individuals in their search for adequate housing; whether it is in the form of permanent housing, transitional housing, or emergency shelter.  We can help families apply for rental assistance, help with emergency over-night housing, or help get them into temporary housing until they can find a more stable home.  We can help with referrals for rentals or loan assistance for home buying.  A new program that we have available in an Individual Development Account in which customers can build up their credit and accumulate money to buy a house, continue their education, or start a business.  Whatever they save will be matched until they built up enough to reach their goal.  

We have emergency shelter funds to help families who find themselves homeless and need a roof over their heads.  This is accomplished by partnering with local motels for over-night stays.  

emergency assistance

There are several Emergency services that WICAP offers such as:

NUTRITION

Emergency food is available at our Community Action Centers.  Eligibility is based on immediate need.  A “food box” is made up of a variety of food to give the customer a three-day supply, which is made up according to the number in the household.  Some types of food are United States Department of Agriculture foods, foods purchased with Emergency Food and Shelter Program  funds; foods donated from local grocery stores, and gleaned foods.   

Linkages

WICAP is only able to accomplish the goals they set by partnering with other agencies and organizations.  It is very important to have the community involved in our quest to reduce poverty in our community.  This means that we can link families with other agencies when we are unable to assist them directly.  Information and referral is an important part of that process.   

Self sufficiency

The biggest goal WICAP faces is to help families become self-sufficient.  We are helping people and changing lives through a project called “Family Development”.  It is a case management and continuum of care service to assist low-income families to move towards and/or obtain self-sufficiency from governmental programs.  It may include comprehensive case management and an ongoing commitment to families.  Program elements include customer goals and anticipated outcomes, tracking customer progress, counseling, advocacy, linkage to other services and evaluation of the impact of the service.

Health

We have information and referral services to assist families with:  dental, medical treatment or prevention services, immunization, treatment of substance abuse, family planning services, and transportation to medical appointments.  For those elderly households that are faced with leaving their home to live in Nursing Homes, we offer house-cleaning services to allow them to be independent for a longer period of time.