Who We Are

Pictured Left: Peter S. DeBiasi, Executive Director and
Rusty Lanzit, Board Chair

The Access Community Action Agency is a federal and state designated Community Action Agency (CAA) that serves Windham and Tolland counties. However, many of our programs provide services to the entire Eastern Connecticut region, and some provide services throughout the state. We offer a variety of programs free of charge to qualifying participants. These programs provide food, heat, energy, housing assistance, job and life skills training, referrals for transportation, community services, small-business counseling, mentoring, and much, much more.

Access is a private, nonprofit corporation and is a charitable and educational entity to the fullest extent permitted by IRS section 501(c)3.

What is a Community Action Agency?

Community Action Agencies are private nonprofit or public organizations that were created by the federal government in 1964 to combat poverty in geographically designated areas. Status as a Community Action Agency is the result of an explicit designation by local or state government. A Community Action Agency has a tripartite board structure that is designated to promote the participation of the entire community in the reduction or elimination of poverty. Community Action Agencies seek to involve the community, including elected public officials, private sector representatives, and especially low-income residents in assessing local needs and attacking the causes and conditions of poverty.

Why Community Action Agencies Are Unique

Most poverty-related organizations focus on a specific area of need, such as job training, health care, housing, or economic development. Community Action Agencies reach out to low-income people in their communities, address their multiple needs through a comprehensive approach, develop partnerships with other community organizations, involve low-income clients in the agency's operations, and administer a full range of coordinated programs designed to have a measurable impact on poverty.

 

Our Community Vision

Windham and Tolland counties will be a region whose residents and communities have and effectively use the resources necessary to ensure that all of its families and inviduals thrive.

Our Mission

To create the conditions that empower individuals and families in the communities we serve to overcome the barriers that impair their ability to be economically stable.

Our Values

  • Compassion
  • Empowerment
  • Synergy
  • Integrity
  • Accountability
  • Excellence

Our Commitments

To accomplish our Mission, we will:

  • Meet basic human needs
  • Build Capacity for Income and Asset Accumulation
  • Facilitate Positive At-Risk-Youth Development