People in need in the Ozarks have been benefiting from an agency that this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Ozarks Action Inc. (OAI) was founded in 1965, carrying out programs primarily focused on basic needs of supplying people with food and clothing. Now its “core programs” include the Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Community Services Block Grant Program, the Workforce Investment Act (Workforce Development Program), Head Start and Weatherization.
Headquartered in West Plains, OAI serves a six-county area, including Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Texas and Wright counties. The agency states that its mission is “to coordinate and provide services for people with needs to help improve their quality of life.”
For the past 15 years, OAI has been led by executive director Bryan Adcock.
“Ozark Action works with communities to identify community based needs that impact low to moderate income individuals,” Adcock said, “and we attempt to blend agency resources with community resources to either strengthen or create programs that address both day-to-day and long-term issues related to the cost of living and other issues that face individuals in need.”
Adcock said OAI annually spends in excess of $2 million on its efforts in Texas County. He said the economic impact of the service the agency is wide-ranging.
“The economic factor of 2-1 doubles these dollars in the Texas County area,” Adcock said, “and if you use 7-1, it is over $14 million annually impacting the area. On the community and human services sides of things, we’re attempting to improve the quality of life for the individuals residing in the county by providing education, goods and services to improve their quality of life. Many times these far outweigh the $2-14 million spent in the area.”
ABOUT OAI’S PROGRAMS
(dollar figures are from 2013)
•Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): Its mission is to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest incomes that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs.
OAI spent more than $236,000 on LIHEAP in Texas County in 2013.
•Housing and Urban Development (HUD Section 8): The housing choice voucher program is the federal government’s major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe and sanitary housing in the private market. Since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants are able to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses and apartments.
OAI spent about $144,000 in Texas County on housing assistance costs for about close to 50 households.
•Community Services Block Grant Program: The CSBG program provides states and Indian tribes with funds to lessen poverty in communities. The funds provide a range of services and activities to assist the needs of low-income individuals including the homeless, migrants and the elderly. Grant amounts are determined by a formula based on each state’s and tribe’s poverty population. Grantees receiving funds under the CSBG program are required to provide services and activities addressing employment, education, better use of available income, housing, nutrition, emergency services and/or health. OAI helped 3,545 people in Texas County in this category to the tune of more than $106,000.
“Most of these dollars are spent on staff cost to conduct programs like claim, family support, assessments of family needs, emergency assistance, food and nutrition, community projects and volunteer programs, as well as other needs that may be identified,” Adcock said “We currently have two individuals and a volunteer in this office in Texas County.”
•Workforce Investment Act (Workforce Development Program): To consolidate, coordinate, and improve employment, training, literacy, and vocational rehabilitation programs in the U.S., and for other purposes. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) reformed federal employment, training, adult education and vocational rehabilitation programs by creating an integrated “one-stop” system of workforce investment and education services for adults, dislocated workers, and youth.
OAI spent more than $54,000 through this program on 19 people in Texas County.
•Head Start: Head Start is a national program that promotes “school-readiness” by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.
Almost $570,000 was spent on OAI’s Head Start program in Texas County, with 82 children served.
•Weatherization: The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) enables low-income families to permanently reduce their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient.
OAI spent close to $402,000 to weatherize 75 homes in Texas County (an average of about $5,356 per home).
Concerned individuals are welcome to contribute to Ozark Action Inc. through a variety of methods. OAI’S web address is www.oaiwp.org, and its phone number is 417-256-6147. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to Ozark Action Inc., 710 E. Main, West Plains, Mo., 65775.