True freedom isn’t attainable without economic freedom. This was the central theme of the 2024 North Carolina Community Action Association’s annual convention held at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino last week.
The event, which celebrated NCCAA’s 60th anniversary, was held over several days and included trainings, break-out sessions, various speakers, and of course, celebration.
Community Action was created on the heels of a March 1964 message to congress from President Lyndon Johnson during which he urged the body to pass his Economic Opportunity Act. Ultimately, the act created the Office of Economic Opportunity, including the creation of Community Action Agencies (CAAs) to “strike poverty at its source — in the streets of our cities and on the farms of our countryside.”
While the event celebrated community action organizations around the state and was well attended by folks from the Charlotte area and the Triangle, Western North Carolina often took center stage, especially considering the group’s board president is Patsy Davis of Mountain Projects, an organization that serves Haywood and Jackson counties.