United Services Community Action Agency serving Jackson, Clay and Platte Counties in Missouri

Click here for income guidelines

Family Intake, Assessment & Referral (FIAR)
FIAR is the initial assessment used to determine eligibility for USCAA programs and services. The purpose of the FIAR system is to look at ALL of the potential needs of each family coming in for service--to explore beyond their presenting needs and address and underlying problems preventing long-term success. FIAR includes an outside referral system to other programs and services as well.

Missourians Building Assets (an IDA) program)
Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are special savings accounts for low-income people that enable them to attain a “lasting asset” (e.g., Home Ownership; Micro-Enterprise Development; Post-Secondary Education). Attainment of these "assets" has proven to enable families to make a permanent move out of poverty. Our program provides a 2:1 match for program participants (for every $1 a participant saves, MBA will match it with $2). Participants’ savings are eligible for match up to $2,000 (their $2,000 plus $4,000 of our match would give program participants a total of $6,000 toward the purchase of their asset.)

Work Experience
Skills and income are increased by placing participants at established job sites where their salaries are temporarily subsidized by USCAA. Each participant is supported by a case manager who works with them one-on-one, enabling them to overcome any barriers that may affect their employment.

Job Readiness
Targets unemployed and under-employed low-income people; includes a 12-hour class and a job referral component. Class participants also have the opportunity to perform job searches via the Internet.

Job Fairs
Employers in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties are invited to meet low-income people in need of immediate employment at several Job Fairs held throughout the year.

Life Skills Class
Workshops with an educational focus on various topics, including: Character Development, Stress and Income Management, Nutrition, Dressing for Success, Youth and Infant Developmental Stages, Child Support Issues, etc.

Family Support Project (Case Management)
Intensive, long-term case management focusing on the goals of stable housing, increased education and meaningful employment. Case Managers work one-on-one with participants to help them reach lasting self-sufficiency.

Back-to-School Fairs
These “fairs” provide school supplies, community resource education, health services and FUN to low-income children and their families.

Emergency Assistance Programs
USCAA has numerous funds that will assist with utilities, housing, clothing and emergency food needs.

Supportive Housing
USCAA focuses on encouraging self-sufficiency by subsidizing a family's housing payment for up to 2 years. Our amount gradually decreases as the family demonstrates increased self-sufficiency, while a case manager works one-on-one with the family offering continual support. The case manager coaches the family through this transitional-to-permanent housing
program, assuring them of their ability to work toward long-lasting success.

Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS)
CAPS is a walk in another person’s shoes. It’s about shared experiences, making connections. One day in poverty can lead to a lifetime dedicated to fighting against it.

During the simulation participants role play the lives of low-income families dealing with unemployment, disability, financial hardship, and other difficulties associated with life below the poverty line. Participants must try to provide food, clothing, shelter and other basic needs for themselves and their “families” during four 15-minute “weeks”. Each family interacts with a mock community composed of volunteers who have experienced poverty and represent various community figures.

Although everyone involved is playing a role with fictional scenarios and props, the Poverty Simulation is not a game. It is instead a recreation of life in poverty that gives participants a new perspective on low-income living, as well as giving them a chance to reflect on their experience and discuss what they can do to effect change within their community. The focus is sensitizing people outside of poverty to the needs and struggles of those within its grasp, with an emphasis on broadening awareness awareness among policy-makers and community leaders.

If you and your business, organization, or community group would like to be equipped to effect change in your area by taking part in a Poverty Simulation, contact Josh Hill at 816-358-6868, ext. 223, to find out more.

Holiday Programs
Low-income families often feel a sense of dread rather than joy when holidays roll around. Parents know they cannot afford the “extras” the holidays seem to require for their children and low-income children feel even more acutely their “differences” from better-off peers. USCAA has responded by developing several Holiday Programs to supplement these families’ holiday needs, taking the pressure off during times that should be filled with celebration rather than anxiety.

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INCOME GUIDELINES —

Many of the programs offered by USCAA use these Income Guidelines as one of the criteria to determine eligibility for programs. Please be aware, however, that some of our programs are available for households with income higher than the amounts shown in these guidelines. Please contact your nearest Outreach office for more information on our program requirements.

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