THE AGENDA: What exactly does CAPSAW do?

Akhil Ganesh, Staunton News Leader
·4 min read

Most of the time, The Agenda is for highlighting something important coming up in government meetings. Other times, The Agenda is for understanding the different parts of local government, and the forms it can take.

Today, we learn about the Community Action Partnership of Staunton, Augusta, and Waynesboro (CAPSAW). This week's meeting has been cancelled according to director Anna Leavitt, but the organization has plenty on its plate in the coming months.

At its core, CAPSAW is an organization working towards anti-poverty solutions. It's regional, so membership on the board comes from all three localities involved. Membership includes elected officials, community leaders, and private business owners.

"That’s kind of a broad category but really focused on how we can help our residents achieve their own goals for improvement in condition, opportunity, and hopefully leading towards more sustainability," Leavitt said. CAPSAW primarily reaches those goals through funding local programs and services, with two distinct categories.

  • Consolidated funding pool: A competitive grant process with rigid expectations and outcome goals that are decided by the board. The process to get into this pool occurs every two years, and the funding comes from federal, state, and local sources. Programs and services funded through this pool are provided to eligible families with income at or below 125% of the federal poverty line in most cases.

  • Community support grants: These grants are for less than $2,000, and are typically awarded for objects and services not eligible for consolidated funding pool dollars. This funding is from local sources, which have less stringent requirements around them as compared to state and federal dollars.

In the past, CAPSAW has provided funding to Valley Children's Advocacy Center, Valley Mission, Valley Hope Counseling, the Boys and Girls Club, and the YMCA. The group also works closely with other community funders like the Community Foundation, United Way, and Augusta Health to help identify trends as well as specific areas agencies may need support on.

Currently, Leavitt said CAPSAW was working through a digital equity needs assessment for the Virginia Department of Housing, in large part due to the organization's experience in conducting a community needs assessment. Those assessments must take place every three years according to the state. The last one was in 2021.

“Any day now, we’re going to start the process," Leavitt said. That entails setting up community meetings to discuss specific topics with residents, surveys, and conversations with community leaders.

This week's meeting was cancelled due to a lack of items on the agenda, but Leavitt said that the organization typically doesn't hold their July meeting due to the fiscal year change.

“I’m still collecting a lot of information and data to report back out to the board," Leavitt

The key for CAPSAW, according to Leavitt, is the focus on accountability and access to these funds, particularly those from local sources. In the past, Leavitt said that your best hope for accessing the funds was to write a letter to your local government and hope they responded.

“CAPSAW is really an attempt for more equitable access to those locality funds," Leavitt said, adding, "It does provide more access, more clear guidelines for how those funds awarded, but it does come with a lot of red tape.”

Tuesday, July 18

  • Headwaters Soil and Conservation District, 10 a.m.

  • Waynesboro Planning Commission, 7 p.m. - Thomas Builders is looking to build a multi-family residential complex on Town Center Drive in Waynesboro, but first must get an amendment to city law which restricts the number of residential units in nonresidential districts. That amendment, along with the conditional use permit for the development, will be under consideration for the planning commission.

Wednesday, July 19

  • Augusta County Parks and Recreation Commission, 7 p.m.

Thursday, July 20

  • Augusta County Economic Development Authority, 11 a.m.

  • Augusta County Service Authority (Augusta Water), 1:30 p.m.

  • Staunton Public Library Advisory Board, 4:30 p.m.

  • Staunton Planning Commission, 5:30 p.m. - The planning will host four public hearings at their regular meeting, including one to allow living/sleeping quarters on the ground floor and basement of the Arcadia Building and one to amend the zoning chapter of Staunton city code to reflect updated guidelines for Staunton's historic districts.

Monday, July 24

  • Waynesboro Electoral Board, 9 a.m.

  • Augusta County Board of Supervisors staff briefing, 1:30 p.m.

  • Waynesboro City Council, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, July 25

  • Joint Meeting - Department of Social Services, 8:45 a.m.

  • Shenandoah Valley Animal Services Center Owners, 2 p.m.

  • Staunton Historic Preservation Commission, 5:30 p.m.

  • Augusta County Emergency Services Officers Association, 7 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: THE AGENDA: What exactly does CAPSAW do?