Lima / Allen Council on Community Affairs

Lima Allen Council on Community Affairs (LACCA) was founded in 1993 as a result of the collapse of the former community action program serving Allen County. After nearly three years of effort by the United Way of Greater Lima, the Black Ministerial Alliance, Lima Mayor David Berger and the Allen County Commissioners, LACCA was designated as the community action agency for Allen County, Ohio, on February 1, 1994.
Upon opening, LACCA operated two emergency assistance programs, the local Federal Emergency Management Assistance and the Home Energy Assistance Program, with four employees and a budget of $345,000.00. September 12, 1994 a Microenterprise Coordinator was hired and the Allen/Lima Enterprise Assistance Program became the first program created by the new Community Action Agency.
Thirteen years later with an operating budget of over $6.3 million dollars and 115 employees, LACCA offers seventeen programs. LACCA has an annually revised Strategic Plan that focuses on meeting the needs of the community. As community needs change – our plans change – LACCA is – “On the Move”.
With pride and excellence, LACCA provides programming to enhance the successfulness of low to moderate-income citizens to achieve self-sufficiency.
LACCA programming includes: HEAP, Microenterprise, FEMA/EFSP, Homeownership/Down payment Assistance, Fair Housing and Mediation, RISE, Community Technology Center, Head Start, Early Head Start, Oral Health Care, Child Care, Early Learning Initiative, Kids In Need of Dads, Rx/AIM Prescription Assistance, Child Assault Prevention, Bullying Prevention and Partnership for Violence Free Families.
LACCA has a proven track record for thirteen years with clean single agency wide audits. In 1998, the Chamber of Commerce named LACCA Allen County’s first “Non-profit Business of the Year”. We are known throughout the community as an organization of integrity that is a leader in collaboration, partnering and advocating for low-income families. A hallmark of our organization is our ability to collaborate with a wide variety of community agencies. We are particularly proud of the diversity of our staff, more than half of who are former Head Start parents or clients of the agency. We have also been awarded several Best Practice Awards from The Ohio State University’s John Glenn Institute for Public Policy and Public Service. This award is presented to non-profit agencies for innovative efforts to help low income people make life-changing differences and to become more self-sufficient. In 2006 the Ohio Association of Non-profit Organization recognized LACCA by presenting them an award for the agency’s efforts as a central point of contact for Katrina evacuees. LACCA received a safety award from the West Central Ohio Safety Council in April 2006.
Lima Allen Council on Community Affairs receives funding from federal, state and local entities as well as donations, client fees and foundations. Major funding sources include, but are not limited to: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Department of Development, City of Lima, Anthem Foundation of Ohio, Allen County Department of Job and Family Services, Allen County Commissioners, and Ohio Department of Health.