A Community Action Agency
About CEO
• CEO was founded in 1965 as the Community Action
Agency serving Rensselaer County
• CEO’s mission is to preserve and advance the selfsufficiency, well being and growth of individuals,
children and families through education, guidance
and resources
• CEO offers over 25 unique programs and services
aimed at moving people out of poverty and
toward self-sufficiency
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Community Services
Programs
 Career Development Services
 Emergency Services
 Family and Children’s Services
 Financial Resource Center
 Food Pantry
 Foster Grandparent Program
 Transport-a-Hero Program
 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
Career Development
Services
• Assists employees in obtaining employment or
career advancement
• Offers education and soft-skill development
• Provides resume and cover letter assistance
• Teaches proper interview techniques
• Connects customers with job skills training
Emergency Services
• Offers emergency and short-term case
management services
• Provides advocacy, linkage and referrals with the
purpose of averting crisis and stabilizing emergency
situations
• Seeks to identify resources for a long-term solutions
Family and Children’s Services
• Provides comprehensive, confidential counseling
services for individuals, children, families and groups
• Supports the Head Start and Early Head Start
programs, as well as the general uninsured public
• Counseling topics may include such issues as
anxiety, depression, relationships, children, family
violence, parenting, financial stability and life
transitions
Financial Resource Center
• Provides financial literacy education
• Offers linkage and access to banking services and
financial institutions
• Helps customers access credit reports and develop
a credit repair plan
• Provides linkage to Career Development Services
Food Pantry
• Provides a 3-day supply of nutritious food up to
twice monthly for each individual in the
household
• Provides information about resources and
referrals
• Holiday Programs
o Thanksgiving Food Baskets
o Christmas Food Baskets
Foster Grandparent
Program
• Provides at-risk children with an additional support
and adult in their life
• Provides a small stipend which helps low income
seniors make ends meet
• Keeps seniors involved and connected to their
community by offering a position where they can
be of value
Transport a Hero Program
• Enhance the accessibility of services provided to
Rensselaer County Veteran, active or reserve
military service men and women.
Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) Program
• Offers free tax preparation services to low- to
moderate-income individuals and families.
• The VITA program helps working families access the
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and many other
credits.
EARLY CHILDHOOD SERVICES
Early Childhood Services
Programs
 Head Start and Early Head Start
 Babies in Waiting and Fatherhood Initiative
 Universal Pre-K
 Stepping Stones II Early Learning Center
Head Start and
Early Head Start
• Comprehensive child development program that
focuses on the child and the family to minimize the
educational disparities caused by poverty
• Positively impacts children’s cognitive, language, and
social emotional development
• Improves school readiness
• Provides nutrition and health education
• Improves parenting skills
• Head Start: Children ages 3-5 years
• Early Head Start: Children ages 6 weeks to 3 years
Babies in Waiting and
Fatherhood Initiative
• Babies in Waiting
o Assists eligible pregnant women with pre-natal and
childbirth classes, family consultations
o Component of Early Head Start program
• Fatherhood Initiative
o Encourages fathers to be more aware of and involved
in their child’s life and education
o Available to families in Head Start and Early Head Start
Universal Pre-K
• Comprehensive school readiness program to
prepare children to be successful in Kindergarten
• Collaborations with Troy, Lansingburgh, Hoosick
Falls, Hoosic Valley and Cambridge School Districts
Stepping Stones II Early
Learning Center
• Childcare services for children ages
6 weeks to 5 years
• Provides a warm, relaxed, "extended family"
atmosphere - a home away from home
• Reasonably priced; breakfast, lunch and snacks are
included
YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES
Youth and Family
Services Programs
 21st Century Community Learning Center
 Family Support Services
 Teenage Opportunity Program
 Transitional Student Support
 Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
 WIC Vendor Management
 YouthBuild
21st Century Program
o An after-school (and summer) program that assists
students with:
o Being more successful in school
o Improving their standardized testing scores for
English Language Arts and Math
o Increasing school attendance
o Decreasing the number of behavioral incident
reports
Family Support Services
• Provides support and advocacy services to families
of children experiencing on-going emotional,
behavioral, and social difficulties
• Services may include: individual advocacy, system
advocacy, supports, education, resources, and
referrals
Teenage Opportunity
Program
• Provides individualized case management,
advocacy and referrals to youth ages 10-22
• Works with youth to identify goals and means to
achieve goals to make positive changes in their
lives and become self-sufficient
Transitional Student
Support
• Provides homeless students with case
management, advocacy, and referral services
• Aims to increase awareness of homeless students’
rights
• Aims to ensure schools provide services to homeless
students
• Assists families to meet immediate needs and
secure housing
Women, Infants and
Children (WIC)
• Provides nutrition education, breastfeeding
education and support, healthy food, and infant
formula
• Facilitates peer counseling to expectant and
postpartum omen during pregnancy and early days
of breastfeeding
• Implements facilitated customer led discussion
groups
WIC Vendor Management
• Ensures that all participating WIC vendors have
adequate food and infant formula available in
stock and fairly priced.
• Provides training and monitoring of all stores in a 20
County area
• Currently monitors over 250 stores
YouthBuild
• Provides education, occupational skills training and
leadership development to youth ages 16-24 who
were unsuccessful in traditional school settings
• Youth perform community service and contribute to
the construction of housing for low-income families
• Assists youth in obtaining employment or enrolling in
secondary education
HOUSING SERVICES
Housing Services
Programs
 EmPower NY
 Weatherization Assistance Program
 Weathertite
EmPower NY program
• Focuses on cost effective electric reduction
measures
• Assists income eligible clients reduce energy use
Weatherization Assistance
Program
• Performs measures to increase the energy
efficiency of homes
• Assists income-eligible customers by reducing their
heating and cooling costs
• Improve the health and safety of the home through
energy efficiency measures
Weathertite
• A fee-based weatherization program
• Provides weatherization services at reasonable
costs the general public who are ineligible for the
Weatherization Assistance Program