Our Mission: To empower, engage, and cultivate community action, creating innovative and effective solutions to end poverty!
Empower
Here at SCCAP, we believe that families are incredibly capable, they just need time and space to develop a future story and then, with appropriate support and people who can reflect their strengths back to them, families can build a new life!
Engage
The truth is, we can't do this work alone. It's too big, multi-faceted and far too important to do alone. We need you! We need your creative thinking, your strength, compassion, and wisdom. You might be the next chapter in someones life and together we can accomplish so much more!
End Poverty
We all win when everyone reaches their potential. Families thrive and our communities become vibrant. Crime decreases, the tax base increases, and funding can be spent on community development instead of the criminal justice system. Together we can change systems and help families break the cycle of poverty!
SCCAP Values
Respect Is Essential
No one changes because a stranger tells them they need to change. But when you care about someone and there is mutual respect, you have a better chance of hearing one another, seeing one another’s perspective, and believing that they know where you are coming from and have your best interest at heart. Whether you are a family coming in for services or a co-worker in the organization, respect is essential to building effective relationships that support change.
Hope Inspires Change
When we don't have a future story - a "to-be state" there is nothing to motivate us to change. For many people, the difficulties of life have made them think there is no opportunity for a better life. One of the families we serve said, "This is the life I was given, the hand I was dealt and it's not going to get any better."
In order to help someone take the monumental effort to change their life, they have to believe it can happen. We want every person who comes through our doors to feel like they matter, and to see what could be - because hope inspires change!
Integrity Creates Trust
Trust is the foundation of any relationship. Whether it is with the donors who graciously entrust us with funds to do the work, or volunteers who generously invest their time to help us serve families, or the families that come to us and open their lives sharing their vulnerabilities, without a culture of integrity those relationships would be at risk. We don't take that lightly.
SCCAP underwent the rigorous PANO Standards for Excellence accreditation process to ensure our processes, systems, and culture were examined. reviewed by PANO, reviewed by peer reviewers and then finally reviewed by the Statewide Standards for Excellence team. This process, though arduous, was incredibly beneficial as an organizational reflective and strategic process. It allows us to show our commitment to being an organization that is open, transparent and of high integrity. That commitment allows us to establish trust with out donors, partners, funders and the families we serve.
Every Person Is Valuable
You matter! Your story matters! And you are the expert on your life. Many of us have been doing this work for a long time and we are struck by "the story" behind the individual who is in our office. Families are far more than the person coming to us to get some form of guidance or assistance. They have a vast amount of life experience and, in almost all cases, have weathered incredibly difficult storms in their lives. They are fighters, survivors, and incredible problem solvers!
In order to get help, people have to frequently present the most difficult or problematic parts of their life. And if we in the social service world are not careful, we can inadvertently reflect that back to them and imply that this is all someone is. When you hear the stories, the magnificent, sometimes crushingly painful stories, you see the overcomer, the hero, and heroine hiding underneath. That is what we reflect back - the value of the person before us!
Diversity Builds Strength
We often believe that others see the world as we do - that our answers will work for others. But the truth is that our story drives how we see the world. When we have people with vastly different experiences working to create solutions and invest in ways to help people achieve success, we better our chances of finding solutions that will really work - for lots of people.
It's exciting (and a little messy) to be at an event where diversity of class, race, positions, perspectives and beliefs can be respectfully voiced and heard. We frequently learn something we had never thought about or gain a perspective we had never seen before. And if we get more comfortable with differences and see the amazing value that diversity brings to the table, we can effect real, lasting change and build stronger, more resilient communities!
Working Together Achieves Solutions
Here at SCCAP, this is not only a value but one of our cultural norms. We believe that working together creates more effective, longer lasting solutions. We believe we should "do with". We do this work "with" families not "for" or "to" them. We work "with" community partners instead of competing with them.
There is not enough time, money, or energy to do it any other way. This is true internally among SCCAP staff and programs, as well as, externally with community partners and volunteers. Working together achieves more!