‘Community Action Month’ proclaimed in Abbeville

Mark Piazza, Mayor of Abbeville, and Roslyn White, Mayor-elect of Abbeville, proclaimed May as "Community Action Month" in Vermilion Parish, “in recognition of the hard work and dedication of the leaders and staff of the ASSIST Agency.”
Piazza accepted the parish-wide proclamation recently with representatives of the ASSIST Agency on hand, including Sharon Clement, Executive Director; Kercia Huntly, ESC II; Kellie Rankin, ESC I: Mardessa Poydras, Personnel Officer; Dwight Alexander, Housing Director; and Anita Levy, ASSIST Board Member.
In the proclamation, ASSIST points out that Community Action connects individuals and families to approaches that help them succeed and promote community-wide solutions to challenges throughout cities, suburbs, and rural areas. "The ASSIST Agency has a 50-plus year history of promoting self-sufficiency by advocating for those who don't have a voice so that they may enter the middle class and reach for the American dream, replacing their despair with opportunity; the proclamation states. Statistics have proven that Community Action agencies such as the ASSIST Agency serve 99% of American counties in rural, suburban, and rural communities. They offer life-changing services that create pathways to prosperity—connecting families to job training, affordable housing, and utility assistance for seniors promoting community-wide solutions, and sharing expertise. "Community Action will continue to implement innovative programs that create a greater chance at success for everyone. We will continue to focus on a broader range of community challenges to ignite economic growth and ensure that all families can benefit. We will continue to be a voice for the disenfranchised," ASSIST’s proclamation states.