She found her options limited. That is, until she found the Head Start program, which, she says, gave the family just the push and the stability it needed.
“My children have done really well," says Wilson, now assistant director of Multicultural Student Affairs at Texas State University-San Marcos. “All three of my children went to college because they did have that Head Start."
Wilson will be among six panelists who will discuss the history and future of social services in San Marcos and Hays County on Thursday during observances marking the 40th anniversary of Community Action Agency, Inc.
She will be able to speak from the heart, not only about Head Start, which provides educational and health services to young children, but also other CAA services she says were crucial to her family's survival.
“I would not be where I am had I not had CAA in my life - it sounds sappy but it's true," Wilson said. “It was very vital that Community Action was there if I needed to take my child to the doctor, and they were there for me when I didn't have enough money to pay the light bill."
Like untold others who find their financial futures shattered, Wilson didn't choose her situation but found it thrust on her. Because of CAA, she said she was able to turn her family's life around.
“There are people out there, if given the opportunity and resources, who could do the same thing, probably even better. There are so many that would love to do the things I've done - going to school and becoming a productive citizen."
Wilson's “success story" is but one of many programs CAA has helped come true over the past four decades, said the agency's director Corina Jaimes. “We don't present ourselves as an agency providing a handout," Jaimes said, but rather, one that can use its own flexibility and the diversity of local resources to help struggling families and individuals get over the financial hump.
“We work with the family as a whole," Jaimes said. “So many families are low-income but working. Their jobs pay at a low rate and many are part-time, and many are without benefits. They are struggling to better themselves," she said, despite setbacks like lack of transportation and health insurance.
Not that it's easy for the agency and its staff. James said that the agency is currently serving 33 percent more families than last year despite a 3.5 percent overall decrease in funding.
As federal funds continue to shrink, it's getting harder to recoup with state money - for FY 2006, state funds for family planning and maternal and child health will be about $29 million statewide, compared to $44 million available this fiscal year.
Jaimes said given those financial realities, CAA copes by doing what it does best - seeking out and partnering with other agencies or other community resources.
Locally, those resources include public school districts, the university, other organizations and medical providers like physicians and dentists.
CAA, and other agencies like it, were a direct outgrowth of the “Great Society" envisioned by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who also declared the War on Poverty. Central Texans were among the first to benefit, as Hays, Caldwell and Blanco counties fell under the jurisdiction of CAA, Inc. when it was officially launched Oct. 1, 1965.
The fledgling agency submitted its first grant request - $20,327.89 for program development - two months after that. Today, it is a $10 million agency that employs more than 200 employees and also administers programs in Burnet, Bastrop, Williamson, Llano, Lee, Fayette and Gonzales counties.
Celebrations of its 40th anniversary will start with staff recognition, Jaimes said. The panel discussion, set for 4 p.m. at the San Marcos Activity Center, is open to the public.
Along with Wilson, panel members will be Celestino Mendez, one of CAA's charter officers; Ophelia Vasquez-Philo, its previous director; Adell Hurst, who for years ran the Family Planning component; Lillie Belle Townsend, former Head Start director; and Ray Kotowski, current vice chairman.
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