Hampton Roads Community Action Program

The Hampton Roads Community Action Program, formerly known as the Office of Human Affairs, was founded in 1966 as the Newport News Office of Economic Opportunity as a direct result of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. As the 501(c)(3) Community Action Agency, first for Newport News and later expanding into Hampton, HRCAP has worked for over 50 years to promote the self-sufficiency of the low-income residents living in our service area and ameliorate the brutal impact of poverty on the lives of their children. Starting with a handful of initiatives (Medicare Alert, Neighborhood Youth Core, Head Start) HRCAP grew in the 70’s and 80’s to include an ever expanding range of services to low-income residents. Shifts in federal, state and local funding priorities often threatened the agency, an occasionally resulted in the reduction or elimination of programs, but HRCAP persevered and continues to offer a wide range of needed services to the community. The Hampton Roads Community Action Program's mission is “to plan, develop and implement programs that foster self-sufficiency through educational, social, physical and economic development.” The agency operates over 20 programs designed to fulfill that mission within the community. Programs include early childhood education (Head Start, Four-Year-Old Initiative); housing (Fair Housing, Housing Counseling); counseling for pregnant teens (Teen Moms Support Program); assistance to the homeless (Clean Comfort); nutrition services (Summer Lunch); emergency assistance (Emergency Food and Shelter); affordable housing and community development (Peninsula Community Development Corporation) and more.