The St. Mary-Vermilion Community Action Agency, Inc. (St. Mary-Vermilion CAA) is a 501c (3) tax exempt, human service organization that has been in existence since 1967. This agency has effectively served as a non-profit vehicle for delivering quality human services to minority and economically underprivileged residents of St. Mary Parish since its inception, and Vermilion Parish, since 2000. Both St. Mary and Vermilion Parishes are rural geographic areas with a combined population of nearly 110,000 residents.
St. Mary-Vermilion CAA operates 42 human and social service programs in the areas of childcare, family services, housing, youth development, economic development, and transportation in its capacity, throughout the geographic service areas, under the legal and fiduciary realm of a 21-member board of directors. The board membership is reflective of the communities’ private sector, public sector, and target sector. Mrs. Almetra J. Franklin, Chief Executive Officer/Head Start Administrator and six Senior Program Managers direct administration of the agency. St. Mary Community Action Agency employs 205 full-time employees, 25 part-time employees, and 25 contractors.
St. Mary Community Action Agency operates 15 Head Start centers, 2 Neighborhood Service Centers, a Housing branch site, a JAG/Youth Development site, a 32 unit housing development complex, a 15 multi-family housing subdivision, 7 elderly single living units, an emergency shelter, a home improvement training lab, one Central Office site, and one extended central office site.