KCEOC celebrates 50 years of service to the area

The “War on Poverty” is a national issue, but the local solution, the Kentucky Communities Economic Opportunities Council KCEOC Community Action Partnership has been working to fight the battle in Knox County and other areas of eastern Kentucky.

Friday night, KCEOC representatives came together with members of the community and other partners in the fight to celebrate the organization’s 50 years of service in one of the poorest areas in the country.

“We were put together to let the local people decide the programs they needed to help move people out of poverty,” said Paul Dole the KCEOC President. “Not to give away stuff but to get them so they can move themselves out of poverty.”

Dole noted since 1964, the poverty rate in the Appalachian region of Kentucky has been cut almost in half from in excess of 60 percent to approximately 30 percent.

“We have survived 50 years mainly through community spirit,” Dole said

KCEOC offers a variety of programs to help shape the region and the people in the region including: early childhood development, job training, economic development and emergency services.

Dole, who has been KCEOC president for 34 years and employed by KCEOC for 40 years, said it has been an up-and-down battle, noting that each new presidential administration has initiated action to shut down the community action partnerships, but somehow the organizations remain.

“Here we are today celebrating 50 years of helping people and changing lives,” Dole said, noting 8,000 people received assistance from KCEOC in 2013.

“From a simple grant of $28,000 to becoming an agency recognized nationwide as a leader in the fight against poverty,” Dole said.   

Community Action Partnership CEO Denise Harlow marveled at how far KCEOC has come since it was created when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Economic Opportunities Act in 1964.

Harlow said the community action program is a model for what can happen when federal money is combined with local decision-making.

“We care about what people think and what they need,” Harlow said of what makes the community action partnership so successful.

Harlow added the growth in the number of community action agencies is a tribute to their success.

“Today there are over 1,000 community action agencies across the country,” Harlow said. “They are as diverse as our country is.”

Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, R-Ky., had been scheduled to speak at the event, but was forced to cancel because Congress is in session working on an appropriations bill.

However, Rogers’ field representative, Carlos Cameron, was there and presented Dole with a framed copy of Rogers remarks before they were made via video.

Rogers congratulated KCEOC for raising the bar, high in the effort to lift more people out of poverty by giving them access to child development, food resources, affordable housing and assistance with financial needs.

In addition, KCEOC has partnered in economic development to bring companies such as Xerox to the area.

“You serve as great ambassadors for eastern Kentucky. Proving that we have a strong, dedicated workforce and an intricate support community that believes in helping one another succeed,” Rogers said. We certainly wouldn’t be where we are today without the foundation that this agency has carefully crafted.