What brings you here?
We are here and ready to help, from housing assistance to nutrition and education - because we recognize that everyone needs a hand at some point.
Our one-of-a-kind programs assist local low-income Oregonians of every age, at every stage, helping them lead healthier, happier lives.
Our Brand Story
Learn more about how we combine a spectrum of innovative programs to help our neighbors in need.
Who We Are
We are a tight-knit network of professional staff and volunteers united around the urgent need to help our neighbors. We believe everyone deserves dignity, a positive future, and a life without poverty.
From our Salem headquarters, we primarily lead programs throughout Marion and Polk counties, including rural communities.
What We Do
Poverty has many symptoms. To address this, we have designed a spectrum of breakthrough programs that help low-income people move from instability to self-sufficiency. Brought together, these services benefit the individual and our society by solving poverty’s root causes.
Why it Matters
These problems affect everyone. Elderly people, young children, at-risk youth, and adults of every age struggle to escape poverty. Despite their best efforts, they simply can’t get ahead. Our programs help them meet immediate needs and provide pathways to a better life.
Poverty in Marion & Polk Counties
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25% of Marion County children, and 17% of Polk County children live in poverty.
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17% of all Marion County residents, and 16% of Polk County residents live in poverty.
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What is poverty? It is defined as households living on an income that is half or less than the Area Median Income. For Marion County, that income was $56,354 in 2017.
A Message from our Board of Directors
The Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency acknowledges that in 2020 our Country and State are in a moment of reckoning over our collective racist history and racist present, a reality that initially treated Black lives and bodies as property and then as a fraction of a person, that Oregon’s Constitution literally excluded Black persons from existing in Oregon, that Black Americans in the United States and in Oregon have been and continue to be negatively impacted by laws and policies that result in disproportionate access to healthcare, housing, employment, and education and disproportionate rates of poverty, incarceration, and illness.
Thereby, in line with the Vision of MWVCAA that all people are respected for their infinite worth and are supported to envision and reach a positive future, the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency recognizes unequivocally that Black Lives Matter.
