Name: Camden County Council On Economic Opportunity
Address: 900 Haddon Ave Ste 225, Collingswood, NJ, 08108-2100, USA
Telephone: (856) 962-6911

Camden County OEO is a private, non-profit agency dedicated to serving and uplifting economically disadvantaged individuals and families in Camden County, New Jersey since 1965.

Profile: History of Camden County OEO

Early in 1964 then President Lyndon B. Johnson, in a message to Congress, proposed a massive War on Poverty in the United States. In August of that same year, the Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 which authorized and funded local agencies to fight the War on poverty.

It is that statute and its descendants that have allowed organizations throughout the country to assist thousands upon thousands of families to obtain education, training, jobs, homes, child care, food, clothing and the opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency. And these organizations and the people working in them have persevered during the years since the statute became law through good times and hard times.

Camden County Council On Economic Opportunity (OEO) is one of those organizations. Our organization, however, did not start as "Camden County OEO".

In 1965, the then mayor of Camden initiated a city program which was in operation for approximately a year and a half. During this time a council was formed and an administrator hired to guide activities of the fledgling organization. Staff was hired to research needs, organize neighborhoods and set up committees of residents to identify their own needs and desires and initiate programs to meet those needs.

Two programs were started: an in-school Neighborhood Youth Corps which provided training, job counseling and placement and support for youth; and a Summer Head Start Program that was administered by the Board of Education. From the beginning, a strong provision of the Act was the responsibility of the organization to include low-income residents in the planning and decision-making process.

For a number of reasons including new guidelines from the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity, the interest of state and county officials and difficulties in implementing the city program, it was decided that a private not-for-profit, county-wide agency would best serve the needs of the economically disadvantaged population. The ground work was completed: by-laws and mission statement written, budgets developed, space rented and staff hired.

On September 13, 1966, Camden County Council on Economic Opportunity was incorporated in the State of New Jersey as a Community Action Agency. Agencies founded as a result of the Economic Opportunity Act are, and have been, known as Anti-Poverty Agencies, Community Action agencies (CAAs) or more often Community Action Programs (CAPs).

What We Do

Our dual purpose is arranging for or providing material assistance that gives immediate relief to low-income persons in emergency circumstances. In addition, we provide programs and services to help clients achieve self-sufficiency.

How We Do It

Our Mission Statement is our action plan for uplifting low-income individuals and families in Camden County and providing programs and services to help them achieve self-sufficiency.

In the interest of the underprivileged, poor, handicapped, uneducated, unskilled, or otherwise disadvantaged persons, it is intended that through related efforts resources available from the federal, state and local sources be utilized in the making of a broad scale attack upon poverty with a view toward eliminating it as a destructive force on our society.

Camden County Council On Economic Opportunity

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