Serving 14 Counties

Western South Dakota Community Action Agency (WSDCAA) was incorporated in 1965 as 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for the purpose of conducting the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity’s War on Poverty in Rapid City, SD. The agency soon expanded to serve all of Pennington County, and since then has incorporated an additional 14 counties, including Bennett, Butte, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Fall River, Haakon, Harding, Jackson, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, Perkins and Ziebach, all in the western half of the state, into its service area. Members of the low-income, government and civic sectors from each of these counties are represented on the Agency Board of Directors. In addition, staff collaborate with the Oglala Sioux Tribe, which provides community-based services to persons in Shannon County.
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In aggregate, these counties are comprised of 29,741 square miles, nearly 50 percent of the State’s land base. They have a total population of 184,530 of which 26,469 is low-income. To serve this widely dispersed low-income population, the Agency has organized and nurtured a network of 14 low-income volunteer organizations comprised of over 200 volunteers. Most of these local organizations have been in existence for over 20 years. Under contract with the administrative office in Rapid City, these organizations deliver goods and services to the low-income populations in their counties on a totally volunteer basis. These goods and services are intended to address the ‘needs gap’ in the budgets of low-income households, which, for a minimum wage household of three, can mean an annual budget deficit (exclusive of the cost of health insurance) of a minimum of $4,000. In this manner, over 12,000 low-income people, or about 45 percent of the poverty population in the service area, is annually assisted in reducing, although not eliminating, their budget shortfalls.