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A Part of America's Poverty-Fighting Network

Tri County Community Action has been helping people and changing lives throughout Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties for over 50 years. Offering a comprehensive approach to individual, family, and neighborhood success, Tri County Community Action provides a myriad of programming and initiatives around early childhood and family development; employment, education and financial empowerment; housing security; and community development - all to create strong families and thriving communities.

Tri County Community Action’s Promise is to care about the entire community and acknowledges that even today, structural inequities leave some behind. Tri County Community Action believes that lifting diversity, equity, and inclusion and standing against hate is core to combating those structural inequities, making all communities a better place to live.

  • Helping People, Changing Lives - it is what we do, and here's how we do it.

  • Read more about some of the lives that have been changed.

  • Invest in our community here!

  • PAT Program Participant
    PAT Program Participant

    I enjoy the [PAT] program because I get to connect with the people who work at Tri County Community Action and other parents.

Our Impact This Year

Everything we do is aimed at disrupting and permanently breaking the cycle of poverty for everyone living in our community. 

Did you know that right now, 51,419 of your neighbors, friends, co-workers, and family members are economically insecure? 

Last year, 38% of the people we helped were working and providing the sole source of income for their households - 63% were women, and 51% of households had children in the home. These were and are hard-working, caring, and productive members of our community - they are YOU - and we helped 17,624 of you stabilize, sustain, and take steps toward economic independence. 

November 30, 2020

Situational Poverty: Combating the Impact of COVID-19

byDanielle Krebs

Situational poverty has the power to affect anyone in the community. This kind of poverty is typically caused by an unexpected emergency or loss. This could be a serious illness, divorce, death, a vehicle breakdown, or a global pandemic.

We knew early on in the COVID-19 pandemic that it would be hitting families who were already struggling the most -- but what about families who were just getting by?

Meet Aram, Jessica, and their daughters, Maleah and Aramya (pictured left). 

Prior to COVID, their family had financial struggles, but they were able to make ends meet. Aram was the sole provider of his family working as a subcontractor for a hardware department store. Jessica stayed home to care for their two daughters. Maleah and Aramya both have medical conditions that allow the family to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Maleah, 13, has neurofibromas (NF1) and is autistic with an intellectual disability, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Aramya is 5 years old with a growth disability called Russell-Silver syndrome, which sometimes means Aramya needs to eat through a feeding tube.

When COVID began to impact the U.S., because of the nature of his work, Aram was laid off from his job. This meant that they now lost their main source of income. In addition to losing his income, Aram has another lingering stress -- keeping his family safe. Along with his two daughters, he himself is immune-compromised. This means that even if Aram can go back to work, he might not be able to for the safety of himself or his family because of COVID. 

Tri County Community Action's (TCCA) Self-Sufficiency Case Manager was able to put Aram and his family back on track by enrolling the family in SNAP benefits and connecting them with school lunch programs for the girls. TCCA also enrolled Aram in the OnTrack program. OnTrack is a special payment plan that offers reduced monthly payments, protection from shutoffs, and debt forgiveness. In addition, the young parents were able to gain 2 months of rent relief from the CARES Acts through TCCA’s connections. With the help from these programs, TCCA’s Case Manager was able to work with Aram and Jessica to pay off some debts -- allowing the family to have a buffer of credit if they need to go back to relying on credit cards. 

Situational poverty is usually temporary thanks to the social safety nets like TCCA and other programs the U.S. has in place. You can help families like Aram's escape from the grips of poverty by supporting TCCA through a tax deductible donation. Every donation received goes directly towards ending poverty, permanently!

If you lost your source of income due to COVID-19, contact the TCCA office near you and get connected to the services and solutions needed for a more sustainable future.

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