Community Action Organization of Western New York

Non-profit OrganizationsNew York, United States201-500 Employees

Community Action Organization of Western New York, (CAO) is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization based at 45 Jewett Avenue, Buffalo, NY.  The CAO is a community-based, citizen-driven organization founded in 1965 as part of our nation’s “war on poverty” and provides essential health & human services, educational and training programs to the poor, low-income citizens of Erie County, NY.  The CAO serves the community through their network of more than 50 locations throughout Erie County. Through this network, CAO runs more than 50 children and family, crisis and emergency, neighborhood, employment and training, housing and development, drug and community technology programs and services.  Our mission is to promote opportunities for low-income families and individuals to achieve and sustain self-sufficiency through advocacy, partnerships and services. 

Each year we help more than 21,000 individuals and 9,000 families gain access to programs or services that might otherwise have not been available. The CAO also operates four resource centers in the city of Buffalo; the JFK Community Center, the Edward Saunders Community Center, the Pratt-Willert Community Center and the CAO Alphonso “Rafi” Greene Jr. Masten Resource Center. In addition, we operate a community resource center in Angola, NY.  St. Martin Village, a 60 unit low-income housing complex at the site of what was once the German Roman Catholic Orphanage, is a recent addition to the CAO, and a community resource site which opened in 2012.  We also initiated the Home Improvement Resource Program (HIRP) in 2012 and to date have provided millions of dollars in home improvement and weatherization resources to the community. In 2016, we also expanded our Head Start program to include three sites located within Niagara County.

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