Roanoke, VA

United States

24001

Director of Housing & Human Services @ TAP

TAP _Total Action for Progress otal Action for Progress (TAP) is a community action agency that serves eleven localities in the Roanoke Valley and adjacent communities: the counties of Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt, Craig, Roanoke, and Rockbridge, and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington, Lexington, Roanoke, and Salem. A community action agency is an anti-poverty organization that was originally enabled by the Equal Opportunity Act of 1964. Most community action agencies, including TAP, are private, non-profit corporations run by a community-based Board of Directors. TAP is not a federal agency. All of the normal stresses that threaten the stability and security of every family are greatly magnified for low-income families who may find it difficult to get by, especially in emergencies like loss of a job, eviction, illness, or a family member is incarcerated. Community action is about getting people involved in their own lives and enabling them to help themselves – not about fixing things for now or providing hand-outs. Because people can’t begin to solve their long-range problems of poverty until their immediate physical needs have been met, all of TAP’s programs give priority to helping either directly or by referral to other local agencies and resources. TAP offers direct services, working with individuals and families, to help them overcome their problems and improve their lives. Our goal is to help them assert themselves as advocates for their own needs.

I am passionate about teaching others to do no further harm to the survivors who have already suffered many forms of trauma in their lives. I am on a personal journey to help change our community and ensure a better experience for those we seek care, justice and healing.

Roanoke Valley TICN Steering Committee and TICN educator