by Peter Bodley
Managing editor

The Anoka County Community Action Program (ACCAP) has grown since it was launched in 1965, but its mission has not changed.

The program celebrated its 40th anniversary May 20 at the Courtyards of Andover with special guests Attorney General Mike Hatch and former Gov. Al Quie.

According to Patrick McFarland, ACCAP has expanded its operations significantly and diversified over its 40-year history.

But its mission remains to help the disadvantaged citizens of Anoka County become self-sufficient, help seniors live in their homes as long as they can and assist low income residents achieve their dreams, McFarland said.

"There have been changes, but our mission is the same as when we started in 1965," he said.

The agency is committed to helping individuals out of poverty and into the community as productive citizens, according to McFarland.

ACCAP began life in 1965 as the Anoka County Council of Economic Opportunity. The name was changed to the Anoka County Community Action Program in the early 1970s.

McFarland came to ACCAP in 1973 as a community organizer and became its executive director in 1978.

"Over the years, the management and operation have become much more sophisticated," McFarland said.

In his years at ACCAP, McFarland has seen employees grow from 30 to 200 and the budget jump from $2 million to $22 million a year.

Through its many programs, ACCAP is seeing 25,000 people compared with 200 people in its early years, McFarland said.

And its funding sources have expanded from three or four to 110, including public - the community action program contracts with government agencies, including Anoka County, the state and federal governments to deliver services - and from many private sources, he said.

"We are a United Way agency and very diversified," McFarland said.

To get it started in 1965, the then-Anoka County Council of Economic Opportunity received a $38,459 grant from the federal Office of Economic Opportu- nity.

That first year, the agency's total funding was $91,350 and it had four programs - administration, summer Head Start, Medicare alert to tell senior citizens about a new federal program called Medicare and "Operation Pickle," which gave some low income residents the chance to grow cucumbers for the Gedney Corporation.

Those early years were tough for the community action agency and McFarland recalled that when he started in 1973, there were doubts whether it would survive.

That was because a dispute between then-President Richard Nixon and Congress threatened to eliminate community action agencies.

But community action agencies like Anoka County survived and thrived in no small measure to the efforts at that time in Congress by Quie, then a Republican Congressman from Minnesota.

According to McFarland, Quie worked with Democrats in the House to fashion legislation that kept community action agencies intact.

And when Quie was Minn- esota governor, community action agencies received more support than they have from previous and prior administrations, except when Arne Carlson was governor, McFarland said.

Even though ACCAP continues to grow, challenges remain, principally as a result of state government cutbacks, he said.

There have been cuts in state child care subsidies and more are expected this year, making it very difficult for community action program clients to find affordable day care while they work, McFarland said.

And if Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to scale back MinnesotaCare by some 30,000 people becomes law, then McFarland fears that those people cut from the program will quit their jobs and go on General Assistance so they get their health care paid for by the government, he said.

"That will result in cost shifts," McFarland said.

The agency's myriad of programs include year-round Head Start, home ownership workshops, Child Care Resource and Referral, Senior Information Line, affordable housing construction, energy assistance program, child care assistance program, weatherization program, crisis assistance, housing rehabilitation, Handy Works, Senior Companion and senior outreach.

"We offer cradle to grave programs," McFarland said.

The 40th anniversary event, which doubled as the annual meeting, involved the agency's governing board, volunteers, community partners and staff.

Success stories were celebrated and awards presented.

A lifetime achievement award was given to Dr. Julius Edlavitch, an Anoka County pediatrician, who has volunteered with the community action agency since 1978.

In addition, Char Parsons was recognized as staff person of the year and Arlette Wollin as volunteer of the year.

Those awards are named after the late Gordon Harvey, who served on the agency's governing board for over 20 years and never missed a meeting, according to McFarland.

The governing board comprises representatives from the public and private sectors as well as low income people.

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