BLUE MOUNTAIN ACTION COUNCIL INC

MISSION STATEMENT
To cultivate innovative services, in partnership with our community, to empower low-income people to meet their vital needs and achieve self-sufficiency.

VISION STATEMENT
We envision healthy, thriving communities where people are free of poverty, hunger and homelessness.

A Brief History
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 created community action programs. The act defined a community action program as one that “…provides services, assistance and other activities aimed at eliminating poverty or its causes by developing economic opportunities, improving human performance, motivation and productivity, or bettering the conditions under which people live, learn and work….”

Blue Mountain Action Council is by intent, vision, and definition, a community action partnership. The formal incorporation was on February 3, 1966.

Beginning with the creation of a Community Service Center in 1967, programs and services offered by BMAC have grown to include job training, energy assistance, food distribution, minor home repair, special needs housing, housing for homeless families, legal assistance, asset building, adult literacy, Long Term Care Ombudsman, weatherization, lead paint abatement, Commitment to Community, AmeriCorps and Supportive Services to Veteran Families.

The agency strives to stay flexible and adaptable with regards to government policy, funding and level of need. Through the vicissitudes and upheaval of the last 49 years, BMAC remains a primary community resource, consistently providing a much-needed sheltering umbrella of services for Walla Walla, Garfield and Columbia counties.