Who We Are

Begun by volunteers in 1965, Community Action of Ventura County, Inc. grew out of the Johnson Administration's "War on Poverty" and has addressed many family, community and agency development issues.  In the late 1960's and 1970's, the issues were accessibility for the poor by establishing community centers and advocacy for the poor through legislation regarding human rights, criminal justice, housing, and health.

In the 1980's CAVC began addressing issues of homelessness and held Speak-Outs, was a leader in establishing the Homeless & Housing Coalition of Ventura County, sought a correct count of the homeless in the 1980 Census, served as United Way Advisor for FEMA, began the Rental & Lease Assistance Program to prevent homelessness, and established a Drop-In Center for homeless.  During these years, the agency was released from under the County of Ventura and its designation as the Community Action Agency was reaffirmed by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

In the 1990's CAVC began addressing agency development issues including fundraising, began efforts to raise self-esteem of the homeless by establishing the Breakfast Club, began offering shared living accommodations for men, piloted a program that resulted in the employment of hundreds of homeless, opened the One-Stop Drop-In Center for homeless and at-risk, assisted 16 low-income families to become homeowners, and established the revolving loan fund for low income first time home buyers. The Legal Department offered civil legal representation to victims of domestic violence over an 18 month period.

CAVC continues to address community and agency development issues through outreach, education and information to reach to the poor, the low-income, and expanded linkage and collaboration with other organizations and the religious community. It sought to include greater community participation in solving issues of poverty and barriers to self-sufficiency by outreaching a broader expanse of donors, foundations, and public and private funding sources.

In 2001 CAVC responded to the energy crisis and held a successful Conference entitled, "The California Energy Crisis, Low Income Families, Solutions" at which over 100 people attended, and began to build a collaborative around the issues of energy. CAVC continues its participation in collaborations as a participant in Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), Neighborhoods for Learning in Santa Clara Valley and Oxnard, Oxnard/Ventura Warming Shelter, and has served as lead agency in the Emergency Housing Assistance Program Collaborative.

The agency continues to seek to address short- and long-term poverty issues and its impact on families and the community, to provide assistance for those impacted by poverty in areas such as housing for the homeless and poor, personal and institutional barriers to self-sufficiency assistance with legal, employment, health, educational, budgeting, and other issues necessary for individual, family and community stability.

Board of Directors

 Les Goldberg; Lifetime Advisor - Retired Engineer, widower (Phyllis), father of two young men, and grandfather. He is on the Board of Family to Family and Food Share, and is a member of Temple Beth Torah. He attended Wisconsin University and Curtis Wright Tech, and enjoys playing and watching tennis. He has lived in Ventura for over 22 years. The position of Life Time Advisor was created by the CAVC Board of Directors for Les in recognition of his over 10 years of service on the Board, his inspiration, dedication, knowledge, and support to the homeless and low income community as well as the Board members and Staff.