2013 Board & Committee Meeting Calendar (.pdf)

Feb 7th, 2013 MACAA hires new Executive Director!

Charlottesville, VA, February 7, 2013. The Monticello Area Community Action Agency has hired Barbara R. Miller as its new Executive Director.  Ms. Miller is broadly experienced in Community Action and comes to MACAA with a unique public speaking style, a varied background in the social service field, and a passion for serving those people living in poverty.  She leaves the position of Training and Communications Coordinator for the West Virginia Community Action Partnership.

MACAA’s President, Garrett Smith, explained that “Barbara brings to MACAA a strong professional focus on Results-Oriented Management and Accountability or ‘ROMA’, which is a performance-based initiative promoting outcome-based management strategies designed to promote greater effectiveness among state and local agencies receiving Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds.”  Ms. Miller has been working to implement this management system throughout West Virginia’s 16 Community Action Agencies.  As a certified Pathways to Excellence Reviewer, “she has been focused on moving agencies toward excellence using the Self-Study and Comprehensive Feedback Process as diagnostic tools for setting agency improvement priorities,” said Smith.  She also has a strong background in program development, expertise in family development counseling, and frequently speaks on issues of poverty.

Ms.Miller succeeds Karen Shepard, who is retiring in March, 2013 after five years as MACAA’s Executive Director.

Dec 6th, 2012 MACAA's Hope House Donation

Lighting of the Lawn is a ceremony at UVA that began in December after the September 11th tradgedy in 2001. Each year a local non-profit is selected to receive donations given during the Holiday season. The MACAA Hope House was the chosen recipient for this year! An interview was done showing the Hope House facility and communicating the story of one family who has benefited from the program. Click here to check out the story at NBC29.com! Also, go here if you would like make a donation to Hope House or any other program MACAA offers.

MACAA’s Rock Hill Gardens

Since the beginning of July 2010 a small core of energetic and determined volunteers has been cleaning up the MACAA grounds to reveal the spectacular stone walls surrounding the nearly 8-acre site. There are terraced gardens, all connected by stone steps and paths, and even a stone gardener’s cottage with a slate roof. All of the stone work was done in the late 1930s and once upon a time the Rock Hill Gardens were the showplace of Charlottesville. The lead volunteers are Bob Fenwick, Gene Fleming, Larry Stremikis and Carol Garges. Day of Caring provided a huge team of volunteers representing seven local companies. We are also fortunate to have on-going help from the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and the incoming UVA law school classes.