Purpose: To help break the cycle of poverty by enabling working poor individuals and families to obtain and sustain safe, decent, and affordable housing.
Mission: To utilize community resources efficiently to provide effective individualized llong-term services to break the cycle of poverty among individuals and families.
Vision: It is our vision to become, by 2010, the premier provider of programs that enable individuals and families to break the cycle of poverty.
Core Values:
- Excellence: We will strive for excellence in everything we do.
- Compassion: We will conduct ourselves in a caring and compassionate manner.
- Inclusion: We will provide a supportive environment that respects the knowledge, abilities and experiences of all individuals.
- Customers: We will be committed to serving the needs of our customers and believe that everyone deserves a safe, decent and affordable place to live.
- Employees: We will provide an environment for our employees that fosters professional growth and personal development.
- Investors: We will be effective stewards of our resources.
Community Link History:
Community Link began in Charlotte in 1929 as a chapter of the National Travelers Aid Society. The all-volunteer agency was made up of a group of women who staffed booths at train and bus stations to help transient, lost, abandoned, or ill strangers. Though the agency now resides in downtown Charlotte, it is still a chapter of the National Travelers Aid Society.
Post-war prosperity brought many families to Charlotte searching for permanent jobs and housing, and TAS began a shift from offering volunteer travel assistance to providing professional social work services that are the hallmark of its current programs. Assistance included providing tools, work clothes, gas, food, tires and other emergency assistance. By the 1980’s, requests for relocation assistance exceeded requests for travel assistance.
During the same decade, requests for housing and employment assistance from local families rapidly increased. Programs were designed to provide families with the skills needed to find and keep affordable housing. The agency began collaborating with other local agencies to link families to job training, counseling and other programs to help individuals and families become self-sufficient.
Community Link began working in Cabarrus County in 1990 as the Travelers Aid Society. Its primary focus was to serve the growing number of newcomers who came seeking a new start but were ill prepared to find work and housing. TAS offered emergency relocation assistance including gasoline vouchers, bus tickets, money for temporary lodging, and other services. Community Link has since expanded its Cabarrus programs to include professional social work services.
In 1995, the name was changed to Community Link, Programs of Travelers Aid Society of Central Carolinas, Inc., to better reflect its expanding role in helping the working poor. Today the agency's purpose is to break the cycle of poverty by enabling working poor individuals and families to obtain and sustain safe, decent and affordable housing.
In 1999, the agency expanded its programming. Althugh the Cabarrus office no longer provides travelers assistance, it's focus has shifted to providing customized, supportive services to local residents who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. Through its case work program, clients receive intensive oversight, management and support to equip them with the tools to successfully move from the street, to a shelter, to a home.
In 2004, Community Link was contracted by the State of North Carolina, to provide the same array of casework services we deliver in Mecklenburg and Union Counties which extends our regional coverage to six (6) surrounding counties: Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus, Stanly, Davidson, and Rowan. In July 2004, the agency merged with UJAMMA, Inc. an agency which provides homeownership education and counseling services.
On June 28, 2005, Community Link launched Community Link Home Ownership LLC. This entity is available to assist customers with the purchase process of their new home. It is a revenue generating venture in which the profits are used to support the Community Link case work programs.
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