With funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, HACAP had created the Community Development Initiative. The Community Development Initiative will assist in creating or expanding opportunities for employment in communities and faith based organizations with higher unemployment or under employment populations create or expand opportunities for employment. The goal is to link private business, local government, concerned community members and low-income individuals and help them create solutions to local unemployment or under-employment. This may be accomplished through community development grants or leveraging local resources.
HACAP uses Community Development Specialists as the bridge between community employment needs and initiatives and low-income families that are seeking employment or business opportunities. The Community Development Specialists help communities leverage resources to create or expand employment opportunities for low-income community members.
The Community Development Initiative will work to organize mentor/leadership groups in neighborhoods and communities to help the unemployed or under-employed improve networking skills and community engagement opportunities to improve financial stability.