Who is Mid-Iowa Community Action?

 Who is Mid-Iowa Community Action?

Mid-Iowa Community Action, Inc. (MICA) is a private, nonprofit organization serving children and families in central Iowa. Established in 1965 in Marshalltown, MICA serves children and families affected by the conditions of poverty. MICA provides early childhood, health, family development, and housing services, as well as community enrichment programs. Some of the most well-known programs include Head Start, Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS), the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and WIC (Women, Infants and Children). 

MICA's vision is that collaboration with community partners leads efforts to strengthen families and communities; creating communities where fewer people find themselves in poverty, and those who do have a path out.

What do they do?

MICA provides a wide variety of services to low-income families in the agency’s service area, which are organized into five umbrella categories: Child Development, Community Development, Family Development, Health, and Housing. Together, MICA’s programs provide a continuum of services that are designed to help families transition out of poverty. This is accomplished by addressing both the immediate or emergency needs of families as well as helping them to identify and overcome barriers to living a life of self-sufficiency and achieve their future goals.

Financial literacy is an important part of this continuum, and MICA’s Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS) and Steps to Success programs provide in-depth financial literacy education. Through one-on-one meetings with staff, families are taught to budget effectively, use credit responsibly, identify areas of savings, and plan for future expenses.

How do they enhance our community?

MICA helps families access community resources and build support networks, which engages them in the larger community. They also empower low-income families to become active in their communities and take on leadership roles – policy council, MICA board, etc. 

Why is financial literacy important?

The largest majority of families MICA serves are those who have incomes at or below the federal poverty level.  Helping families with limited resources and incomes understand their financial situation and reach their financial goals is very important for the success of the family, and for their contribution to their community.  Often times, we learn that the families are very skillful at balancing their budgets and living within those budgets very successfully.  Financial literacy is very important because without these skills, families are not able to move from crisis to self-sufficiency and use the financial resources in the community to their advantage to meet goals and provide for their family.