Jan 26, 2007 2 min read

Darlene Bigler, executive director of Community Action Southwest (SAS), has been elected as the 2007-2008 president of the board of directors of the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania (CAAP). Bigler previously served as secretary of the board. CAAP is a membership organization representing the states 43 Community Action agencies. CAAP provides training and technical assistance to the member agencies to support them in their goal of eliminating poverty in the communities they serve. CAAP also serves on statewide policy and advisory councils representing low-income residents’ interests.

“I am excited about the years ahead,” Bigler said. “The current political and social environment provides for many opportunities as the association and its members move forward to address the root causes of poverty in Pennsylvania.”

Bigler has been the chief executive and operating officer of Community Action Southwest, a multipurpose, nonprofit, education and human service agency that has served more than 20,000 people annually since 1993. The organization employs 300, has an annual budget of $12 million and operates 30 programs, all of which Bigler oversees. Responsible for leading strategic planning and initiatives, Bigler said she assures the mobilization of adequate resources for organizational programming, implements management systems to assure quality, contractual and regulatory compliance and mission. She also provides leadership and management to subsidiary housing development, community development and property holding corporations.

Community Action Southwest’s goal is to mobilize public and private resources to deal with the causes of poverty, not just the impact. CAS offers diverse programming, which Bigler supervises, including Head Start, WIC (Women, Infants and Children), family, self-sufficiency, senior services and family development.

Through the efforts of Community Action Southwest, Bigler said she is dedicated to providing skills, opportunities and knowledge to low-income individuals to become economically self-sufficient.

She led CAS Head Start in its effort to expand services to low-income children and families, doubling the program’s capacity to 10 years. Bigler championed the need of low-income parents for children care to enable them to work and successfully expanded the Head Start program to a full-year, full-day program to address this need in particular.

Bigler also is active in the community serving on the boards of Transitional Employment Consultants (TEC), the Southwest Corner Workforce Investment Board and the steering committee of Community Builders, a leadership development project under the auspices of the Greene County Community Foundation.