As Community Action of Southern Kentucky continues to aid the area amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency recently named Carla Brown as its new executive director on Jan. 11.

It is a history-making move for Community Action as Brown is the first African American woman to earn the title at the agency.

“Being named executive director is an honor, and I am up to the challenge,” Brown said. “It’s been rewarding over the past month to be in this position, and I’m looking forward to many more years of service.”

“With it being Black History Month, I’m glad that African American girls in general have someone like Vice President Kamala Harris to look up to nationally, but they also now have someone to look up to locally as well,” Brown added. “I’ve used the same resources they had growing up, and by the grace of God I made it this far.”

Brown has been with Community Action since 1996 where she started as a Head Start teacher, and for the past five years she has served as the director of children services.

Now as executive director, Brown is focused on continuing to support the area amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We didn’t stop our services during the pandemic,” Brown said. “We just kept going. We adapted and will keep providing services to the community while we focus on making the invisible, visible.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Community Action has received close to $2 million in funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

A large priority for Community Action has been its emergency food and shelter program as it has provided food, utilities and rent assistance to those who have been hit hardest in the community.

According to Brown, the agency has already assisted over 6,500 households with utility bills.

“The CARES Act funding has really allowed us to expand upon some of the normal services we provide,” Community Action member Leslie Talley said.

Since last March, the agency has served over 71,000 meals to seniors by either home delivery or by curbside service. Community Action is serving an estimated average of 550 meals per day and over 10,000 meals per month.

Another area of focus amid the pandemic has been children services where currently 428 children are receiving teaching-assisted instruction. In recent months hybrid classes that combine in-person and online learning have been adopted.

In order to appropriately follow public guidelines while teaching, Community Action has received $300,000 to pay for PPE, sanitizing products and salaries for extra staff needed to deal with COVID-19 conditions.

Moving forward, the agency is working to have virtual classes set up for foster grandparents.

Community Action is also searching for a new board member to represent low-income populations in Warren County.

All approved candidates will be placed on a ballot and chosen by low-income citizens through an open public election to be held during the week of March 8.

Candidates must be at least 18 years of age and live in the county they are chosen to represent. Former or current recipients of public assistance, minorities and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply while agency employees are not eligible to apply.

“We are looking for someone who really cares about the community,” Talley said. “We want someone who can help make decisions on how to answer the needs of the community.”

Anyone interested in applying needs to contact Talley at 270-782-3162 or by email (ltalley@casoky.org) and request an application for candidacy. The application needs to be completed and returned no later than Feb. 19.