Event Description

Today’s world  is full of so much divisiveness, fear, uncertainty and darkness we decided to take a moment to PAUSE for a great unified cause and ask people across America to join us in a Virtual Race.  Our goal is to have runners from every state in the US running and spreading the message – BE A LIGHT! 

As Community Action Agencies it is our mission to help people in need in our communities. Right now the need is greater than ever.  All proceeds will be used for COVID Relief in our Communities or in yours!!!! 

We are challenging each NON Profit State Community Action Agency across the United States to sign up us as many people from their state as possible and in turn we will be splitting all proceeds coming in from that state with that state’s Community Action State Agency to be used for COVID Relief in their State.

What is Community Action?
In 1964, The Great Society, as envisioned by President Lyndon Johnson, was a sweeping plan to improve the lives of all Americans, regardless of their circumstances. Inspired by President Kennedy and his New Frontier, Johnson pledged to fulfill his promise of equal opportunity for all by enacting several comprehensive changes within the federal government. In August of that same year, the Economic Opportunity Act was signed into law by President Johnson creating the nationwide Community Action Network.

The War on Poverty
In 1963, shortly before he was assassinated, President Kennedy had asked his economic advisors to draw up some proposals to address the problem of American poverty. Johnson took up this charge after he succeeded Kennedy as President. In Johnson's first State of the Union address on June 8, 1964, he called for an unconditional war to defeat poverty. He expanded and revised the proposals given to Kennedy and developed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The act included a variety of initiatives:

• Head Start
• Job Corps
• Work-Study program for university students
• VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) - a domestic version of the Peace Corps
• Neighborhood Youth Corps
• Basic education and adult job training
• CAPS (Community Action Programs) - CAPS turned out to be the most controversial part of the package, as it proposed the "maximum feasible participation" by poor people themselves to determine what would help them the most. CAPS were a radical departure from how government had run most social reform programs in the past.

The Economic Opportunity Act was innovative legislation, but it received only about $1 billion to divide among the various programs and remained critically underfunded. By 1966, Congress appropriated $4 billion for the programs.