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ACAM at a Glance
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ACAM:
SUPPORTING HOUSTON'S SOCIAL SERVICE SAFETY NET
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ACAM is a
membership support organization committed to excellence in social
services and capacity building for Community Assistance Ministries
(CAMs) in the Greater Houston area.
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ABOUT
ACAM MEMBERS
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Community
Assistance Ministries or CAMs are 501(c)(3) emergency service providers
and have served neighbors in need since the early 1980’s.
They
were started by coalitions of congregations and remain faith-based in
mission and vision, yet do not require a statement of faith or
participation in religious activity as a condition for receiving
services. As distribution centers for resources gathered from community
groups, local congregations and neighbors-helping-neighbors, CAMs are a
coordinated community effort with a proven track record in helping
persons having trouble meeting their basic needs. Their spirit of
service can be seen in everything they do.
CAMs
are an important part of our community's “social service
safety
net,” preventing homelessness, meeting basic needs and
helping
people remain or become self-sufficient. They annually serve more than
223,000 people with food, clothing, employment services, rent/utilities
assistance, and much more.
CAMs are
known for serving with compassion and a minimum of bureaucracy. They
effectively utilize a 12,000-person volunteer force and are an
efficient way to streamline the desire of more than 375 congregations
to respond to local needs. Find CAMs in your neighborhood.
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ABOUT
ACAM
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ACAM
builds nonprofit capacity to increase organizational sustainability and
help groups proactively respond to growing and changing community
needs.
During this
devastating time, much of ACAM’s work is focused on helping
CAMs
find the financial, in-kind, volunteer, and media support that they
need to provide hurricane recovery services to their fullest capacity
(click here
to see our "Respond and Rebuild" section). ACAM's regular program
components include:
EXCELLENCE
IN SOCIAL SERVICES: ACAM promotes sound
practices in nonprofit operations and
programming. Organizational assessments inform members on areas of
strength and weakness and are used to develop capacity building plans.
ACAM supports plan implementation through training/consulting stipends
and direct grants. ACAM provides network-wide training and network-wide
projects (such as marketing and technology) to strengthen each member,
and thus, the collective. ACAM also helps members use their collective
strength to develop city-wide service streams that address root causes
of poverty.
NETWORK
DEVELOPMENT: This component promotes peer
learning and information exchange
for the following groups: executive directors, volunteer coordinators,
program managers and thrift store managers. Peer mentoring
relationships are developed among executive directors. This component
also helps to build relationships between ACAM Members and Funders.
AWARENESS AND EDUCATION:
This
component is aimed at increasing membership by reaching out to
underserved parts of Greater Houston, raising the profile of CAMs as
service hubs in their communities and raising awareness around the
issues affecting the people served by the CAMs.
ACAM has
reached into a sector that was already doing so much and is enhancing
their capacity to do much more. As we provide resources, tools, and
funds for these organizations to invest in themselves, they are growing
to places of even greater community impact.
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