Northeast Kansas Community Action Program

In This Section

NEK-CAP, Inc.'s Non-Discrimination Statement and Policy applies to all services offered.

As a Community Action Agency, NEK-CAP, Inc. uses Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding in coordination with other federal, state, and local grants and partnerships to address the needs of low-income individuals and families throughout our 16 counties. The Community Services Department offers several types of services and opportunities to either address urgent needs in a household, or to learn new information and skills. Services vary by county, local needs, and funding availability. For most of our community services, we use the CSBG eligibility threshold of 200% of the Federal Poverty Level based on household size.

Pre-applications for community services can be completed at:

Urgent Needs Services

NEK-CAP, Inc. Family Development Advocates provide Urgent Needs services through several counties. Available services include: one-time rent or utility assistance, prescription assistance, help with obtaining identification documents such as birth certificates or driver license/state ID, small repairs for a home or vehicle. Urgent Needs Services eligibility is based on CSBG income eligibility. If approved, each household is able to use up to $250 towards urgent needs during a 12-month period as long as funding is available. This gives a family the flexibility to receive assistance more than once within the 12 months if their bill is less than the $250 limit.

Funding is based on local availability and varies throughout our counties, but includes:

Local donations from private citizens and organizations-funds are used as requested by local donors.
Atchison Area United Way - Atchison County
United Way of Kaw Valley - Jackson County
Konza United Way - Filling the Gap and the counties of Marshall, Pottawatomie, Riley and Washington
Doniphan County Give Where You Live Match Day - Doniphan County

Filling the Gap

NEK-CAP, Inc. and Kansas Food Bank collaborate to offer the Filling the Gap summer food program for eligible youth (to age 18). This program is offered in Jewell, Mitchell, Osborne, Republic, Smith and Washington counties in Kansas through funds from Konza United Way and CSBG. Filling the Gap eligibility is based on CSBG income eligibility. Approved youth receive food for ten weeks in summer from late-May to early-August in an effort to increase food security and provide healthy food options for families.

Click here for Filling the Gap Brochure - English

Click here for Filling the Gap Brochure - Spanish

If you would like to volunteer your time or offer local assistance to help with this program, we would love to hear from you! Our community volunteers and partnerships with local grocery stores are invaluable pieces of connecting families with food in our North Central Kansas Counties. Please contact our Community Development Advocate at 785-547-7136 for more information and to offer your support.

Student Champions

NEK-CAP, Inc. offers Student Champion services to student of USD 415 schools in Brown County for the purpose of empowering students in school and extracurricular activities. Students who are connected to school, sports, and social activities become more successful when they learn social skills, teamwork, and critical thinking. Funds are received through donations from the Hiawatha Community Foundation’s Give Back to Move Forward Match day event and can be used for several school and sports related fees including school enrollment fees, lunch fees, sports and activities fees including extracurricular fees for music, drama, and scholars bowl, scout or 4-H fees, or Latchkey fees.

For more information about the Student Champions Fund click HERE.

Classes and Workshops

We offer two classes or workshops tailored to provide information. Classes are offered on an as-needed basis depending on local interest. Classes may request a $9 book fee for attendees but are free for families or individuals already participating in another NEK-CAP, Inc. program.

Love and Logic Parenting Workshops

Love and Logic® provides simple and practical techniques to help parents raise responsible kids, teach logic and responsibility, help parents learn to use examples, experience and empathy to teach decision-making skills to children of all ages. Founded in 1977 by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline, M.D., it is the approach of choice among leading educators, parents, and other professionals worldwide. Resource information can be found at https://www.loveandlogic.com.

Tackling the Tough Skills

Tackling the Tough Skills™ is a life skills curriculum that helps adults and teens prepare for success in work and life. It's also being used to teach soft skills to employees in the workplace. Soft skills for employment are discussed and practiced, including: Attitude, Responsibility, Communication, Problem solving, and Preparing for the workplace. Originally designed to help adults transition from welfare to work in the St. Louis area.

If you are interested in checking on availability for these classes or in creating a class option for your area, please reach out to your local Community Development Advocate, or complete a Community Services pre-application.

Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, and Leavenworth Counties: 913-367-7114
Jackson, Jefferson, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawatomie, and Riley Counties: 785-851-0707
Jewell, Mitchell, Osborne, Republic, Smith, and Washington Counties: 785-547-7136

Simulation Experiences in your community

NEK-CAP, Inc. offers two simulation experiences which provide insight through role-playing and discussions about the impacts of poverty, the power of choices, and barriers to economic mobility and success.

Poverty Simulation

The Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS), created by the Missouri Association of Community Action, is an interactive, immersion experience designed with 4 “weeks” where participants will use their resources and problem-solving skills to navigate systems for work, school, and other needs of daily life. Created for groups with 40-88 adults participants and 15-20 volunteers, this experience gives community members a chance to test their perspectives and beliefs against situations experienced by real people.

REALL Simulation

The Reality Enrichment and Life Lessons Simulation (REALL), created by Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation, is an active, hands-on experience that challenges teens to think critically about their lives and how choices during adolescence can impact adulthood experiences. Similar to the CAPS but designed for youth 7th-12th grades, the REALL simulation includes a period of reactive role playing based on poor choices during adolescence, a period or proactive role playing based on poor choices during adolescence, and a small-group debriefing to compare and contrast the differences.

If you are interested in coordinating either a CAPS or REALL simulation, please contact our Community Development & Data Manager at lgrier@nekcap.org

Click here to view a Poverty Simulation brochure.

Click here to view a REALL Simulation brochure.

Family Development Advocacy, Information and Referrals

It is NEK-CAP, Inc.’s belief that all families and individuals want to be successful at home, at work, and in life in general. Using a whole-family approach, Family Development Advocates and Housing Development Advocates empower individuals and families by using Family Development Advocacy, previously known as case management. For Urgent Needs Services, Filling the Gap, and Homeless Services, our advocates ask applicants to complete an assessment known as the Self Sufficiency Matrix. This quick survey provides insight on strengths and needs in several life domains including education, employment, finances, leadership and advocacy, etc. Staff use this information as a tool to guide discussions with families about goals they are working towards and successes they would like to achieve. We all have goals we want to achieve, and NEK-CAP, Inc. staff want to help applicants with these goals. This is a free service that is offered along with other Community Services programs, or applicants can apply to receive this service by itself.

Family Development Advocacy also includes Information and Referrals. If you are reaching out for information about services in your area that our agency does not provide, our staff is able to provide information and referrals to partners and other entities in your area who may be able to assist you.

Click here to view the Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Marshall, Nemaha, and Pottawatomie Counties services brochure

Click here to view the Jewell, Mitchell, Osborne, Republic, Riley, Smith, and Washington Counties services brochure

Homeless Programs

ESG and CoC Rental Assistance

NEK-CAP, Inc. uses funds from Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) to help provide rental assistance to households who are experiencing homelessness. These two programs are both funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and are coordinated through the Kansas Balance of State for CoC and Kansas Housing Resources Corporation for ESG.

Pre-applications for Homeless Services can be completed at:

Getting Started:

Complete a pre-application in our online kiosk to start the application process. Once we have received your completed pre-application, a Housing Family Advocate will contact you to complete next steps for Coordinated Entry and finish gathering any other information needed for our agency intake processes. If you are unable to complete a pre-application online, it is possible to start your application over the phone or request an in-person visit if necessary.
NEK-CAP, Inc. participates in the Coordinated Entry process with the Kansas Balance of State Continuum of Care. This means that all applicants to our Homeless Services programs are assessed for current homeless status and barriers by completing forms with Housing Family Advocates. The applicant’s name and status is placed onto the Coordinated Entry list with our Northeast or Flint Hills Region, based on your location. This list is reviewed regularly by regional agencies who provide services to individuals/families experiencing homelessness. If an agency has an opening, a referral for a family is made to the agency for services to see what they can assist with.

Things we want you to know:

The Coordinated Entry process is confidential. All your information is kept private and participating agencies are not allowed to share your information without your consent.
Completing an application for our Homeless Services program is not a guarantee of services through NEK-CAP, Inc. The purpose of the Coordinated Entry is to help you get into housing as quickly as possible. If an option from another agency becomes available, we ask that you consider it.
If you are contacted by a different agency but feel that their services are not appropriate for you, you have the right to decline. You can still stay on the list, but it just might be a while before another offer comes depending on funding and spots.

For more information regarding the Coordinated Entry process, please visit https://www.kshomeless.com/ces.html

General Information:

Our CoC program is a Rapid Rehousing program which offers rental assistance in Atchison, Brown, Marshall, Leavenworth Kansas counties.
Our ESG program has Rapid Rehousing and Homeless Prevention program which offer rental assistance in Atchison, Brown, Doniphan Jackson, Jefferson, Nemaha, Marshall Kansas counties.
For both programs, if a family is offered a spot in the program, they will complete eligibility documentation with our Housing Family Advocates including:
- Verification of homelessness, must fall into one of the following categories in order to be eligible for one of the programs, as defined by HUD:
  - Category 1: Literally Homeless (Rapid Re-Housing component only)
  - Category 2: Imminently losing their primary night-time residence (Homeless Prevention component only)
  - Category 4: Fleeing/Attempting to Flee Domestic Violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions (both components)
- Verification of income-Homeless Prevention requires that a household be within 30% of the are median income for the county.
- Housing Stability plan to set up goals of what you’ll need to obtain and maintain your housing.

ESG CoC Services Table

Other Things You Should Know:

Both programs come with Family Development Advocacy. Housing Family Advocates work with individuals/families to identify their goals of finding housing and improving basic needs. Families and Housing Advocates will meet at least monthly, or more often as they decide together with you based on your household needs. Because we use wraparound services, our Housing Advocates often check in with families about several areas of needs including finding employment or income, enrollment of children into available school programs, accessing medical health services as needed, accessing drug/alcohol counseling/support as needed, accessing domestic violence support as needed, etc.
These are not long-term programs, and families are expected to establish and/or improve reliable income when possible to help maintain your housing after our services have ended. We can help with the security deposit and some rental assistance. Further details about length of time is provided to the individual/family at the time they are enrolled in a program.
All families choose the housing they live in during the time they are in one of these programs. We help pay the rent through rental assistance. Families find housing that they feel will work for them, and then we complete an inspection to ensure it meets safety requirements, and we also complete Fair Market and Rent Reasonable forms to ensure that it also meets financial eligibility according to HUD. The lease is between the family and the landlord, and we will have a rental contract between the three of us which outlines what we will be helping with towards your rent and for how long. This helps to keep everyone on the same page.

Click Here to view the Homeless Programs brochure

Haven for Families Initiative

This is a brand new program which NEK-CAP, Inc. will be implementing to assist families with children who are experiencing literal homelessness. Funds for this program have been awarded through the Bezos Foundation. More information will be posted at a later date.

For General Inquiries about the program, please contact our Homeless Services office.

If you have already completed the Coordinated Entry or are a current participant and you need to follow-up with a Housing Family Advocate, please contact their office directly. If you have a wifi phone only, their emails are listed as well so that you can contact them via email.

Housing Family Advocates and Kansas counties covered:

Betty-Atchison, Leavenworth, Jefferson, Brown, Doniphan
913-367-7114, ext 6
ekane@nekcap.org

Bailey-Atchison, Leavenworth, Brown, Jackson, Nemaha, Pottawatomi, Marshall
913-367-7114, ext 301
bbuttron@nekcap.org

Brandi Folsom, Community Development & Outreach Manager
homeless@nekcap.org
785-288-0117

CoC and ESG Donation Needs CoC and ESG Program Quick Fact Sheet

Disclaimer: This website is partially supported by grants from the Office of Community Services within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of NEK-CAP, Inc and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Community Services.