UPCAP Historical Achievements

In 1965, at the request of the Office of Economic Opportunity, UPCAP established the six original Community Action Agencies in the Upper Peninsula. Also in 1965, UPCAP organized the first Head Start programs in the United States. The Washington Head Start staff had been on the job only two weeks when UPCAP presented them with a plan to start up Head Start in various school districts throughout the Peninsula. In the summer of 1966, the programs were shifted from the school districts to the six community action agencies. At the request of the Economic Development Administration, UPCAP organized the three Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Districts in 1968. Since 1970, UPCAP has served as ex-officio secretary to the Upper Peninsula Association of County Commissioners (UPACC). Late in 1971, UPCAP received a grant from the Emergency Employment Act Program to organize an ancillary manpower board in the Upper Peninsula. Following establishment of the board, the State determined to have three boards in the Upper Peninsula. These three evolved into the three Consortia for Employment and Training under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Today, the three Consortia exist under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and have come to be known as the Private Industry Councils (PICs). In April, 1974, UPCAP was designated as the Region XI (Upper Peninsula) Area Agency on Aging. The UPAAA began operation with a $24,000 grant from the State of Michigan. Today, the UPAAA's Area Plan budgets are in excess of $4 million dollars. UPCAP Services, Inc. , in it's role as the Upper Peninsula Area Agency on Aging, provides funding and technical assistance to Community Action Agencies, Commissions on Aging, senior centers, and other service providers for the provision of senior meals, in-home services, transportation services, care management, employment, legal services, etc. Subcontracted programs are annually monitored by the AAA to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations. In addition, UPAAA duties include the development of a regional, three-year area plan. This plan, once authorized by the State, provides a blueprint for action on the part of the Area Agency on Aging to address the daily housing and service needs of Upper Peninsula seniors. To aid this planning process, regional needs analysis of older people are performed every three years. Through its program development responsibilities, the UPAAA has been active in the search for solutions to the various problems that senior citizens encounter. The Area Agency on Aging serves as an advocate for programs that aid the elderly, as a regional clearinghouse for publications and information pertaining to the aging and as a coordination of Upper Peninsula aging programs. In addition to being a primary funding source, several programs, generally those that are small or pilot (test) in nature, that benefit the Upper Peninsula's elderly, are provided directly by UPCAP Services, Inc. One such program is the Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP) which provides for the training of volunteer insurance counselors who conduct outreach for potential clients and then assist these Medicare and Medicaid recipients as necessary to upgrade their understanding of these complicated government programs. Since 1989, UPCAP Services, Inc., has contracted with private non-profit housing organizations to manage low-rent and elderly apartment complexes. This has allowed UPCAP to both provide a vital service to the people of the Upper Peninsula through affordable housing and to be involved in the development of low-interest loan applications for other non-profits and local entities who want to develop low-rent and elderly housing but require technical assistance in the development stages. In 1990, UPCAP submitted an approved application package to Farmers Home Administration requesting funds for the development of a twelve-unit apartment building in Chatham, Michigan, for handicapped and senior citizens. Withcompletion of this application process, UPCAP obtained expertise in the housing development process and began a program of providing technical assistance in the area of housing development throughout the Upper Peninsula. UPCAP also obtained a real estate brokerage license and began, per the request of local non-profit groups, managing senior citizen and low-income multi-family projects throughout the Upper Peninsula. Beginning the summer of 1990, UPCAP became involved with the West-Central Upper Peninsula Regional Community Corrections Board on a contractual basis for the purpose of developing that Board's annual implementation plan. Once completed, in March of 1991, UPCAP Services Inc., was hired to administer the plan. Community Corrections programs, funded under Michigan P.A. 511 of 1988, target local jail populations and non-violent felony offenders for community-based programming such as community service work, substance abuse treatment, work release, and job training. Since the plan went into effect, UPCAP has provided for residential substance abuse treatment for dozens of troubled offenders and has also arranged for the completion of thousands of hours of community service work by non-violent offenders who would have been housed in jail. UPCAP, in it's role of addressing unmet needs, has a tradition of developing innovative pilot programs in the Upper Peninsula. Two recent projects were the Dickinson County Adult Day Care Center and the Escanaba Community Day Care Center. The Dickinson County Adult Day Care, funded through a grant from the Michigan Department of Mental Health, offers day care, in-home respite services, and crisis intervention to people suffering from dementia and their primary caregivers. This program was designed to reduce the rate of institutionalization of elderly people and to, therefore, both increase the clients personal efficacy and save taxpayers dollars. The Escanaba Community Day Care Center provides high quality yet affordable child care to moderate and low-income residents of Delta County. High quality and low cost objectives can be met because the Center was subsidized through a grant from the Neighborhood Builders Alliance and also because the center utilizes senior citizen volunteers to the greatest extent possible. Another unique and positive aspect of the Escanaba Community Child Day Care Center is it's inter-generational approach.