In early 1972 OEO
funded the Demonstration Water Project with a $6 million
over a three year period to implement a national
program. This national project, funded through the
Health Services Division at OEO, planned to identify
community action agencies and other human service
agencies around the country to play the same role as TAP
and DWP in the development of water projects. In 1973,
the National Demonstration Water Project was
incorporated.
By
1975, with the expiration of the three-year DWP grant,
NDWP received continuation funding from the Community
Services Administration (CSA), the successor to OEO. At
this time, DWP incorporated as the Virginia Water
Project. Then in 1977, NDWP received funding for the
first Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) which
established regional technical assistance centers around
the country to assist rural communities in developing
water and wastewater projects.
After two years of meetings, the Midwest Assistance
Project (MAP) was selected as the first RCAP
demonstration sited. The CSA selected the Virginia Water
Project model as on of several which were recommended to
the newly funded RCAPs. In 1989, NDWP formally became
the Rural Community Assistance Program, Inc. (RCAP).
Today RCAP is a national network of non-profit
organizations dedicated to empower and assist rural low
income people to improve the quality of life in their
communities.
The network has six regional RCAPs:
- Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project—Southeastern Region
- Community Resource Group (CRG)—Southern Region
- Midwest Assistance Program (MAP)—Midwestern Region
- WSOS Community Action Commission—Great Lakes Region
- Rural Housing Improvement (RHI)—Northeastern Region
- Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC)—Western Region
Virginia Water
Project’s first RCAP program proposal was funded in
1979. The states involved in the new region were:
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
By
1982, VWP had formed a partnership with the Ford
Foundation to fund a loan program which now provides a
funding pool to finance water and wastewater facility
development, housing development activities and
community economic development.
In 1993, Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project,
Inc. became the successor to the Virginia Water Project.
Today, Southeast RCAP has partnerships with the Office
of Community Services in the Department of Health and
Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Economic
Development Administration, the Farmers Home
Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the Appalachian Regional Commission, and ACTION.