Retirement of CAP Agency director won’t stop local war on poverty
Bradpiece plans for funding challenges
by Laura Adelmann
Thisweek Newspapers
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” will continue in Dakota County, even as one 40-year veteran soldier takes a well-deserved retirement.
CAP Agency Executive Director Mary Sullivan has retired, passing the torch of providing programs for the poor to a St. Paul resident, originally from El Salvador, who has a passion for helping others.
Carolina Bradpiece, 45, is the new executive director of the Community Action Programs Agency. Bradpiece is a woman with a history of always being ahead of the curve.
Bradpiece was reading as a toddler, finished first grade when she was 4, and graduated high school with honors by age 15.
She completed a year of pre-medicine before moving to Minnesota at 16 to attend Macalester College and earn a sociology degree, inspired in part by her grandmother who continually encouraged community involvement.
Bradpiece came to the CAP, started 45 years ago in response to Johnson’s declared war on poverty, with over 20 years of nonprofit experience, including the Girl Scouts and president and CEO of Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
One of her primary goals since her Aug. 2 start date has been developing plans for how the organization will manage increasing needs amidst economic challenges.
Historically, CAP has a strong record of providing programs such as the school readiness program Head Start, emergency services for people in need and nutrition programs for seniors, low-income families and children.
Bradpiece is encouraging more public education about the agency, which serves Dakota, Scott and Carver counties, as well as a concerted effort to attract more partners interested in helping to continue those programs.
She added that Sullivan demonstrated tenacity and built a legacy she intends to continue.
It was 1970 when Sullivan began with the CAP Agency, charged with starting a new daycare program.
“Day care was a real new program, and it was not so popular in some ways,” Sullivan said.
She said she had some supporters, but detractors were strongly opposed, calling her a home wrecker because the program encouraged women to leave their children for work.
When the agency expanded to license home daycares, more controversy arose.
“Then we were really in trouble – you don’t go into homes and tell people they can’t have poisons under their sink,” Sullivan said.
Politics have proven to be a continuing challenge, with funding programs often in the middle of a legislative battle or campaign issue.
Much of the organization’s budget, up from around $15 million in 2009 to about $17 million this year, thanks to Recovery Act funding, is derived from the state or federal government.
Over the next two years, Bradpiece said, she hopes to maintain CAP’s funding while working to keep and gain partners, individual and corporate, and implement a fundraising effort.
She doesn’t plan to change CAP Agency programs or services, but is developing a business model through a phased strategic visioning process.
“There is a need for an improved, strong business plan to lead us,” she said.
Despite the economy, her primary objective is to see that people who need help receive it.
“It is very, very hard, and I’ve already had to witness turning someone away because we don’t have the additional resources,” Bradpiece said. “We need to identify resources so we can continue to be part of the family that lends a hand.”
Laura Adelmann is at laura.adelmann@ecm-inc.com.
