Community Action hopes to end Impact Week raising $10K for match Community Action Pioneer Valley Director of Communications and Development Jessye Deane CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Published: 5/5/2021 3:29:38 PM The largest anti-poverty agency in the area is celebrating the differences its 350 employees and 40 programs make for lower-income families living in Franklin and Hampshire counties by raising money during Impact Week, which ends Friday. This year marks the 57th year since President Lyndon Johnson established more than 1,000 Community Action agencies to help fight poverty, according to Community Action Pioneer Valley Director of Communications and Development Jessye Deane said. “Impact Week is about reintroducing ourselves to our community and calling attention to how Community Action Pioneer Valley makes Franklin and Hampshire counties better for everyone,” Executive Director Clare Higgins said. “Last year alone, we served nearly 30,000 of our lower-income neighbors with critical services such as homelessness prevention and food access and also long-term solutions like early education and care and job skill training and placement.”