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Mission
Values
History
Communities/Projects
Governance
About MAP
Midwest Assistance Program is part of a nation-wide
alliance, a national effort, the Rural Community Assistance
Partnership (RCAP). We serve the partnership's Midwestern region.
The RCAP network includes the RCAP
national office; six regional RCAP agencies which each have
multi-state service areas; and more than 200 field-based rural
development specialists at the state and local levels in all 50
states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
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Our Mission
The Midwest Assistance Program is dedicated to
helping rural communities improve their environment, quality of life
and be self-sustaining.
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Our Values
MAP professionals demonstrate:
Ethical Standards
- The highest
standards of professional and personal conduct when dealing with
funding agencies, customers, and colleagues.
Trustworthiness -
The
importance of personal and professional behavior characterized by
honesty, open communication, respect and appreciation.
Loyalty
- The importance of our mission and purpose while striving to
fulfill customer needs and expectations.
Integrity
- The importance of being fair, truthful, honest and impartial with
clients, funding agencies, and colleagues.
Responsibility -
The importance of fulfilling expectations with on-time performance
and delivery of services.
Empathy
- The practice of active listening and respectfully responding to a
variety of opinions and points of view.
Flexibility -
Adaptation to changing situations and conditions by avoiding
conflict that derails productivity, progress and growth.
Humor -
The importance of timely, thoughtful and appropriate
humor in the work environment.
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Our History
Midwest Assistance Program incorporated in 1979 as a non-profit
corporation interested in improving water and wastewater services
for rural communities in nine states. MAP's founders determined that
this effort would not be solely to lay pipes or build systems, but rather
to have an impact on the way decisions are made in water and
wastewater development. Through on-site technical assistance and
training, systems would be designed and managed with the needs of
the rural population in mind.
MAP is one of six regional nonprofits that have evolved together
into a national network covering every state. A "National Demonstration Water Project" began as a pilot program
to deliver safe drinking water to a small Virginia community in 1969.
That successful pilot evolved into RCAP, the Rural Community
Assistance Partnership. Additional demonstration projects across the
U.S. followed. One in the Midwest, begun in 1977, evolved into
MAP.
MAP's primary activities focused on the development and management
aspects of community water and wastewater systems. In 1987 the scope
of work expanded to include solid waste management.
MAP staff coordinate their activities with state agencies, regional
EPA personnel, and USDA/Rural Development staff. An example is technical
assistance and training offered by MAP when a community or tribe is
identified as having water or sewage problems by a state
environmental or health agency. MAP staff may assist that community
improve its system management to help it qualify for financial
assistance through a low interest loan from Rural
Development. Such a loan, or funding from a state's Community Block
Grant Program, may enable the community to build or upgrade their water and or
wastewater systems to solve the problem. The program also helps current borrowers improve
the management of their systems and comply with reporting
requirements of government agencies and lenders.
MAP's organizational philosophy revolves around field-based, rural development
specialists providing tailored, on-site technical assistance and
training to each small rural community or tribe. Field offices are
located in each of the nine states.
MAP believes in a
capacity-building approach to technical assistance. That means MAP
staff teach community leaders - we build their capacity - to respond
to community problems themselves, to make decisions knowledgably and
appropriately.
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Communities/Projects
MAP assists more than 400 communities and tribes each year. Click
on this link to read "case
studies" summarizing our work with some of these communities.
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Our Governance
MAP is governed by an 18 person
board of directors comprised of
two representatives from each of the nine states it serves. The
board hires a chief executive officer who is responsible for running
the organization: hiring and supervising
staff, developing its
budget, and representing MAP before the public and to the various
public, private, government and non-profit agencies that share its
work. A management team works directly under and reports to the CEO,
and various field and office staff are supervised by and report to
members of that team.
There is also an affiliated but independent revolving community
loan organization that shares some of MAP's staff and works closely
with MAP in support of its mission.
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