Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, Inc. (SERCAP) is a 501(C)3 Nonprofit Organization that provides training, technical, and financial assistance to rural communities and low-to-moderate income (LMI) individuals for water, wastewater, housing, community development, and economic development projects, throughout its seven-state service region of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Initially founded in 1969 as the Demonstration Water Project (DWP), SERCAP has earned a strong reputation over the past 55+ years, as an expert service provider in the fields of water and wastewater service delivery, affordable housing, and community development. What began as an attempt to bring clean, safe drinking water to LMI residents of rural communities within the Roanoke Valley of Virginia, has grown into a nationally recognized seven-state community development agency. During the 2023/2024 Program Year alone, the organization invested over $2.8 Million into rural communities, and impacted over 550,000 individuals in its service region.
In the 1960s, LMI families in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia were bailing water from contaminated creeks and springs, catching rainwater in buckets, and/or buying water at the grocery store. Outreach workers identified more than 500 LMI families for whom access to safe drinking water was a critical issue. By 1968, a group of community representatives organized the Demonstration Water Project (DWP).
Over the next 25 years, the DWP helped rural communities to develop water projects by obtaining financing, gathering requisite official approval, and contributing engineering services. Once the water systems were completed, officers of the local nonprofit water corporations would manage, operate, and maintain the systems, including reading meters, preparing and issuing bills, and collecting fees to assist with running the water companies. The DWP was so successful that the federal government recognized the impact and potential that the program could have nationwide, requested that a project be designed to replicate the same process used in rural Virginia, and the Rural Community Action Partnership (RCAP) (opens new window) was born. RCAP is a national network of six Nonprofit Regional Partners and a National Office, dedicated to empowering and assisting LMI rural communities to improve their quality of life. Through this national network, all 50 states, as well as the US territories, are benefiting from the model originally created by SERCAP.
Today, SERCAP is the Southeast Partner for the National RCAP Network, and provides a number of training, technical, and financial assistance services to rural communities throughout the southeast United States. SERCAP’s programs include: Training to Water/Wastewater Operators and Boards, Technical Assistance to Water and Wastewater Systems, Facilities Development Grants for Water and Wastewater Projects, Community Development Loans for Water/Wastewater Projects, Essential & Critical Needs Program Grants to LMI individuals for Water/Wastewater needs, Individual Household Loans to individuals for Water/Wastewater needs, Owner Occupied Housing Rehabilitation, Housing Counseling Services, Business Development Services, ELI (Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative) Entrepreneurial Mindset Training Program, and Small Business Loan Product.
In addition to providing direct services to communities and individual clients, SERCAP also advocates for rural communities and educates the public about the continued need for adequate water/wastewater infrastructure and complete indoor plumbing assistance in 21st Century America. In March of 2016, for the first time, the White House held the White House Water Summit on Building a Sustainable Water Future in the US. SERCAP’s President & CEO, Hope Cupit, was invited to speak at the Summit about the continued need for access to clean, safe drinking water and promoted SERCAP’s A Day Without Indoor Plumbing campaign. SERCAP’s presence at the event and prestigious invitation to speak, is a testament to the good work being done by the agency, and proof that a small nonprofit organization headquartered in the Roanoke, VA can have a National Presence and can make a significant impact on the individuals and communities it serves.