Felicia Gregory knows that life can come with seemingly insurmountable challenges. She’s experienced a few herself, but with support, she overcame them. And as someone who now delivers the same kind of support she received as a teen mom, she can tell the people she’s helping that success and self-sufficiency are possible.

She’s a shining example. 

“I used to have to use some of these services I now offer,” she said. “I tell them all the time, ‘You can’t tell me it can’t be done because I did it.’ And now here I am. Just because we sit behind a desk every day, don’t assume we don’t have the same problems as you. I’m for real.”

The desk she sits behind is inside a Community Action Agency, which is a local problem-solving hub, known as Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity Inc. The nonprofit organization serves several rural North Carolina counties and Gregory, specifically, administers the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) to members in the community who are running up against financial challenges.

Her goal, like her lived experience, is to move individuals forward down their own path to self-sufficiency, giving them a bridge to cross to get past whatever obstacle is holding them up.

She hears from people who are in between jobs and need help covering a utility bill or rent. She gets calls from people who need help purchasing uniforms for the vocational school they plan to attend or from individuals who need help to enroll in school. Or, she might pick up the phone and hear from someone who needs transportation while their vehicle is being repaired.

Gregory listens. She sometimes offers advice. And if the people on the other end of the line qualify for assistance, she gets the ball rolling for them. 

“We just try to make sure we help wherever we’re needed,” she said. “We’re basically the glue.”

The CSBG is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The block grant works like a catch-all fund: federal dollars that local agencies can use where they’re needed most, especially for the small but critical expenses that often determine whether someone can finish a class, keep a job, or stay stable. 

The federal funding is distributed to states annually using a statutory formula, and the states then have to pass 90% of the funding along to organizations like Community Action Agencies to disperse.

For 2024, Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity Inc. received $453,000. For 2025, it received just over $400,000. The organization serves four counties with those funds, addressing the “causes and conditions” of poverty. The amount of the annual disbursement can fluctuate based on the state of poverty in a community. 

“It’s heartbreaking but fulfilling at the same time,” Gregory said of the work she does. “We have  individuals who are sincerely trying to do things and want to make a difference in their lives and want to go to school to get off the system and not have to come in here and ask for help another time. The focus is always on self sufficiency. 

Gregory knows how hard that path can be. One unexpected expense — a car repair, the cost of  training, a uniform, a high power bill — can knock someone off course. Years of underinvestment have made those everyday hurdles heavier, which is why short-term support can make such a difference in whether someone keeps moving forward. When one neighbor is able to stay in school or keep a job because of that support, the economic benefits ripple out — stronger families make for stronger local businesses, schools, and towns.

And when the people calling her suggest that she doesn’t understand their situation, Gregory corrects them. She gets it more than they know.

Gregory lives in Henderson now, but she grew up in neighboring Warren County, where the entire population is just about 19,000 people. She became a mother as a teenager, completed high school and earned a college degree. But she didn’t do it without a little help. 

Her own experience shapes the way she sees the people who call her today. Many aren’t looking for long-term assistance, they just need one bit of support to stay enrolled in a program, keep a job, or get their family through a rough month. For Gregory, those moments of stability are what self-sufficiency is built on. She’s seen how one small lift at the right time can change more than one life — when people reach stability, they contribute back into the local economy, volunteer more, spend money locally, and help build the kind of community everyone benefits from.

Gregory appreciates that the calls she receives eventually end up being the success stories she gets to share. She loves bumping into people she’s worked with around town or at the grocery store, where she can hear how well they’re doing. 

Seeing the positive outcomes, and knowing the individuals she works with are improving their ability to contribute to the character and economy of the community, is why she’s done the work she is doing for so long. She just celebrated 31 years.

“You have to want to stay here because it’s not about the money, it’s about helping the people when you work for a nonprofit like a Community Action Agency,” she shared. “The reward is when you see individuals improving themselves and doing better.”

It’s common, she said, for the people in the community who receive assistance to turn around and pay it forward once they’re on their own way. A local barber who received funding from the CSBG to help with barber school hosts a free “Back to School” event, offering hair cuts for the community. 

The individual successes, and the willingness of people to give back once they can, is why she views the grants she is able to deliver as investments, not handouts.

“You have to have a heart for the work you do,” she said. “We think about this stuff when we go home. It’s not just like you’re at a factory and packing and doing something and you go home. When you’re doing this type of work it’s hard not to think about the things you’ve heard or seen during the day. It carries. It stays with you until you know something has been taken care of.”