Ogden Agency Promises Change To Salvage $165,000 State Grant OGDEN — Impassioned pleas Wednesday night may have saved at least one financial lifeline that an embattled anti-poverty agency needs to survive. A promise to tighten budgetary and management practices also could persuade state administrators to keep the Ogden Area - Community Action Agency (OA- CAA) afloat. was Don the lobbying Carpenter, efforts the new head of the OACAA board of trustees and the man entrusted with refurbishing the tarnished reputation of an organization under intense federal and state scrutiny. “It’s been a multitude of so many problems that it has been overwhelming,” Carpenter told Ann Kagie, Utah block-grant co- ordinator. ‘“‘But we are almost sh irae there.”’ BY MONTE WHALEY THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Leading . react tea neat] oiteestei >} Carpenter and other board members persuaded Kagie to re- Arae cusess nore 4 0] win xs ey F consider cancelling a $165,000 block grant, one of two major OACAA funding sources that are endangered because of dis- mal performance reviews. They convinced her that the agency’s board and staff are willing to to follow stricter guidelines keep the institution out of trouble. But Kagie warned them that this could be the last chance for the agency. “There will be no more stonewalling,” she said. The OACAA was incorporated in 1965 as a private, nonprofit body to serve a variety of programs for low-income families in Weber County. One of the largest services is Head Start, which prepares 3- to 5-year-olds for public school. The agency also oversees a day care, home weatherization, a food pantry Ryan Galbraith/The Salt Lake Tribune Don Carpenter, Ogden Area Community Action Agency and a variety of services funded by community-development ; block grants. — Carpenter became chairman of the agency’s governing board See AGENCY, Page A-