About Us

The Council of the Southern Mountains is a community action agency established in 1964 to help low-income individuals and families achieve economic, social and psychological self-sufficiency in southern West Virginia, especially McDowell County. The Council is a 501 c (3) nonprofit corporation governed by a volunteer tripartite Board of Directors. The Board is composed of individual from three areas: 1) low-income and minority, 2) elected officials and 3) community representatives. The agency serves people in the southern part of West Virginia with emphasis on McDowell County, an economically distressed area experiencing high unemployment and social disparities.

The Council of the Southern Mountains presently provides services for individuals and families to help them achieve self-sufficiency. The Council also provides programs for unemployed and underemployed individuals, high school drop-outs, unwed parents, parolees and TANF recipients as high need individuals that need CSM assistance in gaining meaningful community services that provide all measures of citizenship and dignity. CSM provides job training and other services for these individuals and strives to keep the agency functioning at a level that will provide meaningful interventions for the people targeted for help.

The agency specifically served 3,000 families in the Community Services Block Grant program this past year which provides food pantries, transportation, seasonal food allocations, clothing, infant formula for eligible families, assistance to the elderly, energy assistance and housing referrals.


CSM Program Areas Overview

The following are the present sources of funding to the agency:

Grants Number of Staff Employed

Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) 4
Federal funded program administered through the
WV Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity
Annual Budget: $282,187

Foster Grandparent Program/2
Federal funded program administered through the
WV Office of the Corporation for National Service
Annual Budget: $323,563

Retired Senior Volunteer Program/1
Federal funded program administered through the
WV Office of the Corporation for National Service
Annual Budget: $88,000

No Heat Emergency Program

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program/ CSBG Staff
Provides free tax preparation and filing for low-income
individuals through the CSBG program

Youth Exposure Series/ CSBG Staff
Administered by our CSBG Program to provide
Meaningful educational and recreational experiences to
Area youth. Examples include: transporting African-
American Youth to WVU for a week long exposure to
engineering; Trips to the Clay Center; local minor league
baseball games, etc. 

Title XIX Waiver 20 Staff

Intellectually/Developmentally Disabled

Medicaid fee-for-service.

Administered through the WV DHHR

Annual Budget: $700,000

CSM FITNESS AND WELLNESS CENTER/3 Staff

Member: PEIA Weight Management Program; Silver Sneakers

Administration/3 Staff

Agency administered by an Executive Director with
30 years experience in nonprofit program operation.
The finance office is under the supervision of a Director
with over 17 years experience.  (A copy of the
latest agency audit is available for review.) The agency
has an approved 16.05% indirect cost rate.

The annual budget for these programs is circa $2,100,000 and utilizing a 6 to 1 “roll-over” ratio of this amount shows an economic impact to this County and area of nearly 14 million dollars annually.

McDowellCounty is located in the coalfields of southern West Virginia. The economic conditions of the 1980s resulted in the loss of jobs in the primary employment area of coal mining. Due to the economic downturn, families suffered as poverty levels increased dramatically. Since 1980, 60 percent of the population has left the County, leaving approximately 20,000 people.

According to Mission of Faith statistics about McDowell County, found at www.missionoffaith.com/mcdowell_county.htm, the following challenges exist in the County:

• McDowell is the twenty-eighth poorest county in America
• It has the fifth highest child poverty rate
• It has the sixth worst health status in America
• Unemployment persistently doubles the state rate and more than triples the national rate
• The median family income is half the national average
• It has one of the lowest levels of educational achievement in the nation
• It has the highest illiteracy rates among adults in West Virginia
• Of its high school graduates, only 44 percent attend college
• At 3.4 percent, it has one of the lowest levels of college graduates in the workforce in the nation
• Most of the land and natural resources, 85 percent, are owned by absentee landowners

The total population of the County in 2015 was 19,885 with approximately 2,400 individuals being African-American with an additional 316 people in other minority groups.  Further, the average age of County residents is 40.5 years, one of the oldest in the State. This fact is indicative of a lack of skills in modern technology and long term functional deficits that result in significant health issues. Additionally, persons living in the County below the poverty level are 37.7 percent, compared to 17.9 percent for the State, indicating further that ability to seek health education and treatment is dramatically limited in the area. These are also statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Another factor contributing to significant needs of the County identified is the number of people with a diagnosed disability, age 5 and over. U.S. Census Bureau reports the number of people with disabilities amounts to 38 percent of the County residents. Nationally, unemployment rates for people with disabilities approaches 85 percent and higher, with no health insurance and limited financial resources.
These figures dramatically support the need for innovative interventions to overcome the economic challenges in McDowell County.