Community Action Selects Heather Loughman as New CEO

The Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties  (www.communityactionatwork.org) Board of Directors announced that after more than 10 years with the agency, Heather Loughman has been named its new CEO. Loughman began her role on October 31, succeeding the former CEO, Vi See, who retired after over 13 years of service. Loughman has served in the director of communications and development role on the agency’s leadership team since 2017. Since first joining Community Action, she has been instrumental in increasing support for agency programs, growing programs’ services provided, and adding new services to benefit residents of the agency’s two-county service area.

Loughman holds a BA in Scientific and Technical Communication; business emphasis and an MS in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Michigan Technological University. She has a Certificate in Fundraising Management. She is a Leadership Lincoln Fellows XXXIV and was named United Way Speaker of the Year in 2019.

Loughman assumes her new role at a time of tremendous growth. Community Action currently employs 166 staff across its seven locations in Lancaster and Saunders Counties, including three full-day, full-year early childhood centers in Lincoln. In addition, Community Action Head Start is expanding early childhood education services to enroll 72 additional children and their families.

Community Action’s mission is to empower people living in poverty to reach economic stability. Its programs and services address the causes and conditions of poverty in four impact areas: early childhood education, homelessness prevention, financial and family well-being, and hunger relief and healthy food access. In 2020, Community Action provided over 107,800 services to over 17,900 individuals in Lancaster and Saunders Counties. In 2021, efforts to address heightened need have continued, as many who were most affected by the pandemic are continuing to recover. To learn more, visit www.communityactionatwork.org.