Director enjoys serving people
CAPCA’s executive director enjoys serving people
Jennifer Welter wants to make a difference. “I’ve always wanted to serve people, to make a difference,” said Welter, executive director of the Community Action Program for Central Arkansas. “I think CAPCA is a real good fit for me.”
Welter, 42, was no stranger to the nonprofit organization with its administrative offices in Conway when she assumed her duties as CAPCA’s leader in February.
“I began working at CAPCA as a volunteer while I was a stay-at-home mom,” said Welter, who lives on Beaverfork Lake with her husband and three sons. “My membership in the Junior Auxiliary of Conway led me to volunteer with CAPCA in the Holiday Food Box program.”
Following her volunteer work, Welter was hired in 2010 as the health coordinator for CAPCA’s Head Start program. She moved up to director of Head Start, serving in that capacity for a year before being named CAPCA’s executive director.
CAPCA is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that assists low-income families. Its mission is “to provide quality services to eligible participants that enhance lives, expand self-reliance and increase community involvement.”
A United Way of Central Arkansas agency, the organization employs approximately 200 people and serves Faulkner, Cleburne and White counties.
“We served 18,735 individuals last year,” Welter said.
She said the organization’s biggest program
Head Start is near to my heart. If you are having a bad day, go down and see the children. It will lift your spirits.” Jennifer Welter EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM FOR CENTRAL ARKANSAS
is Head Start, which is a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that provides a comprehensive child-development program for preschool children in low-income families.
CAPCA Head Start programs in Faulkner County include two in Conway and one in Greenbrier. CAPCA’s Head Start locations in Cleburne County include Quitman and Heber Springs.
CAPCA also operates a Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program in White, Bradley and Desha counties in Arkansas, as well as five parishes in Louisiana, providing services for families who work in agriculture.
Welter said that last year, CAPCA expanded its Head Start program into Arkansas, Lincoln and Lonoke counties and added the Early Head Start Program in the new counties, “allowing us to serve pregnant moms, infants and toddlers.
“We are currently working with Arkansas Preschool Plus and local child care facilities that serve low-income children through the state voucher system to partner and bring Early Head Start services to Faulkner County,” she said. “This will help raise the quality of child care for low-income families.”
“Head Start is near to my heart,” Welter said. “If you are having a bad day, go down and see the children. It will lift your spirits.”
CAPCA also operates a food pantry, distributing commodities once a month and in emergency situations in Faulkner County.
“Faulkner County has a lot of food pantries, and we still have a need,” Welter said. “We have families coming in consistently.”
Other CAPCA programs include the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to help eligible people with utility bills; the Weatherization Program that helps homeowners with energy-conservation needs; the Single Parent Scholarship Program; and the Individual Development Account Program, which offers matched savings accounts.
Welter was born in Little Rock and grew up in Springdale. She graduated from Springdale High School in 1990 and from the University of Central Arkansas in 2000 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
She met her husband, Paul, in an accounting class at UCA. They were married at St. Joseph Catholic Church in 1997.
Paul grew up in Conway, the son of Susan Welter and the late Earl Welter. Paul is a graduate of St. Joseph High School.
The Welters own Classic Tile and Hardwood Flooring in Conway. Their sons – Austin, 17; Jacob 15; and Lukas, 13 — attend St. Joseph schools.
Welter said she grew up in a single-parent household, the daughter of Chris Swanson of Perryville. Welter has three brothers: John Hoffmann, 30, and Joseph Swanson, 25, both of Conway; and Paul Hussey, 43, of Forrest City.
“As a child, I remember places like [CAPCA],” Welter said. “I remember getting commodities. We all need a little help sometimes in our lives.
“I’ve always wanted to make sure I could provide for my family.”
“I was able to stay at home with the kids and help out in family business,” she said. “My husband used to joke with me, saying with as much time as I spent with the kids and their activities, I worked about two hours a day. I think I worked a lot more.”
The Welters are active at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Conway.
“We just finished up with the annual bazaar,” Welter said. “It all went well. Paul always volunteers at the flea market.
“I have been PTO president, vice president, homeroom mom, … all the things you do with your children,” she said.
Welter said she has attended St. Joseph Church since 1996 but just became a Catholic on Easter Sunday.
“We are raising our boys in the Catholic Church,” she said. “It’s important to me that they get a Christian background. … I wanted them to know God at an early age. It’s important they be able to pray.”
Welter said she tries to live by the Golden Rule, not only in her personal life but in her professional life as well.
“‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ That pretty much says it all,” Welter said. “Respect — it’s so important. Treat others like you want to be treated.”
Welter said running is her hobby.
She runs marathons and half marathons and will participate in the Soaring Wings Ranch Half Marathon in October, the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon in December and the Little Rock Marathon in March.
“I came to running through the free run/walk clinics provided by Women Run Arkansas each year,” she said. “I had never run a step, but when my children were smaller, I began to run to find some quiet time. The more you run, the more quiet time you have. Saturday morning is the perfect time for a run.”
Welter said she was just diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
“Running will be good,” she said. “It will help me keep it in check.
“I run for the Children’s Tumor Foundation to raise awareness and to find a cure for NF — neurofibromatosis — which can cause tumors to grow on nerve tissue.”
She will run with the NF Endurance Team in the Little Rock Marathon. According to the website
www.ctf.org, neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body, including the brain and spinal cord. It can lead to blindness, deafness, chronic pain, bone abnormalities, cancer and a wide range of additional complications.
When asked where she wants to be in five years, Welter said, “I still hope to be here at CAPCA. Right now, there is a need for some consistency, and I want to be here.” And in 10 years? “I really am thinking about something on the state or federal level with Head Start,” she said. “I am just considering that.
“I really enjoy what I am doing. We are still fighting a war on poverty to help families become self-sufficient. There is so much still to be done.”
Welter is an associate member of the Junior Auxiliary of Conway. She belongs to a number of work-related organizations, including the National Head Start Association and the Arkansas Head Start Association, and is a board member of the Arkansas Community Action Agencies Association and of Women Run Arkansas. She is also an accredited running coach through the Road Runners Club of Arkansas.