SEACAA 2026 Annual Conference

Human Resources Pre-Conference Track: Technicolor Culture: Generating a Cult Mentality for Maximum Engagement

Palms Ballroom 1

Are you curious how the most successful organizations produce team loyalty, brand pride, and purpose-driven growth among their team members? They understand the essentials of moving from a “black and white” service mentality to a “full color” hospitality mindset. Explore key concepts from the best-seller “Unreasonable Hospitality” and learn how to help your team level up to a hospitality-first culture. Participants will explore how to give meaningful feedback that builds on employees’ strengths; how to create a culture of collaboration; when and where to create margin to boost creativity; and how to tap “Dreamweavers” within your organization.

Head Start Fiscal Readiness: Monitoring, Reporting, and Audit Preparation

Palms Ballroom 2

What would a fiscal reviewer notice in your agency's records? In this interactive workshop, participants can bring their questions to a current Head Start fiscal reviewer and work through practical examples involving monitoring, bank reconciliations, drawdowns, federal reports, and Single Audit preparation. We'll look at issues that can lead to noncompliance or deficiencies, then focus on improving the processes and internal controls behind them. Participants will also explore how to complete and support the SF-425, SF-428, and SF-429. Whether your agency operates Head Start or another federally funded program, you'll leave with ideas for strengthening oversight and meeting federal requirements under the Uniform Guidance.

Feeding Success: Farm-to-Preschool Initiatives

Palms Ballroom 1

A ready-to-use Farm-to-Preschool model that puts fresh, local produce on the plates of the kids your agency serves.

Fiscal Hot Topics: Cost Allocation, Allowability, Non-Federal Share

Palms Ballroom 2

Straight answers on the two fiscal questions that keep Head Start finance teams up at night.

Unlocking Your Potential: Personality & Temperament

Palms Ballroom 3

An interactive look at temperament styles that will change the way your whole team works together.

Data Silos to Synergy: Unified Data Strategy

Palms Ballroom 4/5

How to break down data silos and finally get every program working from one playbook.

The "Why" for Organizational Standards for Board & Staff

Palms Ballroom 7

The real reasoning behind ADECA's organizational standards — and how to make them work for you, not against you.

Connecting Communities: How Intelligent Cloud VoIP Helps Community Action Agencies Do More With Less

Palms Ballroom 8

Community Action Agencies are being asked to serve more people with greater efficiency, often across multiple locations and with limited resources. This session explores how intelligent cloud-based VoIP communications can help agencies improve client engagement, streamline operations, and support remote and hybrid work environments. You will discover how modern cloud communications platforms combine voice, messaging, video, contact center capabilities, and AI-powered tools to reduce administrative burdens, improve responsiveness, and enhance the client experience. You'll also learn how features such as intelligent call routing, voicemail transcription, call analytics, and business continuity tools can help agencies strengthen service delivery, increase operational resilience, and better fulfill their mission of serving communities in need.

Show Me the Money! How to Write a Successful Grant

Tides Ballroom C

Ready to take the guesswork out of grant writing? In this hands-on session, we'll walk through how to get started with a grant, break down a funding opportunity announcement so it actually makes sense, and then build it back up into a compelling, successful narrative. You'll be guided through the process by an experienced grant writer with over $40 million awarded across local, state, foundation, and federal funding—so you'll be learning from someone who's truly been there and done that. Whether you are brand new to grants or just looking to sharpen your skills, this training will give you practical tools and tips to make your proposals stand out. After this session participants will be able to: • How to get started with a federal grant (because if you learn this every other grant application will be easy!) • How to understand a Funding Opportunity Announcement (because if you learn this the process won't seem as intimidating as it looks!) • How to reconstruct the information into a successful narrative (because it's easier than you think!)

Young Professionals Mixer

Sea Oats Porch

A relaxed, low-key space for rising leaders to connect, swap ideas, and build a network across the region.

Executive Directors Mixer

To be announced

A dedicated space for EDs to trade notes, unwind with peers, and talk shop away from the day's sessions.

The Question: What's in Your Backpack?

Palms Ballroom 1

An honest, interactive look at the pressures leaders carry — and permission to set some of it down.

Uniform Guidance

Palms Ballroom 2

A practical refresher on federal Uniform Guidance every fiscal and program team should have on lock.

From Chaos to Culture: Strategic HR, Leadership, Alignment

Palms Ballroom 3

A real-world model for rebuilding agency culture through stronger HR and sharper leadership alignment.

Data Driven Leadership

Palms Ballroom 4/5

Trade gut-feel decisions for real data — and lead with confidence instead of assumptions.

I've Got Data, Now What: Needs Assessment for Strategic Planning

Palms Ballroom 7

Turn your needs assessment data into a strategic plan your agency will actually use.

Retirement Readiness for Your Employees

Tides Ballroom C

Help employees reduce anxiety through a retirement readiness check-in, including for early retirement. We can help employees calculate how much they need in retirement and understand the role that social security plays. We can also review their current and future income and expenses and explain how they can access their retirement savings without penalty.

The 24/7 Front Door: AI Playbook for Expanding Access

Palms Ballroom 1

A real playbook for using AI to keep your doors open around the clock, without adding headcount.

Program and Fiscal Working Together

Palms Ballroom 2

What happens when program and fiscal teams finally speak the same language.

CAP Poverty Simulation

Tides Ballroom ABRoom Change

An immersive simulation that puts you in the shoes of the families your agency serves every day.

Upstream Systems, Downstream Health

Palms Ballroom 4/5

A bold reframe of Community Action as healthcare infrastructure, grounded in real science on stress and health.

The Power of You: The Purpose & Promise of Community Action

Palms Ballroom 7

Community Action is demanding work, and somewhere between deadlines, regulations, reports, and the needs of the people we serve, it can be easy to lose sight of why we chose this work in the first place. Because of You is an inspiring and interactive session designed to help Community Action professionals reconnect with their purpose and rediscover their “why.” Through powerful stories, reflection, laughter, participants will be reminded that no matter their role or program, what they do matters. Come ready to reconnect, recharge, and remember: you may never fully know the difference you make—but someone's life is different because of you.

Federal Grant Law Update

Tides Ballroom C

During the past year CAAs and other federal grant recipients have seen various fluctuations to the federal funding landscape. The sources of changes include executive orders, proposed revisions to regulations, new agency guidance, and related litigation. Join the lively discussion with an experienced federal grants attorney on some of the ongoing developments in federal grant law requirements impacting the administration and oversight of CSBG funds and other federal grant programs CAAs operate. After this session participants will be able to: • Identify changing standards impacting federal grant recipients • Understand which rules apply to different funding streams • Develop strategies to maintain compliance with changing requirements

Updates from Region IV Young Professional Representative

Palms Ballroom 1

Eligibility Is Where the Risk Lives

Palms Ballroom 2

One family, one determination — and what fragmented intake costs. Treat eligibility as one agency-wide process across CSBG, LIHEAP, WAP, and Head Start: where determinations can lawfully carry forward, where documentation standards differ, and how a single mis-captured field surfaces eighteen months later in an annual report.

Maximizing Impact: Integrating WIOA Services

Palms Ballroom 3

A proven, 23-county WIOA partnership model you can take home and adapt.

Pathways, Standards, and Sanity: Community Action Framework

Palms Ballroom 7

Stop treating Organizational Standards as a compliance chore — start using them to build a genuinely stronger agency.

The Unstoppable Parent Engagement Plan: Strengthening Families, Building Communities

Tides Ballroom C

This interactive session moves parent engagement beyond participation and toward meaningful partnership. Participants will explore practical strategies for strengthening family dynamics, building trust with parents, and creating environments where families feel seen, heard, valued, and empowered. Together, we'll examine how stronger family engagement can create lasting momentum for children, families, and communities.

Making the Mission More Than Just A Poster

Palms Ballroom 1

A leadership session on turning your mission from a wall poster into a daily practice.

Plan It–Fund It: Fundraising Workshop

Palms Ballroom 2

A hands-on, 60-minute working session to build your own path toward unrestricted funding — not just another lecture.

Leaders Lead Change: From Urgency to Adoption

Tides Ballroom B

Practical strategies for driving urgency and adoption when your organization needs to change fast.

Negotiate from a Position of Power

Tides Ballroom C

We will talk about how to negotiate from a position of authority and power. We will talk about the common mistakes people make when signing contracts, and give some practical strategies to walk away with.

Whole Brain Leadership – Putting Your Preferences to Work for You

Tides Ballroom ARoom Change

Ever notice how some tasks come easily and time goes by in a flash and others seem to take forever though they aren’t particularly difficult? Ever thought you clearly assigned a task only to have the result be something totally unexpected? Understanding our natural thinking preferences and those of others can help us better communicate with and motivate others. In this workshop, we’ll explore a model to identify our preferences, strengthen our weaknesses, and put our strengths in action.