The Dutchess County Community Action Partnership (DutchessCAP) is a nonprofit agency established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to fight America's War on Poverty. DCCAP helps people to help themselves in achieving self-sufficiency.

Each year, the Community Action Partnership (CAP) network recognizes May as National Community Action Month. During May, the Community Action Partnership and CAP's celebrate Community Action successes and re-commit to fighting poverty.

Every four years during National Community Action Month, the network leads a series of dialogues on poverty to discuss how to attack the root causes of poverty at the local, state, and national levels. The National Dialogue on Poverty began in 1996 with more than 150,000 people participating in over 3,000 local dialogues convened by 500 CAP's across America. Sixty-four percent of the 1996 participants identified well-paying jobs with benefits as the top priority in eliminating the causes of poverty.

Other important concerns included basic needs, affordable housing, education, and healthcare. The Partnership's follow-up Dialogue 2000 focused on how communities and CAPs can advocate for the implementation of public policies to achieve their priorities and produced An Agenda for Every American.

The Community Action Partnership was established in 1971 as the National Association of Community Action Agencies (NACAA) and is the national organization representing the interests of the 1,000 Community Action Agencies (CAA's) working to fight poverty at the local level.