About Us

Project NOW provides a broad range of services to help meet basic needs and achieve self-sufficiency.

We strive to eliminate the causes of poverty through strategic initiatives and alleviate the negative conditions where poor people live through strategic partnerships. We work towards our mission by addressing issues of poverty and aging in Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer Counties in Illinois. Our services include Head Start kindergarten readiness for 330 children ages 3-5 years; utility assistance for over 7000 households; food assistance; rent and deposit assistance; transitional housing; permanent, safe, affordable, housing; emergency needs assistance (dental, car repairs); emergency furnace repair/replacement; and Weatherization services. We also serve over 2000 Seniors with home-delivered meals, congregate meal sites, information and assistance, and door-to-door transportation through our RIM Rural Transit program. Project Now is one of over 1000 Community Action Agencies that cover nearly every county in America. Community Action Agencies sprang from the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 officially declaring a War on Poverty. 

Our Mission: We strengthen communities by helping people help themselves and one another.

Our Vision: We envision the whole community working hand in hand to meet human needs, protect human dignity and restore hope.

Staff:
Executive Director Dwight L. Ford

Rev. Dwight Ford is the seventh  Executive Director of Project NOW.  Prior to serving at Project NOW he was Executive director of the Eastern Nebraska Community Action Partnership and Executive Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in Rock Island.  He was born in Crystal Springs, Mississippi and reared in Rock Island, Illinois.  Upon graduating high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and successfully completed a six-year military career. Director Ford holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Illinois University and a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.   He is currently a Doctoral student in a dual program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

Chief Financial Officer Jen Biskie
Community Services Director Ron Lund
Community Services Associate Director Kris Downey
Senior Center Director Michelle Dyer
Head Start Director Andrea Flannery
Human Resources Director La Ronda Birch
Special Projects Director Katie Resig

Project NOW’s Board of Directors:
Chair, Cathy Bizarri
Vice Chair, Gary Bradley
Treasurer, Barrett Essman
Secretary, Suzanne Eagle
Sr. Roberta Bussan
Crystal Castro
Emily Cummings
Ngone Diop
Rick Gosney
Gabi Hurtado
Michael Manternach
Carla McElrath
Moses Robinson
Stacy Schmit