The Tri-County Opportunities Council (TCOC), Community Action Agency, was organized and incorporated in 1965 by a group of interested citizens from Lee, Ogle, and Whiteside Counties for the purposes of investigating the frequency, location, character and cause of poverty; and coordinating efforts to prevent, alleviate and eliminate poverty through the cooperation of public agencies, private organizations, business, industry and interested individuals.
 

• To strengthen and enable low-income people to become self-sufficient through the attaining of necessary skills, knowledge, motivations and opportunities.
• To better organize a wide range of services related to the needs of low-income people in Bureau, Carroll, LaSalle, Lee, Marshall, Ogle, Putnam, Stark and Whiteside Counties by utilization of innovative approaches and new types of services in attacking the causes of poverty including the support of self-help groups and cooperative efforts of low-income people.
• To encourage participation of low-income people in the planning, development and implementation of programs and projects and in the decision making processes of governmental entities affecting their lives.
• To strenghthen the capabilities of the CAA's community for planning and coordinating federal, state, local and private assistance related to the elimination of poverty by broadening the resource base of programs to include public officials, private organizations, individuals, business and industry.