Paige Teegarden
Paige Teegarden, MPP, boasts an illustrious career of over 30 years marked by her unwavering commitment to improving the effectiveness and efficiencies of businesses and nonprofit organizations of all sizes.
Read her bio →About
Helping the helpers through data.
Our Partners
A unique partnership
empowOR is the result of a unique partnership. Miles IT, Garrett County Community Action (GCCAC) and organization development expert Paige Teegarden formed CSST Software, LLC which owns, supports, and continuously develops CADS and empowOR. This privately-held partnership leverages the strengths of the partners:
Garrett County Community Action
Garrett County Community Action (GCCAC) is a large, diverse, rural community action agency located in Oakland, MD and has been in operation since 1965.
Learn more →Miles Technology
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Moorestown, New Jersey, Miles IT is a leading provider of business technology solutions to all types and sizes of businesses. With offices throughout New Jersey, New York, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Northern Virginia, and the greater Philadelphia Metro area, Miles IT services the computer consulting needs of more than 1,800 clients nationwide and employs over 100 full-time professionals.
Learn more →Our Approach
Mission
At empowOR, we believe in changing human services through data by helping the helpers. Our software provides a top tier client services tracking system that supports the Whole Family approach. The tools we provide help agencies across the nation focus on data collection and management, in order to optimize efficiency and maximize results in their communities.
About Us
empowOR was 'born' out of the complex needs of multi-service agencies who are trying to:
- De-silo their data and approach
- Use data and technology to improve efficiencies in operations
- Coordinate services
- Use data for funder reporting & strategic analysis
Our Team
The people behind empowOR
Leadership
Paige Teegarden
Founder & CEO
Paige Teegarden, MPP, boasts an illustrious career of over 30 years marked by her unwavering commitment to improving the effectiveness and efficiencies of businesses and nonprofit organizations of all sizes. As the CEO & Founder of CSST Software LLC, Paige has been the driving force and visionary behind the inception and evolution of empowOR and its sister product CADS (Community Action Data Store). She believes in the power of data to transform agencies and communities.
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Before taking the helm at CSST Software, as Vice President at Garrett County Community Action, Paige's transformative leadership reshaped the agency into a client-centric and outcome-driven powerhouse. Paige's influence extended to the national stage as she spearheaded GCCAC's pioneering efforts in developing 2 Generation Approaches to Poverty Alleviation, positioning the organization as a shining example of innovation in the field. Prior to her work at Garrett County, Paige was an organization development consultant for 100s of nonprofits across the country; She even wrote a book, published by Jossey-Bass, The Nonprofit Organizational Culture Guide which still informs her work today.
Her unwavering belief in the potency of data, combined with her dedication to enhancing staff capabilities in data collection, utilization, and interpretation, has led her to consider it the paramount strategy for navigating the ever-evolving landscapes of funding and operations. In Paige's view, the data-driven approach stands as an indispensable component of the adaptive capacity essential for the sustained success of nonprofit and governmental organizations alike.
Meaghan Arzberger
VP of Customer Success
Meaghan Arzberger has over 15 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations focused primarily on fighting poverty. Meaghan started at empowOR in 2023 as the Director of Capacity Building where she oversees efforts to increase customer's use of data effectively - from technical assistance, to data migrations, to custom reports. Meaghan brings expertise around CSBG reporting, the ROMA cycle, HUD Housing Counseling, Whole Family approach, and Social Drivers of Health.
Lil Dupree
Director of Professional Services
Lil Dupree is the VP of Customer Experience at empowOR and is a dedicated professional with an impressive 19-year journey in the realm of Community Action, spanning both local and national landscapes. Lil is a Certified Community Action Professional (CCAP) and a former Master ROMA Trainer, with a proven track record of leading impactful national initiatives. Her contributions include steering major projects like the Organizational Standards and Emerging Leaders Projects, as well as lending her expertise to the National Data Taskforce.
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At the grassroots level, Lil has held key roles, including that of Executive Director, where she successfully implemented empowOR in not one, but two agencies. Before joining empowOR, Lil's journey led her to the National Community Action Partnership, where she made significant contributions as Director of Training and Technical Assistance and later as a Senior Associate.
With an intimate understanding of how Community Action Agencies function, Lil now serves as empowOR's astute VP of Customer Experience, where she excels at helping agencies efficiently and effectively meet the diverse data needs of their programs, funders, and overall organizational goals. Beyond her professional accolades, Lil holds a double BA in History and German from Lewis and Clark College. Her passions extend far beyond the boardroom, as she is an avid weaver and a culinary enthusiast. Her multifaceted background and unwavering commitment continue to drive positive change in the world of Community Action.
John Fox
Director of Development
John Fox is the Technical Lead Developer at empowOR. With nine years of robust development experience, John has established himself as a proficient and versatile professional. His diverse background encompasses work on Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems and the creation of a customized web-based shipping platform, which shares frameworks with empowOR.
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John's expertise extends beyond development, as he has also managed an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system, where he ensured that the technology stack consistently met the evolving needs of customers. His proficiency lies in crafting plans for novel system functionalities and steering projects to their successful implementation. In 2019, John joined the empowOR team, where he adeptly transitioned his wealth of experience into a different context. He finds immense satisfaction in contributing to the development of solutions that empower customers to make a positive impact on others. John's technical skill set is vast and includes proficiency in languages such as C++, C#, VB, Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, SQL, Progress, EDI, and ASP.NET. His commitment to delivering innovative solutions and his adaptability in various technological domains make him a valuable asset to any team.
Sales/Ops
The empowOR Sales & Operations Team is responsible for identifying and acquiring new agencies, conducting product demonstrations, crafting responses to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), and negotiating pricing & terms. Additionally, these individuals are responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of empowOR, ensuring that processes run smoothly, resources are allocated efficiently, and customer needs are met.
Engineering
The empowOR Engineering Team is responsible for creating, maintaining, and enhancing the empowOR software. This diverse and experienced team of developers are responsible for writing, testing, and maintaining the code that makes up empowOR's features and functionalities. They work within various programming languages, frameworks, and tools to deliver a competitive software solution. Our current team is 10 staff strong!
Customer Success
The empowOR Customer Success Team supports new agencies with onboarding by providing personalized training sessions, walkthroughs, and documentation to ensure effective use of the empowOR software. CET provides day-to-day assistance to agencies who encounter issues, have questions, or need guidance on using the software. They offer timely and effective solutions through various channels, such as email, chat, phone, and ticketing systems.
We're Hiring!
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SOC 2 audited, every year
CSST Software has a favorable SOC 2 audit and completes audits once a year. According to this year's SOC 2 - Type 2 Report, empowOR by CSST has established operational requirements that support the achievement of service commitments, relevant laws and regulations, and other system requirements. Such requirements are communicated in its system policies and procedures, system design documentation, and customer agreements. Information security policies define an organization-wide approach to how systems and data are protected. These include policies around how the service is designed and developed, how the system is operated, how the internal business systems and networks are managed, and how employees are hired and trained. In addition to these policies, standard operating procedures have been documented on how to carry out specific manual and automated processes required in the operation and development of various CSST services. Our SOC 2 had no findings listed.
In terms of additional security measures, Miles IT, which hosts our application, has been subject to Security, Privacy, Confidentiality and Availability SOC 2 Type II audits annually and CSST Software reviews the report to ensure consistency with principal objectives and service commitments. Current Service Level Agreements guarantee a software response time (defined as the interval from the time the end user sends a transaction to the time a visual confirmation of transaction completion is received), of less than two (2) seconds for 98% of all transactions.
What our clients say
Testimonials
“Client inquiry and the ability to send requests for documents have reduced the time that our Case Managers spend doing intake by 50%.”
Joseph Figueroa
Tri Lakes Cares (TLC), CO“Before empowOR, La Puente's Crisis Prevention arm was taking up to 2 weeks to process an application. These days, we can process applications in 1 business day! empowOR was a game changer.”
Adam Cheise
La Puente Crisis Prevention, CO“The capacity for reporting is far beyond any system we have seen.”
Betsy Andrews Parker
Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, NH“We can case note what is going on with someone, read the notes, and pick back up where someone else left off. That wasn't the case when we were in many different systems.”
Dawn van Hees CCAP, NCRI
Lakes and Pines CAC, Inc., MN
Ready to see empowOR in action?
Book a short pre-demo and we’ll walk through how empowOR fits your programs.