Alliance for Community Empowerment (the “Alliance”) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit agency that was designed as the anti-poverty agency for the Greater Bridgeport Area in September of 1964 by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Alliance for Community Empowerment serves more than 35,000 individuals annually through its broad range of services in an eight-town area, covering Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Norwalk, Stratford, Trumbull, and Westport, Connecticut. The Alliance offers diverse programs including early learning, youth services, energy assistance and many other supportive services.
This Privacy Policy describes our policies and procedures regarding our collection, use and disclosure of the personal information that we receive in the course of our activities. Our collection, use and disclosure of personal information are regulated by applicable federal and state law, including, without limitation, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
How We Collect Information
Information You Choose to Share
Primarily, we collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us. For example, when you apply for a job through our website or seek out more information about one of our programs, we request information about you, such as your name and contact information. We may also collect similar personal information from you in person.
As discussed below, we may also supplement the information we collect with information we receive from other federal and state government agencies (such as the IRS and the Connecticut Department of Social Services) as well as private information clearinghouses.
Information Collected Automatically
• Log Files
When you use our website, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser. This information is periodically deleted as part of normal maintenance routines.
• Cookies
Cookies are small text files stored on your computer by a website that assigns a numerical user ID and stores certain information about your online browsing. We use cookies on this site to help us recognize you as a prior user and to understand the usage of our website – for example, Google Analytics. If you wish, you can adjust your web browser’s privacy settings to delete cookies upon exiting websites or when you close your browser. You may also configure your browser to block cookies; however, doing so may negatively impact your user experience.
How We Use and Disclose Personal Information
We use your information for the purposes of providing our applicable services – for example, if you apply for energy assistance, we will use your information for the purpose of evaluating your eligibility and administering your benefits for such program. We may also use your information (i) to support our internal operations and the improvement of our website and services, (ii) to comply with applicable law, and (iii) to communicate with you, including responding to your inquiries.
We do not sell any of your personal information that we collect through this website or otherwise received by the Alliance. We may disclose your personal information to employees and agents of the Alliance with a need to know in the course of performing services on behalf of the Alliance. We require these employees and agents to keep your information confidential and to use your personal information only in the performance of services for the Alliance. In addition, in order to verify and supplement the personal information we receive from you, we may disclose personal information you provide to us to several state and federal government agencies, including, without limitation, the Connecticut Department of Social Services.
Information that we automatically collect through our website is used to improve our website and the user experience, better safeguard your personal information, and to protect the integrity of the enrollment process.
In the event the Alliance is merged into any other entity, the Alliance may disclose your personal information to such successor entity may use your personal information for the purposes contemplated in this Privacy Policy.
Safeguards We Have Implemented to Help Ensure the Security of Your Personal Information
The security of your personal information is very important to us. We have put in place reasonable operational, administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect the information we collect, as required by applicable law. We cannot guarantee, however, that all communications between us or information stored on our servers will be free from unauthorized access by third parties, such as hackers.
Changes to this Policy
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to modify our privacy practices and update and make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. This Privacy Policy is current as of the “last revised” date which appears at the top of this page. We will treat personal information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Policy under which it was collected, unless we have your consent to treat it differently. By using this website following any Privacy Policy change, you freely and specifically give us your consent to collect, use, transfer and disclose your personal information in the manner specified in our then-current Privacy Policy.
Links to Third Party Websites
This Privacy Policy applies solely to this website and the services provided by the Alliance, and not to any other product or service. This website may contain links to a number of third-party websites that we believe may offer useful information. The policies and procedures we describe here do not apply to those websites. We recommend that you carefully read the privacy policies of each site that you visit for information on their privacy, security, data collection and distribution policies.
How to Contact the Alliance
If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please e-mail us at yrodriguez@alliancect.org or write us at:
Alliance for Community Empowerment
C/O
1070 Park Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06604