Texas Health Resources highlights community-impact grant; CASA for the Cross Timbers to lead local outreach in Erath County

Erath County commissioners on Feb. 23 heard a presentation from Texas Health Resources about a Community Impact grant supporting local partnerships, with CASA for the Cross Timbers named as the lead grantee for the county collaboration.

Julie Crouch Smith, a representative of Texas Health Community Impact, said the program focuses on social determinants of health and invests in partnerships that address needs outside clinical care. "Our team is focused on investing in health and well-being of the communities we serve," Crouch Smith said, and she cited program totals from 2019 to 2024: $18,200,000 invested, 49 community programs supported and nearly 90,000 people reached.

Christie (Chrissy) Allen, executive director of CASA for the Cross Timbers, described how the grant-funded collaboration will operate locally. She said the coalition now includes nearly 30 nonprofits and organizations working across areas the assessment identified as priorities: transportation, access to healthy food, social connectedness, help navigating the health system, and health literacy. "We now have almost 30 nonprofits and organizations throughout Erath County that are working together to help figure out exactly what we need," Allen said.

Allen outlined recent outreach: a November community event at Morning Star Ranch that combined family activities with resource booths and free services such as family photos and mental-health connections. She also described an upcoming free soccer camp in March for Dublin-area children and a pathway program that will pair 50 residents with social workers from partner organizations to assess needs and provide hands-on navigation of services.

The presentation emphasized that the grant strategy relies on local data and community input (nearly 650 stakeholders participated in interviews, focus groups and surveys) to target investments where they will address underlying causes of poor health. Allen invited county leaders to participate in the collaboration and said the group meets the first Monday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Dublin Library.

The commissioners did not take formal action on the grant during the meeting; the presentation served as information about the program and a request for local engagement.

Next steps: local partners will continue community outreach, implement the 50-resident pathway program, and hold monthly coordination meetings; commissioners were invited to join and support the collaboration.