2024 Impact Report
Transforming Community Through Collaboration
The Hogg Foundation believes in supporting community-led approaches as a promising way to make a lasting transformation in mental health and well-being. The Behavioral Health Outreach and Leadership Development Project (BHOLD) in Brooks County is just one encouraging example that affirms this belief and demonstrates how a collaborative community effort can seize this potential and put it into practice.
When the foundation awarded a Collaborative Approaches to Well-Being in Rural Communities (WRC) grant to the Community Action Corporation of South Texas (CACOST) in 2018, a three-year planning phase began for BHOLD. In 2021, with the mission of supporting, advocating, and guiding Brooks County residents to be resilient, healthy, drug-free, and educated, BHOLD began turning their plans into actions.
Collaborative Approaches to Well-being in Rural Communities Grantee Partners:
“BHOLD has become a resource pillar of the community where all organizations and members can come together towards a common vision of a community that has improved health and well-being,” says April Anzaldua, director of community services and engagement at CACOST.
The collaborative planning phase included conducting a thorough community needs assessment, identifying and prioritizing future strategic goals, creating a strategic plan, and establishing five strategic initiative groups (SIG) to guide on-the-ground projects and initiatives: Access to Healthcare, Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders, Preventing Substance Use and Addiction, Supporting Mental Health and Well-being, and Developing Community.
Planning to Programming
During the implementation phase, the Access to Healthcare SIG has guided BHOLD through the development and distribution of a comprehensive bilingual guide to community-based healthcare resources. They’ve also fostered access to healthcare by partnering with Brooks County ISD (BCISD) school nurses at annual health fairs, promoted Mental Health First Aid training, and made emergency services information more readily available to seniors who lack access to the internet.
Led by the Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders SIG, BHOLD developed a summer internship program to match local teens with professional mentors in the medical field. And through a partnership with BCISD, they assisted in sending students to College Station to participate in a two-day Mini-Med Camp, a pathway program dedicated to exposing 9th-12th graders from rural Texas to healthcare professions. The SIG plans to continue to build programs that increase students’ opportunities and awareness of healthcare professions with the hope that young people might choose to pursue this career path and return to their rural community to provide healthcare service.
The Preventing Substance Use and Addiction SIG and the Supporting Mental Health and Well-being SIG merged and began working together on many activities. For example, they held multiple opportunities for free Mental Health First Aid training, co-hosted a family-friendly outdoor screening of the Disney/Pixar movie Inside Out, distributed educational outreach materials on the dangers of tobacco and vaping, and hosted a Narcan training and distribution event for local first responders.
Another significant achievement led by these two SIGS was the creation of a substance use resource guide. The goal of the guide is to help individuals improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and reach their full potential. A QR code was also created to increase accessibility to the guide via smartphone.
Finally, the Developing Community SIG worked to strengthen social capital by organizing several community-wide, family-friendly activities. These included a ‘Thankful for Our Community’ special event and an annual Family Fun 5K Color Run/Walk. The group is also spearheading the development of a community walking trail and park revitalization project.
“BHOLD is demonstrating the power of community through their collective efforts,” says Rick Ybarra, senior program officer at the Hogg Foundation. “It shows great promise to communities interested in formalizing a community collaborative and replicating this approach, a vision of ‘what can be’ with strategies, actions, and activities that align with the vision.”
Persistence and Patience
The work of this community collaborative has not been without challenges. Construction of the walking trail was initially delayed due to unexpected expenses, and increasing community participation has taken time. Thanks to generous financial support of Brooks County leadership and federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, however, the walking trail project is now moving forward. Construction began in June of this year. Growth in BHOLD membership is also progressing, slowly but steadily.
“Through consistent effort, the BHOLD community collaborative has increased membership to show broader representation from the Brooks County area: civic leaders, medical and other practitioners, social service agency directors, BCISD leadership and staff, small business owners, farmers and ranchers, students, representatives from historically underserved communities, family members returning to the area where they grew up, and many more community representatives,” says Tammy Heinz, senior program officer and consumer and family liaison at the Hogg Foundation.
The collaborative’s persistence and patience as they work to recruit new members bears witness to an understanding that fostering the well-being of their families, friends, and neighbors is an investment worth making. They’re in it for the long run.
“BHOLD has made huge strides in actively working through its five strategic initiatives. However, the outcomes are yet to be shown in county health ranking data. Changing community norms to make a long-lasting impact takes time and consistency,” says April. “And that’s what we’re working towards.”