By Deneece Ferrales
From Strategic Plan:
The Prosper Waco role as convener and facilitator is vital for building and maintaining momentum among partners and helping to advance timely decision making. Prosper Waco supports participation and high impact strategies with groups and partners to advance priorities through common work.
2022-2024 Strategic Actions
Understand and identify opportunities for aligned community action in areas of health, education, and financial security.
Promote activities that determine solutions and how to prioritize them.
Deneece:
The Access to Healthcare Working Group has collaborated on two major projects over the past year that have addressed the connection between primary care providers and McLennan County residents. The primary care provider pamphlet that is now offered throughout the community and tailored events that combine food distribution and health screenings in order to connect persons in need of food with available health resources. The Waco Employer Resource Network has been affecting systemic change by creating a network for employers to access assistance for their employees with issues that affect their employment such as childcare. Through this network, employers have direct points of contact to access services for their employees. By acting in the role of convener or facilitator in these collaborations, Prosper Waco is able to bring together community resources to achieve systemic change and address the needs of the community.
Prosper Waco often brings together community partners working in a particular area to facilitate collaborations to address an immediate need. For example, through the Waco Connect program, Prosper Waco has been able to facilitate a partnership between the Waco Police Department and the Behavioral Health Network to better address the needs of citizens in behavioral health crises. Prosper Waco has also helped facilitate partnerships between food distributors and schools to help build a partnership to address hunger in communities that are underserved.
To download and read the full Prosper Waco Strategic Plan follow the link.
Deneece Ferrales, Ph.D., is director of health initiatives with Prosper Waco.