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The Collaborative Approaches to Well-Being in Rural Communities (WRC) initiative grew out of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health’s new strategic direction to address the root causes of poor mental health at the community and systems level. The foundation recognizes that community-based approaches are necessary to make a lasting transformation in mental health and well-being. The three-year grant awarded in 2018, totaling $4.5 million, serves five Texas counties, each with a population of 250,000 people or less. The WRC initiative aims to support the transformation of rural environments where people live, learn, work, play and pray, bringing a population health approach to support resilience, mental health and well-being. Alliance for Greater Works serves as the coordinator (including technical assistance and training) of the initiative.

  • Five Counties

    (Bastrop, Brooks, Morris, Nacogdoches and Victoria) were selected to create inclusive, solutions-oriented community collaboratives to address resilience, mental health and well-being.

  • The Lead Organizations

    from the five counties were each awarded a $410,000 grant to create or build upon an existing collaborative focused on identifying community needs and social determinant interventions that promote resilience, mental health and well-being. The grant does not fund mental health services. The lead organization is responsible for engaging cross-sector partners and working with the community to develop the community collaborative over three years (some counties may require less time). By the end of the three years, each lead organization will submit their collaboratives’ common agenda.

  • The Common Agenda

    will outline: 1) key goals and strategies; 2) what the partners have learned within their broader community and the rationale for the goals they have chosen to work on together; and 3) a road map for how those partners have agreed to work together, including their governance model and a budget.

  • The Collaboratives

    have flexibility in determining their collaborative approach, but all counties must utilize best-practice collaborative models that address systems-level change. They must be willing to demonstrate a commitment to shared learning, provide detailed plans for community inclusion and participation, and share decision-making and leadership opportunities with historically excluded populations so as not to perpetuate existing inequities.

  • Community Stakeholders

    should include all sectors of the community and ensure participation of historically excluded groups (i.e. excluded on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, geography, etc.) at every crucial phase to move their community toward greater well-being.

  • Technical Assistance and Training (TA)

    provided to all five collaboratives as follows:
    Alliance for Greater Works is the WRC Coordinator offering TA to ensure that each lead organization and the broader collaboratives are built with effective leadership, collaborative structures and processes, engagement of historically excluded populations, evaluation needs and more.

LEADING WITH CULTURAL HUMILITY

Alliance for Greater Works was featured on the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health’s podcast, talking about the Alliance’s role in the Collaborative Approaches to Well-Being in Rural Communities initiative.

Sherrye discusses the ways which her team will be working with grantees to harness resources, develop leadership skills, and build stronger relationships in community.

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