The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country is working on funding flood relief in multiple ways.
KERR COUNTY, Texas — When Austin Dickson joined the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country in 2017, he probably didn’t imagine he would be helping manage more than $100,000,000 in donated funds to respond to a one-in-500 year flooding catastrophe in Kerr County.
But here we are.
Now the Community Foundation is preparing to focus on multiple funding efforts to help the county recover. They already pledged $40 million dollars specifically for housing issues on Aug. 21.
Residents can apply for funding here. They can fill out a needs assessment to describe what they need help with.
It starts with temporary housing.
“People need shelter now while they rebuild, repair, figure out what their next step is.” Dickson said. “We are also offering down payment assistance for folks that might not want to rebuild but are interested in moving to a new location.”
Dickson said the Community Foundation is working with 12 different case managers across multiple nonprofits to distribute money. They don’t pay the money directly. A case manager could be working with 24 to 40 families at one time.
“Those case managers are the nexus point for families in need,” Dickson said. “Families are assigned to a case manager to work through whatever their specific circumstances are.”
Right now the funding will go to help people pay rent or stay in long term Airbnb properties. The Community Foundation has already helped 36 families get into temporary housing in the last few weeks through those case managers.
The next step will be to create a program to help fund home repairs. Dickson hopes to have that program ready to roll out late next week. The Community Foundation is still working with community nonprofits to set that program up.
“They are local, trusted, organizations that will be able to work through case managers, and with families, to help individual households figure out what’s next for their home,” Dickson said.
The Community Foundation is also working on other initiatives. Dickson said they want to use some of the money for mental health and wellbeing. Further down the line, the Community Foundation also wants to save money for restoring parks, playgrounds, and other landmarks.
“In Kerrville our park system is completely destroyed, in Ingram our community arts center is destroyed,” he said. “There is so much destruction that it is going to take years of rebuilding.”
Dickson said the Community Foundation knows that recovery will be a multi-year process and they want to manage funding accordingly. Or, in other words, they aren’t going to spend all $100 million in 6 months. That also means the Community Foundation will be working on recovery for years but Dickson said they are ready.
“We have a lot of helpers. A lot of volunteers. We’ve been surrounded by people to help us and make it work.” Dickson said. “We’re all experiencing a deep sense of loss and grief. It’s also given us the energy to rise above.”