Community leaders in Kerrville gather to address long-term recovery, emphasizing mental health and collaboration with state and federal partners for rebuilding.
KERRVILLE, Texas — Community leaders, nonprofit groups and disaster-recovery experts met in Kerrville Monday.
The community foundation of the Texas Hill Country hosted a workshop in Kerrville offering updated resources and a look at the long-term recovery plan.
Part of the next steps include continuing accessibility to mental health resources, quality housing and reaching more people with unmet needs, supporting those who help communities across Kerr County.
As the community foundation of the Texas Hill Country brings in over $100 million in donations, their goal today was to remind everyone of the support backing their mission to rebuild.
“We’ve been so used to helping everyone else, we do forget to help our own mental health,” Britny Cranford with CenterPoint Alliance said.
Cranford felt firsthand the need for continuing support.
“Reality is on the ground, not in the headlines,” Cranford said.
Monday, Cranford and other nonprofit organizers and community advocates were reminded of the importance of taking care of their own well-being.
“People want to share their experience of what it’s like to be participating in the recovery and what it’s like to be going through it together,” Austin Dixon, CEO of the community foundation, said.
People in the audience share what pains them to this day.
Dixon told KENS 5 that Kerr County is most likely facing a $1 billion problem.
“A lot of decisions this week about a lot of grant applications before various councils and our board of trustees,” Dixon said.
More grants, funds and support to be provided monetarily, but emotionally too.
But even the foundation can’t do it alone.
“We will need leverage of federal and state government to partner with local philanthropy to get this done,” Dixon said.
And for Cranford, the room full of people just like her continues to inspire her to lift her community in CenterPoint.
“It doesn’t matter if you are from CenterPoint or Ingram; we are one now,” Cranford said.
The foundation plans to continue supporting nonprofit leaders and case managers in a process they say will go on for months, even years.