County agencies create resource, service directory

A collection of nonprofit organizations in Young County, along with other entities, have come together to create an initiative that will provide information about community resources and services in an easy-to-access format.

These organizations have been working on building a website where links to different agencies’ websites will be found. The goal is to make information about trainings, resources and services more accessible to the public of Young County.

The project has been called Training and Resource Awareness for Young County, or TARA. The process was initiated back in September 2023, and the website is live with the possibility of other organizations and agencies getting involved as things progress.

Members of the various organizations met Monday, Nov. 18 to learn more about what’s been accomplished since those early meetings and to see demos of what the website looks like. The web address for the TARA page is tarayoungcountytx.com.

The website currently features information and links to the pages of New Hope Life Resource Center, Olney Non-Profit and Community Resources, Virginia’s House/Dr. Goodall’s House, Young County Child Welfare Board, North Central Texas College, Graham Regional Medical Center, Graham Crisis Center and First Responders of Graham.

“This is really like a digital collection of yellow pages, only it's a one-stop shop for all of those focus groups that we were talking about,” executive director of Virginia’s House Susie Clack said.

The initiative originally began after Virginia’s House received funding last year from the county designated for special projects. It was in a board meeting where the organization discussed the possibility of sharing some of that money with other agencies in the county to begin a collaborative effort.

“We were thinking, wouldn't it be wonderful to have a 211 directory that's on a webpage?” Clack said about the board’s initial ideas meeting. “I think at that point we put it up for vote…it was 100% unanimous that we wanted to share the love, so to speak. So that's how the idea of TARA was formed.”

Representatives from five different groups formed a committee and began work on developing the idea. Eventually, the committee held three special training events earlier this year, one of them a kickoff event followed by two workshops on professional development for nonprofit organizations and volunteers.

The meeting Monday provided the latest update for the project and allowed each organization the chance to explain briefly about their site and what resources they offer to the citizens of Young County.

Enoc Espinoza, member of the board of directors for Virginia’s House and chief clinical officer at Graham Regional Medical Center, shared some of the benefits of having a place for people in the community to go when they’re looking for information or need help with a question or issue.

“There's a lot of us that are trying to basically recreate the wheel, when all of us together are kind of working…with the same people, whether we see them in the hospital, you see them in your office or in the community,” Espinoza said. “So (we just wanted) to kind of come together as a collaboration and offer these resources on the website, and just offer any kind of resources that way.”

Following the short presentation from each agency about their respective pages on the TARA website, the meeting ended with a presentation from Kevin Tutt of Tutt and Daggs, Corporate Speakers.

Tutt shared with the group more reasons why it’s important for smaller communities like Young County and its cities to come together and connect in these sorts of ways.

“Number one, in order for your community to thrive, you do have to stay connected. You do have to be a part of what you are doing,” Tutt said. “Second thing is this. Why would you do this? …Because the people in this community are yours. They're your friends or your neighbors or your family.”