Get Involved

Want to get involved in the initiative? Click through the graphics below to learn more about ways to get involved and work to achieve the community's goals.

Join a working group

Prosper Waco Working Groups are teams of community members dedicated to developing solutions and breaking down barriers to education, health, and financial security for all Waco residents. These action-oriented groups stay busy connecting and collaborating to help the community reach its goals.

Behavioral Health Leadership Team

The McLennan County Behavioral Health Leadership Team (BHLT) is comprised of leadership from the local mental health authority, healthcare providers, local government, and philanthropic foundations committed to aligning their resources to address mental health and substance abuse issues in our community. The BHLT works to implement recommendations of subcommittees of mental health practitioners.

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Case Management Working Group

Many organizations in Greater Waco use case managers to remain in contact with and promote positive outcomes among clients. This provides important connections and services to some of our residents in greatest need. Greater collaboration and professionalism can support these case managers for the community’s common good.

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Bank On Waco Coalition

With support from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, local banks are driving the Bank On Waco effort to increase financial literacy and access to banking services for low-income people in our community.

Apply

Alliance for Safe Children

The Alliance for Safe Children exists to coordinate efforts, identify gaps in services, and raise awareness about the impact of child abuse/neglect in McLennan County. These efforts are focused on prevention and on supporting agencies working with children and their families in order to decrease the prevalence of child abuse/neglect in our community.

Call

Access to Care Working Group

The Access to Care group aims to identify and reduce barriers to care for vulnerable health populations, including but not limited to women, teens, marginalized racial/ethnic groups, LGBTQ persons, individuals experiencing homelessness and other subpopulations affected by health inequities. This team emphasizes helping community members access the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

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Join a Strong Neighborhood Team

Strong Neighborhoods exist when community members work together to identify and develop solutions to community concerns. Strong Neighborhood Teams are an opportunity for community members to get engaged in this work at the neighborhood level. Each team works together to establish goals for their neighborhood, design community strategies, and implement an action plan. Currently, there are Strong Neighborhood Teams for both North and South Waco.

North Waco:

The North Waco Strong Neighborhood Team is working to help cultivate meaningful relationships among neighbors in North Waco. Strong neighborhoods exist when people know one another and are willing to work together to solve community issues. The North Waco SNT understands that people get to know one another when they have shared interests. Therefore, the team is planning to develop neighborhood clubs and events based upon the community members interests indicated in a community survey. To be a part of the team or to learn more, contact Josh Caballero at josh@grassrootswaco.org.

South Waco:

The South Waco Strong Neighborhood Team is working to revitalize neighborhood associations in the South Waco community. The team believes it is critical for neighbors to get to know one another and work together on community issues. The South Waco SNT sees the re-establishment of neighborhood associations as a great first step towards these goals. Several team members, who have ties to the Kendrick neighborhood, are planning meetings for the revitalization of the Kendrick Neighborhood Association. To be a part of the team or learn more, contact Elise Jones at elise@grassrootswaco.org.

To join an SNT and learn more about work happening at the neighborhood level, call Grassroots Community Development at 254-235-7358.

Volunteer

Explore the various ways you can volunteer in the Waco community that address the goals of the Prosper Waco initiative.

Job Training Programs: In our community, we have great opportunities for residents to learn job training skills. Each job training program has specific needs for volunteers, so if you’re looking for a long-term commitment or a weekly one-hour volunteer opportunity, here is your chance! Below are some organizations in Waco that offer job training programs that are looking for volunteers:

Christian Women’s Job Corps

CWJC equips women in the Waco and surrounding area with both job training and life skills. They provide educational programs such as GED and computer skills, along with encouraging women to be self-confident, self-sufficient, and productive while developing meaningful relationships. CWJC is looking for volunteers to be a journey partner (mentor), GED tutor, encouragement team member, prayer partner, and teachers that will have the curriculum provided for the content being taught. For more information, call 254-757-0416.

Mission Waco

Mission Waco’s Mpowerment program offers pre-employment services such as job readiness and job search skills, computer classes, and assistance in setting life goals, budgeting, and other skills. For volunteer opportunities with Mpowerment, call 254-296-9866 x211.

Mentor Coalition: If you’re interested in becoming a mentor or know of someone who could use a mentor, check our mentor coalition page, complete the interest form and someone will contact you with a variety of mentoring opportunities for mentors and mentees.

Give us a call at 254-741-0081 for more information about volunteer opportunities in the Waco community.

Contribute to an initiative

A number of initiative partners have aligned one or more of their programs to the initiative goals. Use the menu below to sort among initiative efforts focused on Education, Health, and Financial Security, or to select partner programs aligned to our goals.

Become a piece of the puzzle

Nonprofits

By providing frontline programs for individuals and families in need, local nonprofit organizations play a key role in addressing a wide range of issues related to the Prosper Waco initiative. Nonprofits can contribute to the initiative in the following ways:

Help define the goals and strategies of the initiative by participating in cross-sector working groups that direct the initiative’s work
Engage your program’s participants in dialogue to better understand community needs and provide information to inform and guide initiative strategies
Partner with the Prosper Waco backbone organization to build your own capacity to utilize data that helps you improve programs and track program outcomes. Doing so will increase confidence in individual nonprofits and in the local nonprofit sector as a whole. By collecting and reporting data, nonprofits also help the Prosper Waco initiative better identify successes and gaps in local services
Implement specific programs and practices that initiative partners agree are likely to help achieve initiative goals. This is an opportunity to align the organization’s resources to initiative goals as well as to capture additional resources to increase the organization’s impact
Partner with other nonprofits to develop and implement collaborative programs that leverage the resources and expertise of multiple organizations to increase impact on the community

Philanthropy

Funders play a crucial role both in providing the resources necessary to address community problems and in setting a vision for how the community works together to address its challenges. Philanthropy assists the initiative in the following ways:

Providing funding to organizations and programs that are actively working to address the core issues addressed by the initiative
Emphasizing and rewarding the strategic use of data and program evaluation to determine the impact that individual programs and collective efforts are having on initiative goals
Providing support for increasing the capacity of local organizations to better utilize data, increase collaboration, and engage in program evaluation
Facilitating the identification and development of approaches to addressing community needs that increase impact through collaboration and strategic use of resources
Proactively identifying areas in which philanthropic resources can be used to increase collaboration or meet needs that are not currently being met
Assisting our community in connecting to external sources of funding that can support the work of initiative partners

Government

Local government’s roles in creating policy, allocating resources, and providing services to the community make it an essential partner in the Prosper Waco initiative. Both city and county government contribute to the initiative in a variety of ways:

Viewing policy through the lens of the initiative goals and the likely impact of policies on our community’s most vulnerable members
Allocating resources strategically to support efforts of government departments and community-based organizations that contribute to the initiative goals
Emphasizing and rewarding the strategic use of data and program evaluation to determine the impact that individual programs and collective efforts are having on initiative goals
Identifying best practices from other communities that allow local governments to address community needs in the most effective and strategic ways
Partnering with other governmental entities to leverage resources to better address issues that affect the entire community

Education

Educational institutions have a significant impact on the success of our community through both the educational and employment opportunities that they provide. Schools and colleges are key contributors to the success of the initiative by:

Identifying and implementing best practices across the community so that all students have access to a high-quality educational experience
Working to smooth educational transitions both within systems (such as from middle school to high school) and between systems (such as from childcare to pre-school or from high school to college)
Sharing data and resources that will help partner institutions (such a school districts and colleges) better prepare students for success at every point along the educational pathway
Partnering strategically with government and community-based organizations to provide resources and support that holistically address the challenges that face low-income students and their families
Working with partners to increase family and community engagement in the educational process

Faith Based

Waco’s faith community is vibrant and committed to helping those in need. Churches and other faith-based organizations work tirelessly to care for those in their congregations and neighborhoods. Churches have the ability to make a major impact on the Prosper Waco initiative in the following ways:

Connecting church members and neighbors to available resources and new initiative programs through the Get Help Locally page or by calling the Prosper Waco office (254-741-0081).
Helping church members understand the complexity of poverty and how many factors (like wages, school, housing, etc.) fit together to impact people’s well-being. The Prosper Waco staff can support churches interested in hosting seminars or workshops about poverty-related issues
Making church members aware of the most impactful ways they can contribute their volunteer time and financial giving
Helping church members understand how they can go beyond financial giving to positively impact our community. For example, many church members are business owners or employers, who can partner with the various employment-related collaborations developed through the initiative
Creating relationships and combining efforts with other churches and other faith-based organization addressing a specific poverty-related issues, such as hunger/food security. A combined program can have a greater impact than many small efforts.
Committing to neighborhood outreach and community building in whatever part of Waco the church is found
Subscribing to the monthly newsletter just for churches and their members. The newsletter highlights community resources and opportunities for members to get involved and get informed about what is going on in the Waco community. Please email Christina Helmick (christina@prosperwaco.org) to join the list.

Grassroots

A community initiative is only as strong as the community members who give their time and energy to the work. Every community members in every Waco neighborhood has the ability to make their neighborhood a better place. And every community member is a student, a healthcare patient, a church member, or part of a local nonprofit organization—so all of us have ideas for ways to improve how our community does Education, Health, and Financial Security. Here are some ways individual community members can contribute to the initiative:

Join a Strong Neighborhood team near you to put your ideas and talents to work improving your neighborhood
Participate in grassroots leadership programs such as LeadershipPlenty, Waco CDC Grassroots Leadership, or Baylor PDI programs. Bring a friend or neighbor!
Learn more about poverty-related issues in Waco and contribute your ideas to the discussion through a variety of events such as Prosper Waco 101, the Prosper Waco Annual Summit, and programs presented by partner organizations. Scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up for the Prosper Waco newsletter for information on events near you
Sign up for the Act Locally Newsletter here to know everything that’s happening in Waco each week!
Volunteer your time and talents. Contact Mary Beth Kauk (marybethkauk@unitedwaywaco.org) at the United Way of Waco-McLennan County to learn how you can volunteer in ways that work for your schedule

Business

The business sector plays a vital role in ensuring the community continues to move toward its goals. This sector brings a unique perspective to the table by having direct access to different socio-economic populations. Through that direct access, the business community connects efforts to their workforce while participating in efforts that drive economic development in the Waco community. Businesses can contribute to the initiative by:

Actively provide feedback on workforce-related efforts
Participate in efforts such as the Job Shadowing Day, summer internship program or the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce’s Intern in Waco program
Engage in collaborative efforts like the Waco Employer Resource Network and the Community Loan Center that provide resources and supports to employees with the goal of increasing employee retention
Share your ideas to help create solutions to improving quality of life in Waco by calling 254-741-0081

Business are involved in the following efforts:

Healthcare

The healthcare sector is deeply invested in the initiative, including representation on the Prosper Waco board, Leadership Council and Working Groups. The healthcare sector laid groundwork for the Prosper Waco initiative to build upon, which has allowed for organic collaboration and partnership to implement strategic efforts in the community. The healthcare sector is taking the lead on various efforts that will improve overall health outcomes in the Greater Waco community. Healthcare organizations contribute to the initiative by:

Identify best practices that other communities are using to improve health outcomes
Collaborate with other organizations in the Waco community to increase the capacity to serve all residents within the Greater Waco area
Share aggregate health data to allow initiative partners to identify interventions that can improve health outcomes
Develop outreach and services that target needs highlighted by the Community Health Needs Assessment
Participate in initiative’s Leadership Council or join a Working Group
Relay information about grants that could fund community-wide health initiatives

The healthcare organizations are involved in the initiative in the following ways:

Click on the puzzle pieces to learn more about how you can get involved with Prosper Waco. Then, complete the form below and we will be in touch with you shortly.