CAN 2018 Annual Report
Inform
CAN Dashboard Report Turns 10 in 2019
 
CAN published the 9th edition of the CAN Dashboard in May. CAN staff made 33 dashboard presentations through which we've informed community members about pressing issues and areas of success in Austin/ Travis County. 
 
In 2019, CAN will be commemorating the 10th edition of the CAN Dashboard by hosting a series forums to assess the "State of the Safety Net" using dashboard data to asses community well-being, highlight positive outcomes, and identify areas requiring further attention, analysis and action.
 
 
Language Access Information/Resources Available in New Toolkit

In 2018, as part of our work around language access, CAN created the Language Access Toolkit. The toolkit is hosted on the CAN website and includes resources to help organizations assess whether or not they are providing efficient and accurate language services and assist in creating better language access policies and procedures. The toolkit includes local research, translation-interpretation standards, "know your rights" resources, documents outlining legal requirements, planing resources, and resources by service type (i.e., health, education, courts, housing and transportation).
 
Informational Materials About the Local Impact of Opioids

In 2018, CAN selected the topic of "Addressing the Opioid Epidemic" for a series of community dialogues. For these dialogues, CAN uses the deliberative dialogue model and resources developed by the  Kettering Foundation   and facilitated by the  National Issues Forum . Because the guides for these dialogues are created for a national audience, with the help of a planning team, CAN created supplemental documents to help participants understand what the opioid epidemic looks like in Austin and to provide a resource guide to help people find treatment and recovery resources. These materials are available on the CAN website.

Convene
Regional Summit on Expanding Opportunity Held in November
 
On November 8th, CAN hosted a Regional Summit in San Marcos to discuss Workforce Housing. The problem in San Marcos to discuss strategies for expanding housing opportunities in Central Texas communities. More than 100 people from the 5-county MSA discussed public and private sector approaches to addressing a broad spectrum of housing needs. Chris Schreck of CAPCOG provided a demographic profile of the region,  and David Steinwedell (Affordable Central Texas) and Sean Garretson (Pegasus Planning) highlighted details about a variety of development projects. Keynote Speaker, Lourdes Castro-Ramirez (President of University Health System Foundation) share information from the Report of the Housing Policy Task Force appointed by San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenburg and the actions already taken by the Mayor and City Council in response to the report of the task force.
 
Community Council Hosts Preview of 2019 Legislative Session


On September 17th, the CAN Community Council held a legislative forum to preview legislative issues for the upcoming session. State Representatives Gina Hinojosa and Donna Howard were the featured presenters. They shared legislative ideas for helping to address child poverty, an issue to which the CAN Community Council has devoted much attention in the last two years. Representatives Hinojosa and Howard also outlined their legislative priorities for the 2019 session. To keep up with Rep. Hinojosa and Rep. Howard's 86th Legislative Session updates, follow them on their social media accounts:
Rep. Gina Hinojosa: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Rep. Donna Howard: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Engage
Local Efforts Aimed at Addressing Institutional Racism

In 2018 CAN staff helped support the following local activities aimed addressing institutional racism:

AISD Schools Renaming Taskforce: CAN Executive Director, Raul Alvarez, served on this task force which was formed to develop criteria for renaming AISD schools that were named in honor of confederate leaders. The renaming criteria developed by the task force was intended to assist campus committees and school board trustees in evaluating proposed names for the identified District facilities.



City of Austin Anti-Displacement Taskforce: CAN Executive Director, Raul Alvarez, served as co-chair of this task force. The task force met monthly starting in December 2017. Task force members reviewed previous recommendations on this topic, weighed in on hot topics being considered by City Council and received input through three public forums. The "recommendations for action" from the task force were submitted to the City Council in November 2018.  The recommendations addressed challenges relating to expansion and preservation of affordable  housing, small businesses and cultural/historic assets.
 

Courageous Conversations About Race. There has been much interest with CAN partners and other local organizations in the Beyond Diversity training model that aims to develop a shared understanding and language so that we may more effectively address issues relating to institutional racism and systemic inequities.  Leadership Austin stepped up to assume the role of facilitator and coordinator of these training opportunities and as a result, more than 900 people participated and/or already registered for Beyond Diversity training since June 2018. Additional training opportunities are already scheduled for 2019. Use the link below if you would like to register for an upcoming training session.


Truth and Racial Healing Transformation Center Project: ACC was one of 10 institutions of higher education that were selected as sites to develop Truth Racial Healing and Transformation campus centers. TRHT centers are part of a multi-year initiative to educate, prepare and inspire the next generation of leaders to  break down racial hierarchies. The ACC TRHT center will launch in 2019. The hope is that there will be multiple centers in the community to facilitate community access.

Deliberative Dialogues on the Opioid Epidemic

CAN hosted three community dialogues on the addressing the opioid epidemic in 2018. The dialogues were held at University Presbyterian Church, Travis County Administrative Offices, and Huston-Tillotson University. There were 60 participants and 13 volunteers who were trained to moderate the table discussions. A fourth dialogue on this topic will be held later this Spring. Be sure to check future issues of CANews for further details.  

Dialogue participants explored options for addressing the opioid epidemic, discussed possible solutions, and weighed the trade-offs involved for each. The facilitated conversations allowed participants to share their perspectives and learn what other community members think and feel about the issue. CAN published a summary of the dialogues to help inform local policy makers. The information will also be incorporated into the results of the dialogues that have taken place around the country. The major findings of these conversations were that:

1. Criminalizing a public health problem is not the right approach.
2. Providing both treatment and long-term recovery support is essential.
3. The stigma of substance use disorder must be overcome through education.
4. A holistic approach is required to address this complex problem.
5. More awareness and a greater sense of urgency are needed.

Established the Language Access Action Team 

In 2017, CAN facilitated a Language Access Work Group Report to assess the language access needs of our local community. The final report of the work group outlined specific strategies that organizations should pursue to enhance access to services for limited English proficient persons as well as opportunities to align efforts and leverage resources. In 2018, CAN created the Language Access Action Team to create identify strategies for advancing the work group recommendations. The areas of focus for the Action Team include: expanding access to online resources; developing uniform "know your rights" and language identification materials for our local community; improving coordination of training opportunities for interpreters, etc.

To participate in Action Team activities, please email:  info@canatx.org
Celebrate
Butler Awards Presented at CAN Celebration Held January 11th


At CAN's 2019 Annual Celebration, CAN staff highlighted 2018 accomplishments (as outlined above). As part of this annual celebration, CAN  also conducts the annual Butler Awards presentation. The award is named in honor of CAN's first Executive Director, Fred Butler.

The Butler Awards for Bridge Builders  were presented to Reverend Daryl Horton  and Paula X. Rojas for   exhibiting integrity, trust, vision and passion to champion and meaningfully support collaborative efforts aimed at improving the health, well-being and safety of the community.

The Butler Awards for  Spirit of Collaboration were presented to Survive2Thrive Foundation, Catholic Charities of Central Texas, and E3 Alliance for working to bring together people and organizations to collectively address community needs and improve the health, well-being and safety of the community.

CAN is a partnership of governmental, non-profit, private and faith-based organizations which leverage mutual resources to collective improve social, health, educational and economic opportunities in our community.
 
Visit our website:  www.canatx.org