Ribbon Cutting and a New Chapter

Humans have invented all sorts of ceremonies to mark significant milestones and events. Graduations. Weddings. Inauguration. A ribbon-cutting is a tradition that marks the beginning of something new, a transition, a new chapter.

This couldn't be a more appropriate ceremony for Better Together, as we celebrate a new chapter for our organization. Last Friday, September 25, we had our first ever Chamber Ribbon Cutting at our new office located in the Nacogdoches HOPE Resource Center.

Eight years ago, with a major investment by the Hogg Foundation, Better Together began by asking questions. What does wellness mean to people in Nacogdoches County? What would it take for people here to be able to live lives characterized by wellness? Through conversations with people throughout our community, we heard ideas big and small. But underneath all of those ideas was a common theme: the issues that have the greatest impact on our ability to live healthy, fulfilling lives are complicated, and no single organization can solve them alone.

Mental health. Housing. Childcare. Education. Food security. These issues are deeply connected, and addressing them requires people and organizations to work together in ways that go beyond what any one agency can do on its own. Nacogdoches County is fortunate to have so many organizations doing important work in our community. But even the strongest organizations cannot, by themselves, change the larger systems and circumstances that shape people's lives.

That is where Better Together comes in. Our role is to bring people together around the issues that matter most to our community and provide the support and resources needed to help those collaborative efforts succeed. We serve as a convener, a backbone organization, and a capacity builder—not because we have all the answers, but because we believe our community has the knowledge, experience, and relationships needed to create meaningful solutions when we work together.

Our ribbon cutting was a celebration of that work and of the people who make it possible. About 50 community members joined us, including recipients of our Collaboration Grants, nonprofit leaders who have participated in our Education Series workshops, members of the Hunger Free Nac Sin Hambre coalition, participants in our Mental Health & Criminal Justice Roundtable, and many other friends, partners, and supporters from throughout the community.

Our new office gives that work a physical home. Located inside the HOPE Resource Center, it provides a place where we can bring people together for workshops, coalition meetings, community conversations, and other gatherings. But more importantly, it gives us a space from which to continue doing what Better Together has been doing since the beginning: connecting people, supporting collaboration, and helping our community turn good ideas into action.

Over the past year, we have seen that vision take many forms. Through our Collaboration Grants, we provided $140,000 to support 11 locally led projects. Through our Education Series, we have created opportunities for nonprofit and community leaders to learn from one another and strengthen their organizations. Hunger Free Nac Sin Hambre brings partners together to address food insecurity in our county, while the Mental Health & Criminal Justice Roundtable creates a space for people working across behavioral health and the justice system to identify opportunities for collaboration and improvement.

These efforts are different, but they are all connected by the same belief we heard eight years ago: the challenges facing our community are too complex for any one organization to solve alone.

So, as we cut the ribbon on our new office, we are not just celebrating a new space. We are celebrating the continuation of an idea that started eight years ago with a simple question: What would it take for people in Nacogdoches County to experience greater wellness?

We are still asking that question. And we are still listening to the answers.

Thank you to the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce for helping us celebrate this milestone, to Nacogdoches HOPE for welcoming Better Together into its space, and to everyone who joined us for the ribbon cutting. Most of all, thank you to the many people and organizations who have contributed to this work over the past eight years. This new chapter belongs to all of us, and we are excited to see what we can accomplish together.