MANOS DE CRISTO INC

Individuals and families living in poverty in Central Texas experience many challenges: food insecurity, the threat of homelessness, inadequate access to physical and mental health care, and lack of academic achievement are only a few of the significant challenges faced by our neighbors. In Travis County, 13% of residents are low-income (below 200% of federal poverty level), according the Community Action Network's (CAN) annual Community Dashboard report. Further, CAN reports that “people with lower incomes are: less likely to be kindergarten ready, less likely to be college-ready, more likely to smoke, more likely to be obese, less likely to have health insurance, more likely to report poor mental health, and less likely to find housing that they can afford.

The mission of Manos de Cristo is to empower low-income individuals with a loving hand of assistance and without regard to age, gender, race, or religious preference. This mission is encompassed in all that we do each day. In practice, Manos de Cristo promotes dignity and self-reliance by providing essential low-cost, high-quality oral health care, adult educational development, and meeting basic needs with food and clothing to avert crises such as homelessness, hunger, lack of opportunity and poor health.

Manos de Cristo serves approximately 30,000 adults and children each year who are working to achieve or maintain self-sufficiency. Manos de Cristo was founded in 1988 to respond to the educational, health and basic needs of underserved adults and children in East Austin, primarily of Hispanic descent. Our clients are the “working poor," who often work two or more part-time jobs in order to provide for themselves and their families. They barely meet monthly household expenses, and even a slight deviation in income can push them to the brink of homelessness. Yet, in this population, we see pride, determination and a hope for a brighter future. Through its services, Manos becomes a partner with the family, drawing upon their determination and sharing in their hope, to help them achieve their goals.

Each year, demand for assistance pushes Manos to do more to help. With the increase in population and poverty rates in Central Texas over the past two years, requests for assistance continue to trend upward. Manos de Cristo's long-term success will be marked by its ability to remain a sustainable part of the social service safety-net infrastructure in our community with the ability to understand and address the needs of the working poor.

Manos continuously evaluates the needs in the community and the agency's programming, infrastructure, and business model in order to maintain and grow a sustainable organization that meets the needs of families in poverty. Manos' Board of Directors and leadership team responds by providing: strong leadership, thoughtful planning, and effective use of resources through collaboration, strategic development efforts, and the highest quality of services to clients.
The Strategic Plan for Manos de Cristo for FY 2017-2020 contained the following four strategic goals that drove delivery of services, organizational stability, and internal policies:

Goal 1: Deepen services and expand reach of programs to enrich the lives of those we serve.

Goal 2: Expand the visibility of our organization/mission to improve awareness of our ability to serve those who need our services.

Goal 3: Fortify our internal procedures and operations to ensure a robust infrastructure to support our work and our ability to grow services.

Goal 4: Enhance financial security and stability to support our work in a sustainable way and ensure that we will be able to continue this important work.

The goals in the strategic plan are accomplished through programmatic implementation, capacity/infrastructure, and financial sustainability objectives. As all personnel and programming emanate now from one location, Manos is benefitting from a higher degree of staff and program collaboration and integration. Our clients benefit from oral health services, workforce and education development, and basic needs crisis assistance in one central location.

Manos de Cristo has a 31-year history of assisting underserved persons in a culturally appropriate, effective and efficient way. We understand their challenges and barriers and offer a hand-up to support their access and success.
The agency's operating budget for fiscal year 2019 is $3,081,540. Approximately 84 cents of every dollar goes to direct services for clients. The agency leverages resources and support from other social services agencies and clinics, individuals, businesses, churches and volunteers to stretch its operating budget. The agency relies on support from the community, along with modest patient fees. A diverse 18 member Board of Directors from an array of professional backgrounds, education and expertise governs the agency. All Board members financially support the agency and many volunteer in direct service to clients.
Manos' services are very accessible to the working poor population we serve, and our highly qualified and committed staff – our core asset – work tirelessly to serve our clientele. Most personnel are bilingual (English-Spanish). Julie Ballesteros lead the agency, a former educator who understands the challenges and needs of working poor families. The Dental Center staff includes a team of 20 FTE oral health practitioners, assistants and supportive staff members, each of whom is very dedicated to improving the health of each patient they treat. The Education Program team consists of 3 FTE staff including an Education Coordinator, Assistant Education Coordinator, an Intake Specialist, and a corps of dedicated, trained volunteers. Staff also includes a full-time Basic Needs Director.
Manos employs a full-time Development Director to initiate, guide and grow fund development activities, supported by three FTE experienced development staff. A Finance Director in collaboration with the Finance & Audit Committee of the Board manages the agency's finances. This Committee meets every other month to review finances.
In 2019, 203 dental professionals provided 1,046 volunteer service hours for our clients. A dedicated Dental Committee, comprised of five dentists and one lawyer, meet every other month to review the Dental Centers performance and best practices. This committee helps to ensure that the Dental Center is functioning efficiently. Volunteers in the Computer Literacy Classes, English as a Second Language, Spanish Literacy, and Citizenship Classes make the up the majority of teaching staff. Further, in 2019, 1,079 volunteers assisted the agency in some significant way, and recruiting, training and retaining volunteers is a significant ongoing effort.

As the number of low-income individuals and families in Central Texas continue to grow in number, our work continues. The Dental Center operated near full capacity during 2019, providing more than 18,604 appointments for oral health care and education.
The Dental Center's goal is to become a dental home for many of our patients. As a practical matter, however, it is imperative that Manos remain flexible to the urgent needs of emergency patients who line up early each day waiting for oral treatment, as we are one of very few local dental centers that sees emergency patients the same day.
The agency has also successfully secured partnerships that benefit the clients we serve. For instance, we have broadened and deepened referral sources for dental procedures that cannot be performed at our Dental Center so that patients will receive the help they need at a cost they can afford. A stronger partnership with People's Community Clinic will offer our clients the opportunity to meet their medical and oral health needs at our agencies.
Increasing visibility, securing new donors, and funding is another area in which modest progress has been made. The agency will secure a dedicated marketing and communications person who makes sure the website is current, that social media is employed where practical, and that ongoing outreach and public relations efforts with potential clients, the media and other publics are developed and cultivated. An experienced Director of Development leads and guides strategic fundraising efforts to attract and retain support from foundations, corporations, businesses and generous individuals. Growing a major gifts effort is an ongoing goal necessary for fund diversification.
The agency has been successful in expanding the composition of its Board, which was a strategic objective. The agency sought to recruit members from an array of professional backgrounds, skills, and abilities.
Manos de Cristo has a strong foundation and is positioning itself for sustainability into the future. The agency's leadership will continue to seek opportunities for growth in program capacity, for strengthening referral networks, and in professionalism in the way we conduct business.