Texas Council of Community Centers represents the 39 public Community Centers throughout Texas providing services and support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, serious mental illness, and substance addictions.
We facilitate policies and funding decisions that support the public mission of the Centers.
The functions of Texas Council are governed by a Board of Directors that is comprised of one delegate from the local board of trustees of each member Center and carried out by an Executive Director appointed by the board. In collaboration with its members through leadership and staff consortia, committees, and workgroups, the Texas Council accomplishes the following on behalf of Centers:
- Promote the purpose and vision of Centers
- Initiate and seek adoption of regulatory policy with state agencies and statutory recommendations to the Texas Legislature that will enhance and improve community services
- Provide critical issue identification and analysis to member Centers
- Build consensus among member Centers on solutions to issues and challenges
- Provide educational opportunities on board roles and responsibilities to assist Center trustees and opportunities for trustees to seek advice and consultation from other Board members
- Develop, oversee, and/or sponsor pooled resource initiatives specifically designed to meet the needs of Centers
Our History
In 1965 the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act, now known as the Texas Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities Act. This Act established a state agency to operate legislatively directed services for people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities and authorized the creation of Community Centers to serve as local agencies to work in partnership with the state and federal government to develop community-based services as alternatives to institutional care.
In 1976 Ward Burke, Frank M. Adams, Woodrow W. “Woody” Allen, and other Center trustees recognized the magnitude of what it would take to carry out the promises of the 1965 Act. In response, they founded the Texas Council of Community Centers to serve as a unifying organization through which Community Centers work together as a public system of care.
Today, the Texas Council upholds the original, unifying purpose, by advocating on behalf of Centers, fostering a strong internal communication network, and actively seeking to improve the resources necessary to carry out the broad public mission of the Centers.
Staff
Lee Johnson
Chief Executive Officer
Danette Castle
Senior Advisor
Mike Horne
Chief Financial Officer
Jolene Rasmussen
Chief Strategy Officer
David Weden
Chief of System Finance
Maria Rios
Chief of Communication, Education, and Training
Erin Lawler
Chief of System Policy
Leela Rice
Chief of Behavioral Health Policy
Kelsey Bernstein
Chief of Government Relations
Tara Brown
Administrative Services Manager
Janet Paleo
Director of Government Relations for Recovery Based Services
Jacquelin Wang
Director of Communications
Rae Horne
Financial Data Manager
Tim Sneed
Healthcare Analytics Specialist
Board of Directors
Name | Community Center |
---|---|
Vacant | ACCESS |
Keith Youngblood | Andrews Center |
Elijah Anderson | Betty Hardwick Center |
Judge Roxanne Nelson | Bluebonnet Trails Community Services |
Roberto Vela | Border Region Behavioral Health Center |
David Cozadd | Burke |
Shelby Dupnik | Camino Real Community Services |
Shane Britton | Center for Life Resources |
Vacant | Central Counties Services |
Judge Carroll Gerber | Central Plains Center |
Judge Rudy Madrid | Coastal Plains Integrated Health |
Randi Leffall | Community Healthcore |
Dr. Linda Holloway | Denton County MHMR Center |
Tommy Goldfarb | Emergence Health Network |
Steve Hipes | Gulf Bend Center |
Jamie Travis | Gulf Coast Center |
Dennis Wilson | Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network |
J. Brian Eby | Helen Farabee Centers |
Donna Eccleston | Hill Country Mental Health & Development Disabilities Centers |
H. Ed Calahan | Integral Care |
Thomas Brown | Lakes Regional MHMR Center |
Rick Crawford Jr., EdD | LifePath Systems |
Kenneth Bernstein | Metrocare |
Gerald Yezak | MHMR Authority of Brazos Valley |
William R. Brown | My Health My Resources of Tarrant County |
Cary Houston | MHMR Concho Valley |
Vacant | Nueces Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities |
Elizabeth Lawrence | Pecan Valley Centers for Behavioral & Developmental HealthCare |
Margaret Jones | PermiaCare |
Frank Coffin | Spindletop Center |
Judge Drue Farmer | StarCare Specialty Health System |
Sue Fagan | Texana Center |
Larry Adams | Texas Panhandle Centers |
Lander Bethel | Texoma Community Centers |
Daniel Barrett | The Center for Health Care Services |
Dr. Robin Gearing | The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD |
Sharon Walker | Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare |
Saul Garcia | Tropical Texas Behavioral Health |
Judge Lee Norman | West Texas Centers |
W. W. Allen | Honorary Life Time Member |
Ward Burke | Honorary Life Time Member |
Alfred Forsten | Honorary Life Time Member |
Ira Smith, Jr. | Honorary Life Time Member |
George Stewart | Honorary Life Time Member |
Dr. Martha Tevis | Honorary Life Time Member |
Sam Williams | Honorary Life Time Member |