2006 saw the Board of the Community Council of Greater Dallas implement
its revised Strategic Plan which reinforced the Council’s role as a leader in
determining priority issues and bringing the community together to significantly impact these needs.

T he priority needs identified in 2006 included continuing assistance to 20,000
survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; increasing access to health insurance for uninsured children; preventing childhood obesity; expanding the support system that enables seniors to remain independent; and preventing at-risk youth from getting arrested.

T o address these needs, the Community Council partnered with Children’s
Medical Center Dallas, Shaping America’s Youth (SAY) and America Speaks to sponsor a state-of-the-art electronic Town Meeting around the growing issue of preventing childhood obesity. Mayor Laura Miller demonstrated her dedication to good health and exercise by participating as a table facilitator. The results of the Town Meeting will form the action plan for the efforts of the Dallas Area Coalition to Prevent Childhood Obesity to raise awareness and to coordinate communitywide activities around this growing issue.

O utreach workers sought out families who needed help accessing medical
care and advised them on how to fully utilize their children’s health insurance.
Seniors received assistance to enroll in Medicare Part D Prescription plans.

Professional 2-1-1 specialists continued to connect hundreds of hurricane survivors with services to aid in their recovery and resettlement. Our Community Youth Development program brought together neighborhood adults and paid professionals to provide meaningful non-school hour activities to keep children out of crime in some of Dallas’ most crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Dallas Area Agency on Aging staff facilitated efforts that helped seniors get
flu shots, and provided trained craftsmen to make minor home repairs.
We are pleased to report that these actions resulted in changed lives, safer
children, and seniors who continue to be self-sufficient and independent in their
homes. The Council is well positioned to address the emerging needs of the
coming year by continuing to make a positive impact on service delivery.

Patti Clapp, Past President
Board of Directors
Leadership Letter
Martha Blaine
Executive Director

Pass President	Martha T. Blaine Executive Director

The Community Council coordinated and facilitated “Service Specific” groups, to develop surge capacity to assist victims with child care, mental and physical health, food, transportation, housing, immunizations and the special needs of seniors and people with disabilities.

We take this opportunity to commend the staff of the Community Council of Greater Dallas and its resident Dallas Area Agency on Aging for their heroic work, long hours, and outstanding results. Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers and staff from other agencies who returned day after day and worked tirelessly. Through their individual and collective efforts, they lightened the burdens of thousands of displaced persons, helped reunite families, eased the fears of children and offered hope to people who had lost everything.

The effects of resettling 25,000 new and fragile residents into our community will be felt for a very long time. The Community Council will be there to do what
it does best: bring together people and organizations to identify solutions, while connecting them with the resources they need to improve lives.

To read or download the full report, click here.

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