Q&A: Community Advocate Harnesses Local Solutions

Norma Mercado, executive director of Bastrop County Cares in Texas, describes in this Q&A how her organization runs four community collaboratives focused on education, economic stability, health, and nonprofit networking. The groups target non-medical drivers of health like literacy, job training, and access to pregnancy and elder care services.

Mercado says childcare shortages come up across every collaborative, with insufficient funding and space forcing the group to form a dedicated task force, including mothers hoping to start their own childcare businesses.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.