About

Bastrop County Cares, a nonprofit organization, is a county-wide partnership working to develop comprehensive community initiatives by identifying community priorities, collecting and analyzing data, and bringing together collaborative partnerships that will result in community solutions.  We identify large community issues that one organization cannot tackle on its own and build public will, advance policy, and mobilize and leverage funding.
We want to ensure that all individuals in Bastrop County can share in the social fabric of our community, access great educational programs, be economically stable, and to live healthy full lives in our wonderful Bastrop County community.
As an intermediary organization, Bastrop County Cares supports the provision of services by other organizations rather than providing direct services itself. The seven main functions of Bastrop County Cares are to: 

1. Identify potential collaborative partners and support aligned activities;
2. Identify comprehensive community initiatives by collecting and analyzing data;
3. Guide the vision and strategies created through community collaboration ;
4. Establish shared measurement practices ;
5. Build public will;
6. Advance policy; and
7. Mobilize funding. 

MISSION 

Bastrop County Cares brings people together to collaborate around large community challenges that no one organization can solve on its own to improve the conditions where our neighbors live, work, pray and play.

VALUES

Bastrop County Cares achieves its mission through a variety of community partnerships and coalitions that bring together individuals and public, private, faith-based, and nonprofit organizations and institutions committed to creating the best Bastrop County. Our work must embody our core values of equity, inclusion, respect, trust, courage, and kindness.
We connect, empower, collaborate, support, advocate and act together to build the best Bastrop County.

HOW WE DO OUR WORK

1. Connect – We connect with our community around large issues no one organization can solve on its own. 
2. Empower – We empower leaders from marginalized communities by including their voices at the table in shared decision-making. 
3. Collaborate – We collaborate with a diverse group of stakeholders to review data and create action steps to impact systems change. 
4. Support – We support emerging leaders to take action and provide training and capacity building to learn and grow. 
5. Advocate – We advocate for our partners and seek funding for countywide equity projects and new initiatives.  
6. Act – We take action alongside our coalition partners and move towards a more equitable and inclusive future for our community.

The Origin Story

In 2014, a small grassroots collaborative of primarily faith-based organizations identified a need to assess available resources, overlaps, and gaps in services. They envisioned a volunteer-run direct-service organization and quickly realized how much of a “heavy lift” finding volunteers and raising funds would be. 
The group initially replicated the “Hutto Has Heart” model & defined the service area as BISD attendance zone. The group’s first success was convening the Interagency Networking Group. 
Former County Judge Ronnie McDonald connected them Texas A&M, which led to the first pilot program: The Affordable Housing Coalition. 
Bastrop Mayor Ken Kesselus invited Debbie Bresette to help define the group’s vision and mission. Debbie’s input expanded our vision to be county-wide and focused on systems change. From there, the group began doing intermediary work by pulling together coalitions & agencies across Bastrop County. County Judge Paul Pape & the Commissioners’ Court soon got on board.