Congratulations to the Austin Housing Repair Coalition,

Winner of the 2010 Butler
Spirit of Collaboration Award

Austin Housing Repair Coalition is a collaboration of more than 17 governmental and non-profit organizations that provide low-income housing repair and weatherization.  The Austin Housing Repair Coalition helps maximize our community’s resources by coordinating the delivery of a complex array of housing repair and weatherization services to help low-income people who may also be elderly or disabled remain safely in their homes.
Members of the Coalition include:  A Nurtured World - One House at a Time,  American Youthworks, Austin Area Urban League, Austin Energy,  Austin Groups for the Elderly, Austin Habitat for Humanity, Austin Housing Finance Corporation, City of Austin Water Utility, Community Development Commission - City of Austin, HousingWorks, Interfaith Action of Central Texas - Hands on Housing, Ladies of Charity of Austin, Meals on Wheels and More, Seton Asthma Center, Texas Gas Service, Travis County Home Repair & Weatherization, and The University of Texas, School of Architecture, Community and Regional Planning Program.

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2010 Butler Spirit of Collaboration Award

The Children’s Partnership sponsors Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day each year during the first or second week of May to raise awareness about childhood mental illness.  This year artwork by Austin children reflecting the national theme “My Feelings are a Work of Art” were on display at the Texas State Capitol, and Representative Elliott Naishtat presented a resolution from the Texas House of Representatives in recognition of the week.  Representative Mark Strama and his family joined 1,000 other children and parents at culminating activities at the Lucy Read Pre-Kindergarten School.  Organizations involved in the effort included the Child and Youth Mental Health Planning Partnership, Austin ISD, St. David’s Foundation, HEB and many others.

The Right at Home Collaboration mobilized in April of 2009 to develop a competitive grant for funds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The Right at Home Collaboration is a model for respectful consensus building that results in action.  The successful effort brought $600,000 of additional funding into our community to help break the cycle of homelessness and recidivism for people returning to the community from incarceration. Partners included Caritas of Austin, AIDS Services of Austin, the Crime Prevention Institute, the Wright House Wellness Center and 19 other sub-contracting agencies that span health and human services, mental health care, criminal justice and the faith-based community. 

About the Butler Spirit of Collaboration Award: The Spirit of Collaboration Butler Award, named in honor of former CAN Executive Director Fred Butler, is awarded to a collaboration that has worked to bring people, organizations, and groups together to collectively address community needs.  Collaborations may be CAN Issue Area Groups or other collaborative initiatives in Austin and Travis County that help to further the mission and vision of Community Action Network. 

Butler Awards Committee:  Special thanks to Constable Bruce Elfant, chair of the 2010 Butler Award Committee and to committee members:  Vicky Baldwin, Tina Morton, Gloria Souhami,  Ellen Balthazar,  Marietta Noel and Willie Williams.