According to the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC):
Senate Bill 1849, 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017 requires The Health and
Human Services Commission (HHSC) to establish or expand community collaboratives serving
two or more counties each with a population of less than 100,000. The goals of the
Healthy Community Collaborative (HCC) program are to assist homeless individuals with
mental illness or substance use problems achieve recovery and re-integration in their
communities. These goals are achieved by providing permanent housing, providing competitive
employment, and/or connecting participants with support services such as mental health
treatment, substance use treatment, and employment services. To aid the expansion
of the HCC program into rural counties, HHSC will utilize learning communities.
UNT Learning Community
The University of North Texas (UNT) received a grant from the Texas Health and Human Services to assist rural counties set up and expand the Healthy Community Collaborative (HCC) program. One of the first steps will be to create a Learning Community website so rural county community leaders can learn more about the program. Within the next couple of weeks, this website will expand and will provide information on HCC, HHSC, and more.