Solutions for Texas - OneStar's Role
In 2008, OneStar Foundation became OneStar: Texas Center for Social Impact, an organization with four focus areas working on creating viable solutions to the complex situations faced by the social sector.
Texas' social sector is often underfunded, under-recognized, understaffed and under tremendous strain. However, the sector is also the largest social service delivery system in the State, meaning that improvements to it would have a positive effect of enormous, far-reaching magnitude.
Because of the social sector's critical role, it is imperative that nonprofits partner with government and other parts of the private sector to address issues and recognize growing service implications. The status of the sector must change from being viewed as ‘nice' to being understood as necessary and as important to the State's well-being as other sectors.
The sector's sole purpose is to reduce, and eventually eliminate, social problems. It must be held to high expectations by the public while also being recognized by government, private business and even itself as unable to currently overcome the major barriers lying in its way of success. As it currently exists and operates, the social sector is not adequately equipped to continue combating Texas' major social issues.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, OneStar has been investing in:
- Strengthening the capabilities of the social sector through organization building programs,
- Commissioning research to learn, then share, critical data about Texas' social sector,
- Planning, building and in the future implementing an asset map of all nonprofit and faith-based organizations in Texas as a state resource and
- Learning from and working with national experts to develop additional approaches addressing the roles through which government can support the social sector.
This work has been done in addition to OneStar's roles of administering and managing:
- AmeriCorps*Texas,
- The Governor's Volunteer Awards,
- The Governor's Nonprofit Leadership Conference,
- Faith-based and community initiatives for the State of Texas and
- Statewide volunteerism promotion.
