For more than half a century the Deep East Texas Council of Governments and Economic Development District, better known as DETCOG, has served the local governments and citizens of our region. It seems everyone has heard of DETCOG. Yet many do not have a good understanding of just who we are and what we do.
First of all, I’ll start with what DETCOG is not. We are not a regional government. We have no taxing or ordinance making authority. We exercise no control over the cities and counties within our region. Simply put, we don’t tell them what to do – they tell us what to do.
We serve to enhance local control – not take away from it. We provide many services that would not be feasible for our members to provide on their own. We were founded to facilitate planning, eliminate duplication, and promote economy and efficiency in the coordinated development of our region.
DETCOG’s original mission of economic development remains an important focus today. As an Economic Development District, we work closely with the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), the Governor’s Office and other state agencies, regional partners including the Texas Forest Country Partnership, local economic development corporations and other organizations to identify and assist with job creation opportunities in our region. In one of our programs we have awarded over $3.7 million in forgivable loans to businesses to create new jobs in our region.
Several of our programs fall under the broad category of Public Safety. We provide the network, equipment, support and training required to operate the Emergency 9-1-1 communications system in all 12 counties of our region. More than 400,000 emergency 9-1-1 calls are handled by this system every year. We also coordinate regional emergency preparedness and homeland security planning and assist jurisdictions with local planning. This involves preparation to deal with hurricanes and other natural disasters, as well as preventing, preparing for, and effectively responding to acts of terrorism.
DETCOG facilitates law enforcement training on a regional basis and provides reimbursement to law enforcement agencies to enable officers to attend specialized training not available in our region. We help local jurisdictions access criminal justice funding under grant programs such as Direct Services to Victims, the Violence Against Women Act, the Justice Assistance Grant program and Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention. Our Regional Juvenile Alternatives grant provides funding to local juvenile probation departments to help provide essential services that include psychological evaluations, counseling services, life skills classes and drug and alcohol awareness.
We put a lot of emphasis on keeping youth out of the criminal justice system. Our STAR (Services to At-Risk Youth) program provides counseling, crisis intervention, parent education and many other services designed to keep youth from running away from home, being truant from school, or exhibiting other delinquent behavior. This highly successful program helps youth and families resolve crises that threaten their family unit. The emphasis is on keeping families together.
Many people know us as the Deep East Texas Area Agency on Aging (AAA). Through this program we help enable older citizens to live dignified, independent and productive lives. Services include funding for senior centers that provide congregate and home delivered meals and activities for persons age 60 and older. Our AAA also provides health education programs, care coordination, caregiver support
services, benefits counseling, and an ombudsman for residents of long-term care facilities. Our Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) provides information, assistance and counseling to older persons and persons of all ages with a disability to help them gain access to long-term care programs, services and support so that they might continue to live in their own communities.
The DETCOG Regional Housing Authority improves access to quality housing for everyone and encourages self-sufficiency for low-income families. Through the Housing Choice Voucher Program we serve approximately 1,800 households and invest almost $10 million per year into our region’s economy in payments to local landlords. There is a focus on helping families become self-sufficient and achieve the goal of home ownership. Through our participation in the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) Program, we have identified homeless veterans living in Deep East Texas and provided them with housing and other assistance.
We operate one of the largest and most successful RSVP programs in the nation. RSVP is the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, which recruits and organizes persons age 55 and older who volunteer their time and talents to meet real needs in every county of Deep East Texas. Our program leverages approximately $114,000 of federal and state funding into millions of dollars in beneficial services. This is accomplished by more than 1,300 volunteers performing services at 200 work stations throughout the region. These work stations include schools, healthcare facilities, food banks, and many other community service agencies.
We also have a program to connect you with other great organizations, both public and private, that help people in our region. If you need help and don’t know where to turn, you can pick up the phone and dial 2-1-1. DETCOG partners with the State of Texas to operate a regional 2-1-1 Call Center. Utilizing a comprehensive statewide database of programs and services, 2-1-1 Texas provides information and referral assistance to all persons seeking access to local programs and services.
Yes, DETCOG provides all these services and more! Like transportation and rural transit planning, grants to reduce solid waste and promote a cleaner environment, assistance with Community Development Block Grants, and of course, disaster recovery. We are currently assisting survivors of Hurricane Harvey. Did you know that in the past 10 years, DETCOG has worked with federal and state agencies to facilitate the distribution of more than $263 million in disaster recovery funds to our region? These funds have rebuilt and improved infrastructure, put residents back in their homes and helped businesses recover after the trauma of hurricanes, floods and wildfires.
If it sounds like I’m bragging, well maybe I am. I’m bragging on the 60 or so DETCOG employees who work so hard to deliver these programs and services. I’m bragging on the 58 members of our Board of Directors who give unselfishly of their time to provide guidance and oversight for these programs. I’m bragging on the counties, cities, school districts, river authorities, tribal council, special districts, chambers of commerce, and other sustaining members who have voluntarily joined together through DETCOG to make Deep East Texas a better place.
For more information, call us at (800) 256-6848, visit our website at www.detcog.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. I’d also like to invite you to join us for our annual Membership and Awards Luncheon on May 24 at the Pitser Garrison Convention Center in Lufkin.
Here’s to those visionary leaders who, more than 50 years ago, saw the benefit of working together with their neighbors and created an organization to make it happen. That’s DETCOG. And here’s to the next 50!
