Poverty is one of the many barriers individuals and families face in Grayson County. And along with poverty, many other barriers keep people from getting, or even seeking, the help they need. With this information in mind and based on the experiences of several community partners, a group of people came together to form the Grayson County Poverty Coalition. 

The mission of this group is to promote awareness of the various resources available in our community and help reduce, or remove, the barriers that prevent people from utilizing such resources. The first step in making this happen was to plan a Community Resource Fair and bring all the different resources to one location to raise awareness in the community. 

The Grayson County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences along with community partners from the Alliance Food Pantry, the local hospital, city council, and invested community members spearheaded the planning for the First Annual Community Resource Fair. 

The event was held at the Grayson County Extension Office and hosted 30+ vendors from in and around our community. Vendors that are not typically in the same room came together to provide an all-inclusive experience for participants. Vendors included (but were not limited to): 

-    Schools (the meals bus provided free food to children 0-18 years of age)

-    Library

-    Food Pantry

-    Low Income Housing

-    Medicare/Medicaid 

-    Insurance

-    Tourism

-    Chamber of Commerce (providing information on job openings)

-    Home Health Agencies

-    Local Hospital (many departments present, provided a mobile clinic for various free health screenings.)

-    Mental Health Providers

-    Family Resource Centers

-    Cooperative Extension Services, Nutrition Education Program

-    Health Department

-    Substance Use Recovery Providers

-     Sexual Trauma Recovery Providers

-    Adult Education

-    Lions Club (provided free eye screenings)

A large crowd of 181 people came through the Extension Office to participate in what the Resource Fair had to offer. We will never truly know the impact that was made on individuals that visited vendors. Throughout the course of the day one family was able to get much needed information on housing for their mother who is on a fixed income, another family was directed to the family resource centers and Extension Office for school readiness materials and future programming.

Evaluation data from 119 participants indicated the event was a success. Participants commented that there was a great variety and great information, excellent program, every booth was respectful and nice, so thankful. Based on the excellent feedback from both participants and vendors, next year’s Resource Fair planning is underway.