East Texas Human Needs Network

The East Texas Human Needs Network (ETHNN) is a group of diverse organizations and individuals working together for strengthened programs, connection and improved awareness of social services that meet essential human needs.

ETHNN is a network of over 100 individuals from public, private, and faith-based organizations working together for strengthened programs, connection, and improved awareness of services that meet essential human needs. We are committed to creating sustainable community solutions to poverty through trusting relationships, empowerment and education. Collectively we work in the following areas:

903Help.org- An online social services directory that has 177 unique organizations with various programs that provide social services in four Texas counties: Smith, Cherokee, Anderson, and Rusk.

Poverty Education - ETHNN hosts Bridges Out of Poverty workshops and Poverty Simulations throughout East Texas that allow participants to review poverty research, examine a theory of change, and analyze poverty through the prism of the hidden rules of class, resources, family structure, and language. Poverty Simulations are a unique experiential learning opportunity designed to help participants begin to understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to survive from month to month. The simulations bring to life the day-to-day realities of life with a shortage of money and an abundance of stress.

Monthly Meetings - ETHNN brings together individuals and organizations to contribute their unique resources within a structured framework and process for collaborative action. Monthly, on the third Tuesday, ETHNN hosts collective action meetings. Attendance ranges from 70-100 each month. When we work together toward shared goals, create a coordinated plan of action, and use data to continuously progress toward those goals, we can solve the complex challenges that impact our community.

Comprehensive Community Needs Assessment (CCNA) - Our work is guided by the results of the CCNA, which we conduct every three years. Understanding the nature, extent, and effects of poverty are vital to the well- being of our community today and in the future.

Point in Time Homeless Count (PIT) - The PIT is a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a single night in January. HUD requires that Continuums of Care (COC) conduct an annual count of homeless persons who are sheltered in emergency shelter and transitional housing. As the COC for Smith County, ETHNN conducts a PIT, annually. We partner with Tyler PD and ETHNN members to identify shelters, homeless encampments and locations where homeless neighbors are staying.