Aug. 2—Communities in Schools, which aims to support and empower students to stay in school, has grown over the years to include mental health, which is a huge need in the Permian Basin, specifically for youth.
In the Permian Basin, the nonprofit organization covers Ector County ISD, Midland ISD and Pecos-Toyah-Barstow ISD. They recently lost Big Spring ISD due to budget cuts.
CIS did offer mental health services in the larger cities, but Executive Director Eliseo Elizondo saw the need here. There were naysayers who thought he couldn't or shouldn't, but he thought, "Why not?"
"It's been a few years. It wasn't like it was an overnight success, but until it was. I tried a couple different versions and it wasn't until I brought in Jessi Morgan (now at Trinity School) that everything clicked and we got some support financially at the right time during COVID. We came out of COVID with the right setup and the right approach and so it took off and we opened up the floodgates," Elizondo said.
What surprised him was the need for mental health services among the elementary students. Elizondo said he was expecting to be talking to a lot of teenagers as they were already working with them and were aware of the issues they were facing.
"But I was completely taken aback by how much the little ones opened up and there were even fewer people talking to them. ... Like I said, it was just shocking because we think as adults that we're buffering them and sheltering our little ones from what's going on around them and we're not," he added.
He said it's become "painfully obvious" through their team over the last couple of years.
There are students afraid of getting shot at school, of what's going on at home. The practice drills for an active shooter are also traumatizing for them.
"They know what's happening and they're very aware of it and it's affecting them in a very negative way. They've opened up to our counselors about those types of things," Elizondo said.
"We've had a huge call for our mental health services from the elementaries. I've been overwhelmed by it," he added.
Their mental health team has also responded to crisis situations.
"Anytime there's been unfortunate deaths of students, teachers or staff in the area, our team" has augmented what the schools are doing, Elizondo said.
Sometimes the schools are short-handed and call the CIS team. Elizondo said he's proud and happy to say that their mental health team has been able to take their team to spend the day doing crisis response and recovery at different schools.
"We've even done it for campuses that aren't on our service list," he said.
Those were unexpected circ*mstances and not what they planned for, but CIS responded to the need.
The morning of July 16 they hired a new counselor. They have also hired a new development director, Bertha Jaramillo, and a new program manager of mental health support, Crystal Ruiz.
They were recently awarded a $125,000 grant from Bank of America Foundation in Dallas for clinical purposes.
CIS Permian Basin was one of about 60 organizations that were invited to submit a proposal and they were named one of 11 finalists for the award. They found out in early July that they were one of six winners.
They used the money the morning of July 16 to hire a new counselor to start the school year.
"We're adding to our capacity already. It's continuing to grow and we continue to get support and acknowledgement about what we do, which is good but still a lot of work to do; a lot of need," Elizondo said.
CIS used to have a live Stuff the Bus event in conjunction with HEB for school supplies, but COVID killed that, so they have expanded the call to other businesses and organizations, which also has been successful. HEB still supports CIS in what they do.
They also need drives in December because all the supplies and clothing are gone.
This past year, CIS case managed more than 3,000 students in the area. But they get calls from families that the organization may not even serve.
"We'll provide them not only school supplies, but clothing and anything else that they need for the entire family, if we need to. The number is much greater than that 3,000 that we 'case manage.' The impact is several more than that when you count the rest of the family, friends and the kids we take care of in the summer," Elizondo said.
By the numbers
For 2023-24, ECISD paid $597,500 for Communities in Schools. Chief Financial Officer Deborah Ottmers said they are paying (with Compensatory Education funds) for half the salary of these volunteers that come into the schools.
The planned budget for 2024-25 will change since Burleson Elementary is being repurposed into a prekindergarten center and Ector Middle School will be added.
Schools are selected based on needs of students and parents.
