$4M to help area families

Community Services of Northeast Texas (CSNT) is a $10 million organization which operates in 19 counties and is aimed at helping Northeast Texas families lead improved, empowered, and self-reliant lives by applying available strategies. That is their mission statement. Familiar programs such as Head Start, Vet Services Now, and the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), plus many more programs are funded by CSNT, and right now, they have $4 million to help Northeast Texas families in need. Whether someone needs their electricity bill caught up, or an elderly person needs a taxi service to a doctor’s appointment, or someone wants to put their child in Head Start, the resources are there, they’re available, and it’s free.

In 1964, Lyndon Johnson declared unconditional war on poverty. At the time, about 30 million people were living in poverty and over half of those people were children. Johnson created the Office of Economic Opportunity and signed the Economic Opportunity Act (OEO) that same year and created community action agencies like CSNT today, at the community level where it created Head Start, Vista, Job Corps, the Grandparents Initiative and more. Poverty was a big issue. At the same time, the Civil Rights movement was happening and the Voters Right Act happened. All of these things Johnson did and created and meshed them all together in an effort to fix poverty and fix civil rights. About a thousand agencies like CSNT were created back then. The OEO act was eventually replaced in 1981 by the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), which is what funds CSNT and other community service agencies and how CSNT gets the money to fund other programs, like Head Start and Vista. “Community Services of Northeast Texas—

“Community Services of Northeast Texas—most people can’t tell you what we do; our mission statement, they don’t know our vision, our values. They don’t know anything about us, but they do know Head Start. They do know the Veterans program. And they do know the Utilities programs. They know all the programs that we do; they just don’t know the name. And we’re kind of okay with that,” Dan Boyd, Executive Director of CSNT, said.

CSNT helps between 3,000 and 4,000 Northeast Texas families a year, with $0.89 of every dollar brought in going towards helping families, and the easiest way to begin is by calling their main number in Linden or by going and applying online at their website. Once a client, CSNT has a customer service number which clients can call and speak to the same person every time. Clients can find out where in the process their application is, or when their next bill is going to be paid.

Boyd wants the people to know that CSNT is available to help families in need right now. If they need an electric bill paid, eligible clients can have their electricity bill paid for the rest of the year. “We’re fixing to have some pretty stout electric bills because it’s going to be a hot summer. Well, I’ve got at least $1,600 for most people. Just come see what’s available and what you’re eligible for,” Boyd explained. “The Energy program, I’m sitting on close to $4 million right now. I’ve got a program coming in late July that if you’re behind on your water bill, I’ll catch it up.”

At the end of the day, Boyd and his employees just want to help families in need. This isn’t a job you make money at, but simply a job you feel in your heart, according to Boyd. Some may argue and say that what CSNT is doing is just handing out money, but Boyd assures that isn’t the case. “I want people to be self-reliant. I want you to rely on your own resources, and that may be getting assistance once a year. Going to the food bank and getting some fruits and vegetables because you can’t afford them anywhere else. That’s self-reliance. That’s not dependent on the government, that’s not dependent on this agency, that’s reliant on the resources that you have,” he said. “Why am I still here? Because there’s still stuff to do.”