Northeast Texas Opportunities, Inc. was chartered in 1970 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit Community Action Agency. Since that date we have served the needs of the elderly, low income, and handicapped in our eight county region. These counties include: Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Lamar, Morris, Rains, Red River and Titus. During the past thirty years, we have successfully operated many diverse programs including: Elderly Nutrition (congregate meal sites and home-delivered meals) under Texas Department on Aging; Transportation(Section 5311 Rural Public Transportation, Rural Transit Authority, Aging Transportation, and Section 5310) under Texas Department of Transportation; Transportation (Section 5311 Rural Public Transportation, Rural Transit Authority, Aging Transportation, and Section 5310) under Texas Department of Transportation; Case Management under the Community Services Block Grant funded through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs; Utility payment assistance (Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program) also under the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs; Medical Transportation Program transporting clients on the Medicare/Medicaid Program to and from medical facilities funded through the Texas Department of Health. While we have witnessed the depletion and consolidation of several programs since the agency conception date, new programs such as the CHIPS (Children’s Health Insurance Program) developed by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services Commission and the Food Stamp Information & Education Campaign, In 2003 we discovered that two of our service counties, Franklin and Rains had no Head Start services available. Our agency raised the money to hire a grant writing team to submit a proposal to the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families for these two counties during a National Competition. To our joy we were selected to receive this $1,044,686.00 grant to operate a Head Start program in both counties serving 85 children and their families. When Congressman Max Sandlin awarded us the contracts, he announced that we were the first Community Action Agency in the State of Texas to be awarded a Head Start grant in ten years! We opened the centers in Mt. Vernon and Emory in August of 2003.
We are regularly monitored by all of our funding sources with reports presented to our Board of Directors and Policy Council and kept on file at the Administrative Offices. We are also required to undergo a compliance/financial audit under the Single Audit Act on a yearly basis. For the past eighteen years, we have had neither questioned costs nor audit findings to report. Copies of our audits are submitted to each of the aforementioned state and federal agencies prior to the beginning of the next fiscal year.
The Administrative Offices for N.E.T.O. are located at 208 Taylor Street in Mt. Vernon. We have Case Management/Outreach offices located in each of our service counties. This program incorporates a wide range of outreach services, allowing us to actually work in each community with people on a needs basis. Along with trained Case Management Staff we employ bus drivers to help transport our clientele as well as dispatchers to assist with bus scheduling. Our Case Managers are trained under TDHCA on the intake documentation process for each client. They do intakes for utility payments on individuals during times of personal and energy crisis. In addition, we also assist with budget training and energy problems on a client-by-client basis. Our rural transportation program enables us to offer rides to those with no other means of transportation. This helps clients with job training, employment, and appointments with service agencies. We have meal sites that offer hot noon meals and fellowship to the elderly as well as nutritious home-delivered meals to our elderly homebound.
Almost all of our programs require coordination with other agencies in the communities. We work with the local colleges and libraries to help many clients obtain their GED certificates. We have established a good working relationship with the Departments of Human Services in each area over the years, as well as schools, churches, private enterprise, and other local organizations in an effort to keep the community informed and involved in each particular area’s needs and the services available to address those needs.
Our service areas are rural and each falls under the state/federal poverty guidelines. The people we serve are not just low-income, elderly or handicapped, they are our neighbors, friends and sometimes, even family. We are proud to serve the needs of the citizens in Northeast Texas.
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