McKinney community leaders including Mayor George Fuller, MISD Superintendent Dr. Rick McDaniel, McKinney Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Lisa Hermes, Wells Group founder Rick Wells, and others are excited to announce the official formation of a new community collaboration called One Heart McKinney (OHM), with the Executive Director role to be filled by Scott Elliott, current Executive Director at Community Lifeline Center.
“The informal One Heart McKinney collaboration initially formed in March 2020 as a response to the early COVID crisis, when leaders from across McKinney came together on a weekly basis to assess current needs, and rally resources to address those needs,” said McKinney Mayor George Fuller.
In the last year and a half, the group raised and distributed almost $200k in grants to support this mission.
“The initial group of leaders included representatives from McKinney city government, businesses, MISD, first responders and law enforcement, nonprofits, and faith communities,” continued Fuller. “Based on the trust that was built through this collaborative experience, the group decided to continue working together in a more formalized manner to coordinate those seeking to address on-going community needs, as well as to remain mobilized for future crises that occur.”
“The current OHM effort will focus on 5 core needs to maximize well-being in daily life, including food and hygiene; health, including physical, mental, and spiritual; housing; economic stability; and education,” said Paul Grimes, McKinney City Manager. “These 5 core needs were initially identified in a 2019 study performed by The Institute for Urban Policy Research at the University of Texas at Dallas, which was funded by the McKinney Alliance.”
“As the UTD study identified,” continued Grimes, “the McKinney community currently has many resources in place to address these 5 core needs, but there is significant opportunity for us to better-coordinate our efforts to maximize the impact of these resources. This is the primary objective driving the creation of OHM.”
“One Heart McKinney aims to streamline all aspects of seeking support for folks in need – an underrealized gap in our community – which starts with the creation of a single intake process,” said Dr. Rick McDaniel, McKinney Independent School District Superintendent.
“Additionally, OHM will create value for partner organizations by providing training and infrastructure support, driving efficiencies of scale through shared resources, and broadening community awareness of the resources that OHM partners provide,” McDaniel added. “There are currently more than 100 similar collaboration models throughout the United States, and OHM intends to learn from these models and leverage best practices to organize support for McKinney locals.”
“While the people, businesses and organizations of McKinney have always rallied in times of need, it’s taken a crisis like COVID to really bring us together to envision what this could look like, and make it happen,” said Lisa Hermes, McKinney Chamber of Commerce President and CEO.
“For the first time, the entire community collaborated in a unique way that sets us up for success in addressing our 5 core needs of food, health, housing, education and jobs,” continued Hermes. “From the relational equity forged through the COVID crisis, One Heart McKinney has come together to unite everyone who wants to work in collaboration to build a flourishing community that benefits all of us.”
Local organizations already committed to OHM include: Christ Fellowship, City of McKinney, Community Lifeline Center, First McKinney Baptist Church, Hope Clinic, Hugs Café, Little Free Pantry, Love Life Foundation, McKinney Chamber of Commerce, McKinney Fire Department, McKinney Independent School District, McKinney Police Department, Seed Project Foundation, and Wells Group.
On February 1, 2022, Scott Elliott, the current Executive Director of Community Lifeline Center (CLC) will assume the role of Executive Director at OHM, to shape the organization’s initial structure and lead the collaboration forward. Scott previously served on the McKinney City Council for 4 years, and on the McKinney Community Development Board for four years. He has extensive business experience in the corporate sector and startup environments.
“CLC has benefitted tremendously from Scott Elliott’s compassionate leadership for the past 2 years, and we’re so excited for the broader impact he’ll bring to our community through OHM,” said Dr. Liz Strand Cimini, CLC Board President.
“CLC’s objective is to serve our neighbors as efficiently and effectively as we can, and we’re confident that with Scott leading the OHM ecosystem, we’ll be able to do this even better,” added Strand Cimini. “CLC will be working to fill Scott’s role as he transitions to OHM, and we look forward to bringing in a creative new leader who will advance CLC’s mission, while collaborating with One Heart McKinney.”
“Along with others, I’ve worked to bring the community together to make a difference for people in need,” said Bruce B. Miller, Senior Pastor at Christ Fellowship. “Now, I have hope that this could really happen through Scott Elliot’s leadership. Christ Fellowship is thrilled to join as a partner in OHM, and we’re excited to see what can happen as ‘one’.”
For more information about One Heart McKinney, or if your organization is interested in getting involved, contact Scott Elliott at scott@oneheartmckinney.com. Follow along for updates at www.oneheartMcKinney.com, Facebook or Instagram.