Imagine a world where all peoples are healthy. Access to care is available. Affordability is not an issue. Quality is never compromise.
Imagine a world where the most underserved and unserved of that population is actually first in line. That's what the AltaCair Foundation is attempting to do, to bring others that are like minded… to be able to create a platform we're all locked in to create a healthier society.
We serve the entire Rio Grande Valley. The Valley comprises four major counties and the focus within those counties has now been narrowed to three different colonias. The most underserved, the most unserved. And that gives us an opportunity to actually then drive a full laser-like approach to the work that we do.
Our theory of change is composed out of four key columns. Column one, if you will, is a process of collaboration. So this event is a collaborative effort. It's the opportunity for you to link with one another, nonprofit focused this time around, but obviously, other sectors of our community have also been invited in the past.
We conduct clusters and listening sessions that allow us to understand, ultimately, what the collaborative need is.
We are about bringing capital. There is social capital, there is human capital, and you have financial capital. The concept of bringing capital is the acceleration of all those three into the optimal performance of a community or an individual.
So, our goal is to be able to bring folks together to optimize their performance in their organization, to collaborate, to do more for them, and to engage.
We want to listen. We don't want to move beyond the approach of not listening. We want to listen carefully. We want to listen to the true needs. We want to listen to the gaps. We want to listen to those who are most affected. And so that allows us to be able to create an opportunity for us to say we have listened to you and therefore…
And we want to invite, not only the nonprofits to do so, the healthcare sector in general, to do so. We also want to invite those who are impacted most. And we want to advocate. That's why we have a legislative update today. That's why we are working very closely with the Texas Health Institute. That's why we want to make sure that systemically and structurally, the issues that our community face are dealt with not just a one handoff charity event once a year.
That's who we are, and that's what we want to do, and that's how we want to engage, and that's why we're proud that you were here. We want you to shake a hand. We want you to provide a card. We want to make sure that you are welcome to Accelerator 2024.
Editor’s Note: The above commentary was provided by Dr. Edwin F. Estevez, chairman of the board of AltaCair Foundation, at the start of the group’s 2024 Accelerator, the second annual health equity conference AltaCair hosted in collaboration with Western Governors University. The event was held Oct. 17, 2024, at the Embassy Suites in McAllen, Texas.
