Three non-profits that serve Teton County's lowest income residents and Latino community are merging into a single entity called One22. The Community Resource Center serves low-income residents who find themselves in crisis often due to housing or medical challenges. The center is merging with the Latino Resource Center and El Puente.
The new group's Executive Director Mary Erickson says the merger will build better relationships with clients.
"The Latino Resource Center and El Puente are really much more focused on the Latino population and not necessarily with people in crisis so, that's nice to think it actually allows us to start our relationship with people before they're in crisis, which gives us the opportunity to be more effective and help them before they're so deep in the crisis there's not much you can do," Erickson says.
Erickson says it’s important for clients to have a single point of entry. "What we want is for our clients to have a single point of entry, a single application process, not have to run around to a bunch of different organizations, but if we can provide more seamless integration of those services."
The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole is helping guide the merger, which aims to offer more comprehensive services to families struggling with financial, language and cultural barriers. Erickson says housing and medical challenges are two of the top reasons Jackson families find themselves in a financial crisis. More information on One22 can be found online at One22JH.org.