History | El Buen Samaritano

About

Our Story

Since its inception, El Buen has been at the forefront of responding to the many social-environmental factors leading to lack of access to health care, social services, education, and nutrition. Over time, El Buen has adapted to meet the community needs that come with population growth, immigration, and economic fluctuations.

This adaptation to change has led to our comprehensive strategy of becoming a “one stop shop” to address the needs of the Latino and Spanish-speaking community in Travis County and surrounding areas. Through our Family and Health Literacy programming, El Buen provides education (ESL, Digital Literacy, Adult Basic Education and High School Equivalency in Spanish), workforce development, child and adolescent development (parenting and school-readiness, after school tutoring, and summer camp), health literacy (access to health services, chronic disease management classes and screenings), a year-round, no-cost food pantry, and a community garden where clients can grow their own healthy food. These services are provided by bilingual bicultural staff that includes community health workers (CHWs), volunteers, and health and social services practitioners

El Buen Samaritano, an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas serving the Latino community of Central Texas, is committed to recognizing the dignity of all by ensuring access to healthcare, education and essential needs that lead to healthy, productive and secure lives.

For more than 30 years, El Buen has been a trusted community partner serving and addressing the physical, social, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing of Latinos. As a mission of the Episcopal Diocese, we embody our values to love our neighbors by playing a vital role in partnership with others to improve health access, health outcomes, economic stability, and academic attainment with and for Latinos. During our current period of organizational transformation and as we operate in a climate of instability and uncertainty, we are committed to a culture of learning, of deepening accountability and collaborative practices that disrupt the status quo and create systems that amplify the success of our community. The challenges are many and these too bring opportunities to serve. We are optimistic about seizing the moment and advancing our efforts to build healthy, resilient, and vibrant communities.

To this end, over the next three years, we will transform ourselves and our community by:

1) Being a bridge to resources and opportunities that lead to healthy, productive, and secure lives. We believe that access to quality education, health, spiritual connections, and economic opportunities nurtures our neighbors’ dreams to reach their highest potential.

2) Advancing equity and policies that recognize the dignity of all and reinforce social and economic prosperity and generational success. We believe that we are co-creators with community in the advancement of policies and strategies that are necessary for parity and mutual prosperity.

3) Leading system-level transformation through a social justice framework that dismantles inequalities experienced by Latinos. We believe in collaborative inclusive leadership that promotes equity, community inclusion, and accountability to transform systems and policies that disproportionately impede Latinos’ access to education, health, and economic opportunities.

4) Holding ourselves accountable to community and future generations We believe that God calls us to steward assets and relationships for significant impact; to be trustworthy, compassionate, and courageous in advancing transformation; and to invite and prepare the next generation to share in leadership.