Holy Family Services began in 1983 when a local Certified Nurse-Midwife at a local clinic discovered that more than 1,000 pregnant women in Hidalgo County lacked any form of prenatal care. Seven years later, Holy Famile Services separately incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Through volunteer efforts and generous donations, Holy Family has grown and continues to serve families that lack access to adequate health care, in addition to families that desire to have an out-of-hospital birth.
What started in the Rio Grande Valley as a small clinic is now a nationally recognized model birth center and the oldest one in Texas. Its peaceful facility includes three birthing suites, a clinic, a classroom, a chapel, medical storage rooms, and housing for the many resident staff, volunteers, students, and visitors.
Cielo Strategy Group first met Holy Family Services through the Knapp Community Care Foundation’s (KCCF) nonprofit capacity building program. KCCF contracted with Cielo Strategy Group for our team to deliver a full organizational assessment for Holy Family Services. The three month assessment process identified areas of strength and improvement through listening, learning, and data collection by our team. It included recommendations for becoming a stronger organization. KCCF used the organizational assessment to guide their investment in Holy Family Services long-term growth and sustainability.
With that grant funding, the Cielo Strategy team then worked hand-in-hand with Holy Family Services to execute on areas of growth identified during the assessment process. Our focus with Holy Family for the year-long partnership was strengthening board governance and executive leadership for the organization. This included extensive board training and education, creating a realistic fundraising framework, and executive coaching.
Although our initial capacity building work wrapped up, we remained in contact with Holy Family Services. In 2022, Holy Family’s executive director reached out to ask for support with staff development. Using the DISCstyles™model, The Cielo team worked with the Holy Family staff team to identify everyone’s behavioral styles and encouraged the use of several communications strategies that we worked through together. You can read more about that project here.
Holy Family Services is a completely different organization than when we first started working with them in late 2019. The executive and the organization’s Board have put in the work to increase board engagement, implement an annual planning process, increase revenue streams through billing, and ensure that staff morale remains high. Cielo Strategy Group worked hand in hand with the Holy Family Services team to implement new strategies and we are thrilled that the organization continues to grow by investing in its staff and board for long-term sustainability.
