Welcome to the Winter 2026 Edition of the Council Connection!
This season, we’re excited to share how the Council is expanding its reach across Texas, deepening community engagement, and celebrating the staff and stories that shape our mission. From a historic $4.9 million VA award expanding our Housing Services into West Texas and the Panhandle, to Dancing With Death—an upcoming documentary examining the fentanyl crisis—and a staff spotlight on Youth Prevention Specialist Jessica Rivera, there’s plenty of progress to celebrate. Plus, save the date for our 38th Annual Clifton Morris and Jim Bradshaw Memorial Stars in Recovery Luncheon featuring MLB legend Darryl Strawberry as keynote speaker.
Agency Updates:
The Council Heads West to Support More Veterans
We’re excited to share that the Council has been awarded $4.9 million from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as part of nearly $45 million invested statewide to prevent and end Veteran homelessness. This award strengthens our Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program and positions us to reach more Veterans than ever before in fiscal year 2026.
SSVF helps Veterans find—and keep—stable housing through homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, and individualized case management. Our team provides housing stability planning, short-term financial assistance, benefits and employment navigation, and healthcare support, along with referrals to mental health, substance use, and other community resources. And when a household doesn’t qualify for SSVF, we work to connect them with other programs that can meet their needs.
This new funding has opened the door for a major expansion. In addition to our long-standing service area in North Texas, our team will now support Veterans and their families across West Texas and the Panhandle, including many rural communities where housing resources are limited. What began as a six-county program now reaches 41 more counties as of October 2025—one of the largest expansions in our agency’s history.
“We’re excited to provide support for so many more Veterans across this expanded region as they seek to establish housing stability and access services that help them maintain it,” said Erin Mayer, Director of Housing Services. “The early months of this expansion have already strengthened our approach, allowing us to deliver more responsive and effective services to the Veterans we serve.”
We’re grateful for this partnership with the VA and look forward to serving hundreds more Veterans with the stability, care, and support they deserve in the year ahead.
Community Engagement:
Dancing With Death Documentary Premiere
Dancing With Death is a powerful documentary featuring families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl, survivors of overdose, and individuals in recovery from opioid addiction across North Texas and southern Oklahoma.
Produced by Dallas Area Drug Prevention Partnership, Recovery Resource Council, and Texoma High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, the film blends deeply personal stories with expert insight from prevention professionals and recovery advocates. While it does not shy away from the devastating impact of fentanyl, the documentary ultimately delivers a message of awareness, resilience, and hope—underscoring that prevention matters and recovery is possible.
The free community premiere, originally scheduled for January 27, has been postponed due to winter weather and travel safety concerns. We are currently working with partners to reschedule the screening and anticipate announcing a new date soon. We look forward to sharing this important film with the community and continuing conversations around prevention, education, and saving lives.
About Honey + Oates
The film was directed and produced in collaboration with Jae Oates, founder of Honey + Oates—a creative agency specializing in cinematic storytelling and documentary-style content. With a passion for turning complex topics into clear, compelling narratives, Honey + Oates brings a powerful visual lens to community impact work, helping organizations like ours amplify important messages that drive awareness and change.
Staff Spotlight:
Meet Jessica Rivera
Meet the Council’s Youth Prevention Specialist, Jessica Rivera. For more than seven years, she has been a trusted presence in schools and community programs across DFW—helping youth build the confidence, coping skills, and decision-making tools they need to heal and thrive.
Jessica holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and is certified as an Associate Prevention Specialist (APS). Before joining the Council, she served as a juvenile case manager with the North Richland Hills Municipal Court, where many of the adolescents she supported were also facing substance use challenges. Seeing those struggles up close showed her just how critical early prevention is—and ultimately led her to join the Council in 2018 as a youth prevention specialist.
Today, Jessica facilitates the LifeSkills Training (LST) curriculum, supporting mental health and positive youth development, and coordinates Youth Prevention’s Positive Alternatives programming, which offers no-cost, substance-free activities for youth and adults to promote safe, healthy choices. Because she returns to the same campuses year after year, students come to know her as a safe and familiar presence, someone who listens, shows up, and believes in their potential. She also delivers prevention education through community presentations and health and wellness camps, supporting at-risk youth beyond the classroom.
Her motivation for this work is deeply personal; “I grew up in a part of town where drug use and poverty were seen daily,” Jessica shared. “I knew I wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives and help break generational cycles.”
For Jessica, the greatest reward is watching students transform—learning how to manage emotions, handle peer pressure, and begin to see a future for themselves. “Being a positive role model and that ‘safe person,’ especially for youth who don’t always have one, that’s what makes this work so meaningful,” she shared.
Through her consistency, compassion, and commitment to prevention, Jessica impacts hundreds of youth each year, helping ensure that students not only succeed in school, but carry healthy skills and hopeful perspectives into adulthood.
Supporting Our Mission:
Stars Welcomes MLB Legend Darryl Strawberry
Since its inception in 1989, Stars in Recovery has welcomed renowned celebrities and respected public figures who courageously share their journeys of overcoming alcohol, substance use, and mental health challenges. Their stories inspire hope, reduce stigma, and highlight the importance of access to critical recovery services.
This year, we are honored to welcome Darryl Strawberry as our keynote speaker. A four-time World Series champion and Major League Baseball legend, Darryl has navigated a long and difficult journey through addiction and recovery. His struggles with substance use, health issues, and legal troubles—including decades in the public eye—culminated in a full presidential pardon of past drug convictions in 2025. Today, as an ordained minister and motivational speaker, he shares a message of hope grounded in long-term sobriety, personal transformation, and the power of faith. His story is a powerful reminder that recovery is always possible.
Date: Friday, May 1, 2026
Location: River Ranch Stockyards – 500 NE 23rd St, Fort Worth, TX 76164
VIP Reception: 10:45 AM – 11:30 AM
Check-In: 11:15 AM
Luncheon: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Sponsors play a vital role in our Council community, enabling us to continue our mission of promoting wellness and recovery from disorders relating to alcohol, substance use, trauma, and mental health. Table sponsorships begin at $1,500, and individual tickets are available for $250 in limited quantities. Each sponsorship level offers unique benefits, and we encourage you to secure your sponsorship by April 10, 2026, to receive full advantages. The fair market value of each ticket is $154.