Legislative Update session. Photo by Victoria Hernandez.
This week, policymakers, leaders and service providers from across the state gathered together at Homeward Bound to discuss strategy and solutions for public safety.
Dallas is currently facing many of the issues discussed at the Association of Substance Abuse Programs General Member Meeting and Lone Star Awards, such as the intersection of substance use disorders and homelessness.
In the past decade, the proportion of opioid-related deaths in Dallas County involving fentanyl rose from 11.4% in 2018 to 70.5% in 2022. A county needs assessment conducted that year found that housing instability and behavioral-health issues, including substance use, are major barriers to accessing care.
This year’s summit host has developed services to help those in the state receive care aimed at breaking cycles of substance abuse and addiction, criminal behavior and untreated mental illness.
Doug Denton, executive director of Homeward Bound, began working to address these crises alongside a community advocate that has lived in Dallas since the 1950s. Denton said during his time teaching at the University of Texas at Arlington in the 1970s, the two collaborated on a series of conferences about community involvement and injustice issues.
“We really saw that, and we thought, ‘What’s the best thing we can do?,’” he said. “And that was try to keep people from going to prison.”
Denton spoke with judges and the county probation department and found that there were no services that could get people what they needed. That’s when they started Homeward Bound in 1980.
By collaborating with the court system, the nonprofit has helped more that 250,000 people move toward sobriety to find alternatives to jail or prison.
“We have about a 75% success rate for people that hang into the program. Do not go back to using drugs or reoffend, in the length of time in which we can continue to follow up with them,” he said. “And we’ve grown from a very, very small agency in 1980 to where we are now, which is basically serving the state of Texas.”
At last year’s summit in Houston, Rep. Toni Rose was honored. This year, Commissioner John Wiley Price was honored.
“It’s Commissioner Price’s precinct, and he welcomed us into the community because when you look at where we’re located, in the ZIP codes that we cover very closely for services and employment, has the highest infant mortality rate and the highest postpartum maternity death rate. They wanted us to get in there and help that community. And that’s where we go. We go where we’re needed.”
Denton said the nonprofit is always trying to be on the forefront, keeping up with literature to find out best practices. This week’s summit brought those ideas together to learn and adapt.
“There’s no resting on laurels around here because people need help,” he said. “Need what we can give. The more we give, the more we get back.”
