Rancho Brazos Community Center: Offering a future with hope

The Rancho Brazos Community Center is a nonprofit center for at-promise families in the Ranch Brazos, Sandy Beach, and Park 377/Carter Court communities.

The center focuses on providing resources for at risk youth and families in need of support. The center provides support through many programs and educational activities that benefit not only students but also parents, all at no cost.

“Ranchos’ primary platform is preventive education and in any way that we can prevent abuse and neglect and children, household family violence, substance abuse and any preventive education safety we can provide,” Sharla Caro Executive Director said.

With over 20 years of operation the center has grown tremendously. The start of the center was a small tent that was just a vacation bible school, which evolved into a small building then into a habitat home. After a tornado wiped through the center in 2013, the building was destroyed. When rebuilt, the building was made three times its original size.

“That was identified after the tornado that the community definitely needed more larger spaces to serve out of. Through COVID we identified a need for more space to be able to serve at a higher volume. When I started here, we maybe served 400 people a year, and now we serve considerably more than that,” Carrol said.

The center has many resourceful programs such as their after-school program for kindergarten through 12^th grade students. The program focuses on academic enrichment where they focus on all sorts of topics. Another program offered is Parents Café. The program allows conversations to be had with other parents and establish a community within a community as well as to build friendships. There is also a big focus on mental health awareness. The center recently started a program called seeking safety, which is a teen support group. They learn coping skills, how to deal with grief, PTSD, anger and much more. They also partner with Cook Children’s as well as Community Health Collaborative. There is also a rehoming program where families are looking for items for their home.

“One thing that we pride ourselves on here at Rancho is coming alongside a family and meeting the needs building them up so that they become self-sufficient and that opens a space for a new family to come in and be served. With these families we’ve established a relationship with and build that trust with, we’ve heard some families speaking about re-engaging their children in school after having been withdrawn,” Carrol said.

Rancho has a big project in the works that they are beyond excited for. Thanks to the help from Commissioner Jack Wilson, the center was able to agree to a 99-year lease for $1 per year, which Commissioner Wilson paid for.

“Once that happened there was a chain of events. We had the opportunity to apply for $100,000 grant through Kubota and we won,” Jan Neal Board President said.

After the grant was awarded, the vision was created, and plans were drawn up. Five phases were planned for the future of the center. The first phase focuses on a community garden, phase two models the launch for the new Douglas Long Outreach Center, and phase three focuses on an indoor recreation center.

“In the last month, we’ve finally been able to break ground and start moving dirt. The vision is coming to reality, which is really cool to see play out the way we had all hoped and dreamed. It’s with the love from the community that’s what’s making this vision really come true,” Neal said.

The soon-to-be 5-acre space has been prepared for a pad to be laid. The center also created a small building committee to stay updated on the progress of the new space.

Ranchos also has a big fundraising event “Wild, Wild West” coming up on Aug 3. The event will feature live music, cornhole and horseshoe tournaments, bingo, raffles, catering by Natty Flats Barbecue and much more. Tickets are $65 per person. The event will take place at Oasis Tranquillo located at 950 Williamson Road in Granbury. All proceeds will go towards the programs at Rancho.  

The center always welcomes donations, monetary as well as pantry donations, furniture, clothes and household goods.

“If there is any church or neighborhood that would like to do a pantry drive, were always welcome to that,” Caroll said.

To volunteer at the center or for more information, visit their website at ranchobrazoscommunitycenter.org, call 817-910-8144 or email rbccs2019@gmail.com.