In August 2026, Catholic Charities Dallas (CCD) began construction on a new collaborative, purpose-driven facility – the NeighborHUB – in the northern sector of our nine-county North Texas service region. CCD will build, own, and operate the 40,000-SF facility, but a broad array of nonprofit organizations will occupy the space in addition to CCD, working together to provide seamless, complementary, and holistic services to our neighbors in need. Participating organizations will be able to lease space at below-market rates; the leases will help pay for shared facility spaces and operations.
Challenge or Need
Collin County (north of Dallas and Dallas County) is one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States. And while there are areas of extreme wealth in the county, there are significant and growing pockets of poverty as working families struggle to make ends meet due to the high cost of housing/limited inventory of affordable housing, combined with soaring costs for gas, food, and healthcare. Because the population has exploded in recent years, the social-service infrastructure has not been able to keep pace with growing community needs and disparities between “haves” and “have nots.”
There are more families in need of support and resources, but not enough providers to scale up and meet those needs. The HUB will directly address that by having multiple providers offering complementary services working to seamlessly meet the needs of the community.
Participants in the HUB (to date) include Neighbors Nourishing Neighbors, which will operate a Client Choice Food Pantry; One Heart McKinney, which will handle central intake for the HUB; St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy, which will provide free prescription medicines for low-income individuals; StreetSide Showers, which will have its home base for homeless outreach services at the HUB; and MedBridge, which will conduct health assessments for the homeless. CCD will relocate its Community Health Clinic (free medical care for uninsured residents) to the HUB, along with several education programs and financial mobility programs.
Why It’s Innovative
Several elements are unique: the HUB is a public-private partnership among the City of McKinney, Catholic Charities, partnering nonprofit agencies, and private philanthropy. The concept of a HUB is also unique: below-market leases offered to nonprofit partners that allows them to participate in a collaborative ecosystem at a much lower cost, achieve operational efficiencies, and generate better outcomes for clients. The HUB will have shared common spaces (drop-in case management offices, conference rooms, meeting rooms, etc.) so that each organization does not need to take on the financial burden of constructing those vital areas. The HUB will also be located in a key transportation corridor in Collin County, improving accessibility to a one-stop resource and advocacy center.
Program Impact
Bringing together disparate community resources under one roof will increase operational efficiencies and lower operating costs for each; the sum of the total will truly be greater than its parts. We hope the HUB will serve as a model for other communities to adopt. With decreasing land available in many communities, especially in North Texas, it is not feasible — or advisable — for every nonprofit to build a standalone, brick and mortar building; it also doesn’t make sense to treat our neighbors in need in silos.
Lessons Learned
Collaboration is key! Community engagement is also an important part of the process as well. We had a long-standing relationship with the City of McKinney that started during COVID. We maintained good working relationships with them and Collin County throughout COVID through our emergency financial assistance programs and our community health clinic that served us well when we came up with the HUB concept (the McKinney Community Development Corporation has donated $1.7 million to the project). Trust and transparency also factor into the success; partners need to be able to share vulnerabilities and aspirations and expect the same of others.