Our vision at the Community Enrichment Center (CEC) is to break the cycle of poverty and family violence.
The mission of the Community Enrichment Center (CEC) is changing lives by restoring hope and sharing God’s love. For 35 years, the CEC has provided food and other basic necessities along with critical life change and spiritual growth through education, employment and financial coaching, a sense of community for senior adults, and affordable housing. While our services have grown to meet the changing needs of our community and the families we serve, the needs continue to increase.
The food pantry at the Community Enrichment Center serves as our gateway into CEC programs and services where participants can develop the skills required to escape poverty. We do this through CEC navigators who partner with our clients to identify their job training needs who will also engage them with county, state, and federal programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, Snap, WIC, as well as our own affordable housing program we operate for low and no-income individuals. A key component of this model is that our clients, once enrolled, can access our fresh food pantry on a weekly basis, receiving nutritious food valued more than $250 per weekly visit.
Additionally, the CEC collaborates with the Birdville ISD, Northeast Tarrant Chamber of Commerce, and more than 30 churches to focus on back-to-school and homeless student and literacy for elementary school children. Our work in this partnership is focused on breaking the cycle of generational poverty in our community by improving the reading level of all Birdville ISD elementary students and providing access to community resources and mainstream benefits. This effort is achieved by the Refresh Back-to-School event, tutoring, and involvement in World Reading Day.