MIMI HUEY

For the past 14 years, Mimi Huey has donated thousands of hours to ensure that critical, basic needs of the abused and neglected children served by Child Protective Services (CPS) are met. In 1989, she co-founded Dallas Community Partners, an organization designed to achieve this mission through two major programs: Adopt-A-Caseworker, a program that connects businesses and organizations with CPS caseworkers who then work to meet the needs of individual clients; and the Rainbow Room, and emergency resource center stocked with all new items (such as clothing, diapers, baby formula, and hygiene products) for CPS caseworkers to access for their clients.

In founding Dallas Community Partners, Ms. Huey gave numerous community presentations and engaged every important community leader in the process. The project was so successful that the Board of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services asked that it be replicated throughout the State. Laura Bush, First Lady of Texas, actively supported this effort and in 1996, Ms. Huey was appointed as Founding Vice-Chair of Greater Texas Community Partners (GTCP), the organization charged with the planning and implementation of the replication process. As a result of Ms. Huey’s hard work, Community Partner groups had been established in 25 Texas cities by the end of the first year. In 2003, the number of sites grew to 103. Ms. Huey’s commitment and dedication were key factors in this incredible growth.

Ms. Huey’s ability to connect with diverse groups of people and encourage collaboration is one of the reasons for the success of GTCP. In the beginning, Ms. Huey decided that the best way to engage communities throughout the state in this project was to encourage the Junior Leagues to start programs in their communities. Because of this strategy, Junior Leagues throughout the state have been the foundation of Community Partners. And this strong foundation has encouraged wider community involvement, and ensured that the programs remain strong and viable.

The Dallas Community Partner program has been phenomenally successful. Each year, an average of 50,000 children are served through the two programs statewide and $3.3 million in cash and gifts in kind is donated to help these children. In 2003 alone, 4,678 volunteers donated 45,263 hours to this important cause. To date, Ms. Huey’s efforts have created a brighter future for more than 242,000 Texas children.

Ms. Huey has been actively involved in Dallas Community Partners projects sine 1989, and has donated thousand of hours of service. Since the inception of GTCP in 1996, she has been actively spearheading or working behind the scenes to help the children of Texas.

The phenomenal success of this program would not have happened without the leadership of Ms. Huey. She is extremely creative and has the ability to think strategically. She is equally adept at seeing the “big picture” and the immediate tasks that need to be accomplished to achieve the goal. Ms. Huey holds a Masters Degree in Psychology and has been honored as Sustainer of the Year for the Dallas Junior League and was honored by Kappa Kappa Gamma as an Unsung Angel in 2001.