The Meadows Institute has long been involved in El Paso, with the Paso del Norte Community Foundation playing an integral role from our earliest days. Through partnerships over the years, we have affected significant improvements in mental health care across the region, with new opportunities steadily arising.

In July, the Meadows Institute partnered with the Paso del Norte Health Foundation to create a new center serving the entire region, one that provides policy and program guidance for regional initiatives and advances overall mental health awareness efforts.

Established by a $1.5 million grant from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation, the Center represents both a continuation and expansion of the Institute’s efforts.

The Paso del Norte Center’s initial focus was on building awareness and offering technical support to further Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s mental health and emotional well-being initiatives, including Think.Change, the El Paso Behavioral Health Consortium, and other regional collaborations. While it did, at launch, concentrate on El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas, the Center plans to expand into Southern New Mexico’s Dona Ana, Luna, and Otero counties and Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua, Mexico.

In 2021, the Center also established a leadership cabinet of regional stakeholders and leaders with incredible talent and experience who will keep the new center positioned to build on the significant advances made over the last several years, deepen collaborative relationships, and further improve mental health systems and programs to address challenges specific to the region.