The East Texas Crisis Center (ETCC) has a new executive director, Nichole Masters-Henry. She’s taking over for the previous leader, who served for 30 years. Masters-Henry is bringing her passion and two decades of experience from the nonprofit sector to her new mission. She shares her commitment to women’s empowerment through her signature workshop called “Dream Catching.” She also discusses “Shared Worth,” a shared housing program aimed at supporting those who are “house rich but money poor.” Her primary focus for the future of ETCC is to create more stable and safe housing options for the community, a significant factor in safeguarding victims of abuse. She stresses the importance of income security to break the cycle of vulnerability and abuse.
MIKE LANDESS: For UT Tyler Radio, I’m Mike Landess. For the first time in 20 years, the East Texas Crisis Center has a new executive director. Lana Peacock dedicated 30-plus years to the mission of the East Texas Crisis Center. She’s passed the baton to Nichole Masters-Henry to lead the organization, and Nichole is our guest today. Welcome.
NICHOLE MASTERS-HENRY: Thank you for having me.
LANDESS: You’re new to East Texas, but you’re a native Texan, right?
MASTERS-HENRY: Correct, I’m from Fort Worth, Texas.
LANDESS: Well, tell us about your journey as you arrived here in Tyler.
MASTERS-HENRY: It’s been wonderful. It was kind of a quick transition. It all came about in May, and then here I was Aug. 1, but it has been a great move for my family and me. The community is just lovely. Everybody’s been very welcoming.
LANDESS: Now, I understand that you recently launched a signature workshop that you call “Dream Catching.” Tell us about that.
MASTERS-HENRY: So one of the things I like to do on the side for fun, and I know people think that’s not fun, that’s just more work. But I work with women to help them bring their dreams into reality. And so I help them with designing a plan on how to make their dreams come true, and so we do a vision board workshop and then, beyond that, I teach them how to do goal setting, how to evaluate your progress, how to adjust your plan when there are changes that need to be made, because I want to see women fulfill purpose.
LANDESS: And what’s so fascinating about that is that it doesn’t just apply to us like a job specifically, or whatever. It could be “I want to learn to play the violin.”
MASTERS-HENRY: Absolutely, whatever that goal is. I had a goal last Thanksgiving. Again, I have some weird hobbies, but I decided the week of Thanksgiving I wanted to paint. So that Friday I left work, and I went by the art supply store, and I bought all kinds of supplies and that week of Thanksgiving I sat down and I learned to paint.
LANDESS: Well, good for you. We have to bring some of your items by. We’d love to see those.
MASTERS-HENRY: Well, I don’t know if you want to see them, though.
LANDESS: Now, you’ve worked in the nonprofit sector for a couple of decades. And prior to coming to East Texas, you began something called “Shared Worth.” Can you tell us about that?
MASTERS-HENRY: So “Shared Worth” is a small housing program that provides shared housing intervention. And what shared housing is, it’s a very old concept. It’s roommate sharing, and so typically what we find is that we have someone who is what we call “house rich” but money poor. So it may be a widower, someone living on their pension or retirement. Income isn’t increasing, but daily expenses are increasing. And the home may actually be paid for, but that fixed income is not enough to sustain how our economy is at this moment, and so they need somebody to come in who can rent a room, provide some additional cash that will help them with the expenses, but that person can also provide support if necessary — assistance with running errands, going to the grocery store, cooking meals, if that’s necessary.
LANDESS: Medical visits, that sort of thing.
MASTERS-HENRY: All those things.
LANDESS: What drew you to this line of work? What was it that gave you the heart for this?
MASTERS-HENRY: I really think it was the people I was surrounded by. Community is important. And at my church that I grew up, at Eastland Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a group of professionals that were counselors, social workers, and these were men and women who came to church every Sunday. But when they left church, they went out into the community. And so they just reinforced that in our youth group when it came to volunteering and serving the community, and I remember as a 14-year-old going out to an apartment complex that was considered a low-income complex, and we would provide meals and snacks and activities for the kids and summer camps. And I just fell in love with serving, and it’s just stuck. It’s just what I do.
LANDESS: A church that walks the walk as well as talking the talk on Sunday. Your predecessor spent three decades in the East Texas Crisis Center. Two of them as the executive director. What are your goals for the organization going forward?
MASTERS-HENRY: Lana has laid a great foundation. When I arrived on my first day, Aug. 1, I was completely blown away. Of course, our location is an undisclosed location, so I hadn’t been to the shelter yet. And typically in smaller cities the shelters are smaller or still renovated houses, and so when I drove up on the campus, I was like, “Oh my gosh.” And to find out that we’re a 30,000-square foot facility, and we have locations in three other counties that we serve. I was just blown away by the work that this team has done. And I really want to build upon what Lana has started. And then also, I want to help move the community toward providing more stable and safe housing options, because one of the things that keeps victims vulnerable is the inability to provide for themselves and their families, and so often what we see now for victims is she’s in a relationship with the apartment, is what we say, so we’re not saying she’s using the person just for their apartment, but what makes things happen, and at an escalated rate, is that she needs somewhere safe for her and her kids to stay. And so she’s preyed upon, and then she’s vulnerable, and she moves in with someone who begins to abuse her. She comes to shelter, gets free of that relationship, and moves out of shelter. But if you don’t have the income to sustain rent and other housing expenses, you’re vulnerable once again. And so you find yourself in another situation, dating someone or moving someone in to help you meet expenses, and then the cycle starts all over again.
LANDESS: What is your do list between now and the end of the year? What’s on your to-do list?
MASTERS-HENRY: Well, I’m still just listening and observing. I want to make sure I am hearing the heart of the staff there. We have an amazing team at the crisis center, learning what the community expects from us. That’s important as well, and then having some time with survivors to hear what is it that they need during this time in their lives; how could we better serve you? And then from there, we develop a plan on how we’re going to move forward.
LANDESS: In continuing the work that you’re doing there, what can people listening to this story today do to help you?
MASTERS-HENRY: What you can do is you can volunteer. We are always looking for volunteers. We have volunteer opportunities in shelter, volunteer opportunities in our administrative offices, volunteer opportunities working directly with victims, but also financial support. We need the funds to function. We’re just like any other business, and we need money to keep going and to serve. We need your support. We are here to keep our citizens safe in Tyler, and so we need the support of Tyler citizens.
LANDESS: Our guest has been the new executive director of the East Texas Crisis Center, Nichole Masters-Henry. To hear this interview again or to share it, go to KVUT.org. I’m Mike Landess for UT Tyler radio.
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