Who we are

A Texas nonprofit being built, in the open, for Starr County.

We believe a person in crisis deserves care close to home, in their own language, with their dignity intact. Starr County Behavioral Health Center exists to make that possible here.

Our mission

Care close to home, in the language people think in.

To build and operate the first local, bilingual behavioral health crisis and stabilization center for Starr County — so that no resident in crisis is ever again sent away from their family, their community, and their language to get help.

Leadership

Who's leading it

The Center is led day to day by its Executive Director. It is governed — separately and independently — by its Board of Directors. That separation is deliberate, and we explain it below.

Ashley Gonzalez, M.A., LPC

Co-Founder & Executive Director

A Rio Grande City–born Licensed Professional Counselor with deep Rio Grande Valley roots and extensive trauma-informed experience serving children, families, and immigrant communities. She is a PhD candidate in Psychology and a U.S. Army Reserve service member.

Governance

An independent Board of Directors

The Center is governed by an independent Board of Directors. Select a member's photo to read their full biography.

  • Alexandria L. Barrera, J.D.

    Director

    First Assistant District Attorney for the 229th Judicial District and City Attorney for the City of La Grulla. A native of Roma who has built her career in public service across South Texas.

  • Joselin Falcon, BSN, RN, CLS(ASCP), MBA

    Director

    Registered nurse and ASCP-certified Clinical Laboratory Scientist with a master’s degree in Business Administration, concentrating in Healthcare Administration, serving South Texas families.

  • Angel F. Lozano, M.S., LPC, NCC, LCDC-I

    Director

    Licensed Professional Counselor and community advocate with experience serving children and families involved in the juvenile justice system. He is now pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology.

  • Ronald “Dewayne” Fontenot, M.S., Ed.D. Candidate

    Director

    Retired U.S. Army senior noncommissioned officer, educator, and JROTC instructor with more than 24 years of service in leadership, emergency management, public safety, and youth development.

  • To be announced

    Director

    This board seat is being confirmed. We will name a director here only once that person has formally accepted the seat in writing and approved every word that appears about them on this page.

Organizer

The person organizing this effort

Johnny Gonzalez

Johnny Gonzalez

Co-Founder & Organizer

Johnny Gonzalez is a 20-year U.S. Army veteran who spent his career in logistics, information technology, and recruitment. He's helping organize the effort to build Starr County its first local behavioral health crisis and stabilization center — not because he has all the answers, but because the county needs this and someone had to begin.

This one is personal. Johnny knows mental health struggles firsthand, and what he wants is simple: that the people here are taken care of, close to home, with their dignity intact.

He holds a master's degree in business with an emphasis in IT project management from American Military University. In practice, that mostly means he's comfortable taking a big, messy goal and breaking it into small steps that actually get done.

Outside of this effort, Johnny runs Pragmatic Business Solutions, LLC, and builds software. Two of his projects: vadiahealth.com — Vadia Health, a platform that helps behavioral health clinics handle scheduling, clinical notes, and billing so clinicians can spend more time with patients — and civq.us, a civic-technology platform for helping communities connect with local resources. Here, though, his role is simply to help build: the Center is governed independently by its Board of Directors, and clinical care is led by the Executive Director.

Accountability

Governance & transparency

The Executive Director reports to the Board

The Executive Director is staff, not a member of the Board. The Board of Directors is independent and governs the organization; the Executive Director reports to the Board. This separation is a deliberate choice — and a strength. It is exactly the accountability structure funders and the IRS look for, and we built it in from the start.

Documents we publish as they are adopted

We will post these here as they exist — not before:

  • Bylaws in progress
  • Conflict-of-interest policy in progress
  • Expense reimbursement policy in progress
  • IRS determination letter only after we apply and it is granted
  • Form 990 once filed

If a document isn't listed here yet, it's because it doesn't exist yet. We won't pretend otherwise.

Our legal status, plainly

Starr County Behavioral Health Center has filed for incorporation as a Texas nonprofit corporation. It is not a 501(c)(3): we have not applied for federal tax-exempt status, and no application is pending with the IRS. We plan to apply once the Center is serving patients.

Where this stands

Building the Coalition

This Center is being built with the community, not for it. Here is where that work stands today — openly, and in motion. We describe it by sector, never by name, until an organization has confirmed in writing that it's ready to be named.

  • County Government
  • Law Enforcement
  • Hospital District
  • Behavioral Health Authority
  • Juvenile & Adult Justice
  • Schools
  • State & Federal
  • Governance

See the full coalition status, by sector

Get involved

Want to help build this?

Whether you're a resident, a professional, or an institution, there's a place for you in this work.

Show your support Get in touch