March 18, 2026

San Antonio: Strengthening Community Collaboratives

A closer look at how collaboration developed across a network of community groups in San Antonio to become a Compassionate City, and what helped sustain the work over time.

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In San Antonio, Texas, a city-wide commitment to compassion led to the development of a network of community collaboratives working across issues such as mental health, housing, environmental sustainability, and immigration.

Rather than operating as a single coordinated program, these groups developed organically—many of them volunteer-led, working independently while staying loosely connected through a shared purpose.

As the work evolved, a central question emerged: what actually helps collaboration function across groups over time?

ProSocial World partnered with local leaders to explore this question through a participatory research process. Community members conducted interviews, gathered reflections, and helped identify patterns across the different collaboratives.

Research Report
Also included in this brief is a link to the longer research report which includes an overview of interviews, surveys, and observations of community members and organizations used to identify the impacts of collaboration within San Antonio.

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