Two Towns - Focused  Together 

Schulenburg is nestled in the corner of HistoricFayetteCounty, located on I-10, 95 miles west of Houston, 105 miles east of San Antonio, 80 miles southeast of Austin and 65 miles north of Victoria. To Learn more about Schulenburg's rich History Click Here.

The City of Weimar is strategically located on Interstate 10 and US 90 between San Antonio, Austin, and Houston, in western Colorado County. To learn more about Weimar's rich History Click Here.

From the creation of SWIFT to its role just two years later as an award-winning community-based non-profit serving Schulenburg and Weimar, our goal has been to maximize available resources to improve the quality of life for our citizens. The programs utilize continuing involvement with youth and their families to ensure success and allow for measurements over time.

In 2006, SWIFT received an AmeriCorps grant that allowed us to expand our vision to include five focus areas: tutoring, mentoring, parenting education, health promotion, and volunteer recruitment. In January 2007, the first class of SWIFT AmeriCorps members began service in Schulenburg and Weimar.

Award-winning Program

The Health Promotion program has been recognized with various awards in its short span of existence.

• In 2004, the “Communities that Care” Award was presented to SWIFT by the Texas Rural Health Association for the research that resulted in the ‘Healthy High' concept.
• In 2005, the American Medical Association Foundation awarded program founder Dr. Olga Duchicela the national “Excellence in Medicine” Leadership Award for her role in the conception and propagation of the “Healthy High/Healthy Choices” program.
• Dr. Duchicela was also recognized with the 2005 “Physician of the Year” Award for Public Health by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
• The most recent honor is statewide recognition by the Texas Medical Association presenting the prestigious John P. McGovern “Champion of Health” award to SWIFT for its commitment to health promotion and disease prevention through community collaboration with the “Healthy High / Healthy Choices” Program, focusing on Diabetes, Hypertension and the link with childhood obesity.

Unique Program Aspects

The SWIFT programs are designed to change community behavior and make a long-term difference in the health of the community. The resulting by-product is also an improvement in the communities' economic well-being via reduction in healthcare and law enforcement cost over time.

The concept of the SWIFT AmeriCorps*Texas Program is to serve as a catalyst with community partners and various Texas universities to show what a small rural community can do for itself, and to enable the programs to be replicated anywhere. SWIFT has also received support from two U.S. Congressmen, Rubén Hinojosa and more recently Congressman Lloyd Doggett. There is no known program in Texas using the basis and methods SWIFT has incorporated into the current programs, and SWIFT is one of the few rural communities anywhere to obtain this type of AmeriCorps grant.

This program is designed to continuously work with families and youth from birth through high school graduation and has elements for citizens through their active elder years, providing an outlet for ‘Baby Boomers' and other retired citizens to utilize their experience, skills and knowledge to benefit younger generations. The highest possible program value is also achieved by utilizing the Search Institute's “40 Developmental Assets” as a basis for each program segment.  A Community Advisory Board representing all partners and Host Sites meets regularly to coordinate and measure the program.