MCC works with people of all backgrounds and ages to find their best path forward.
Empowering Individuals, Families, and Communities
Our beginnings were humble, our future is bright.
Through a partnership of KIPP Texas Public Schools, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Legacy Community Health, and the YMCA of Greater Houston, the concept for My Connect Community began to take flight in 2015. Deploying the impact model of Purpose Built Communities, MCC sought to leverage local assets that would support residents in the multi-ethnic community of Sharpstown and Gulfton seeking a better life in the United States.
In 2016, Founding Director Anne Whitlock opened MCC in a small borrowed office with a staff of one. Anne initially focused on adding green space and building social-emotional learning programs to address the area’s mental health crisis. As MCC became established, its focus areas grew to include affordable housing, local infrastructure improvements, healthcare access, and employment opportunities that would elevate this vibrant, multicultural community.
Crises such as Hurricanes Harvey and Beryl and winter storm Uri created an urgent need to provide families with food, translator services, and illness prevention strategies. Supporting families in times of crisis, cementing community partnerships, and hiring additional staff set the stage for MCC’s continued growth and impact.
When the Covid pandemic hit, MCC teamed up with Texas Medical Center and galvanized local women with sewing skills to produce high quality masks. Through instruction classes held on Zoom, sewing machines delivered to sewists’ homes, and vast social media outreach, MCC produced and sold 75,000 masks. In the process, newcomer women learned English together, earned a paycheck, and developed confidence in their new environment.
In 2025, MCC opened Connect Highstar, a 77-unit mixed-income housing development in the heart of its impact zone. On the ground level, MCC opened Fabric Forge, a textile lab dedicated to small-batch and white-label manufacturing, industrial sewing instruction, and on-site childcare. Eliminating the barriers of childcare and transportation, Fabric Forge transformed the lives of newcomer women who were previously excluded from the workforce.
Connect Highstar houses not only Fabric Forge, but also a variety of micro-retail entrepreneurial shops and MCC’s Library of Things. The Library makes items such as household appliances and sports equipment that are beyond the reach of a family’s budget available for free. The shops enable women-owned businesses to flourish.
Now with a full-time staff of nine and a deep presence in the community, MCC works with people of all backgrounds and ages to find their best path forward. Learning English, job searching, developing job skills, gaining digital literacy, finding employment, developing an educational path, and accessing childcare are all part of who we are.