In the last couple of decades, Catholic Charities Fort Worth added new services to address client demand. The nonprofit began offering transportation services throughout Tarrant County in 2012. It started a dental clinic in 2013.
However, the organization dedicated to providing pathways out of poverty was still seeing repeat customers, said president and CEO Heather Reynolds.
“What we realized we were doing really well as an organization is when somebody came to our doors, we were helping their poverty not hurt so much. They were hungry, we fed them. They didn’t have transportation, we got it for them,” Reynolds said. “But were things better and different? Not really. We were just making their poverty less painful.”
To tackle poverty at its roots, the Fort Worth nonprofit started Padua, a case management program meant to lift clients out of poverty. Solutions are structured based on the client’s goals, ranging from financial independence to employment stability to housing security.
The program has served 1,089 clients since its inception in 2015. And the success was noted in studies — a 25% increase in likelihood of being employed full time, 64% more likely to have housing and a 46% jump in monthly earnings. That’s according to Patrick Turner, a researcher at University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities.
The nonprofit was ready to grow the mission.
“We have expanded locally the number of clients that we work with and what we do. Then we said, ‘OK, how does this go to other communities?’” Reynolds said. “How does this program that is so successful not just benefit people in our greater Fort Worth area, but how does this become the way social services do their work across the nation?”
What is the Padua Model?
The Padua program promotes self-sufficiency by championing key goals with clients. These include achieving a livable wage, decreasing debt and individual targeted saving goals.
Clients and their two-person case management teams come up with an individualized service plan to help achieve those goals.
Catholic Charities in turn launched Padua National over the last year to bring evidence-based successful practices working in Fort Worth to other neighborhoods nationwide. In January 2026, the first mission site was established in northern Indiana and began taking clients in April. In June, a mission site was established in Chicago and will start accepting clients in October.
“Our goal is for this work to go countrywide,” said Brendan Perry, director of Padua National. “If something works, it should be shared. If something works, it should be demanded.”
The numbers
Evidence-based success for Catholic Charities Fort Worth regarding Padua was always the goal. The nonprofit involved Notre Dame’s Lab for Economic Opportunities in 2016 to run a randomized control trial on the work done through the program, Perry said.
The lab does impact evaluations for nonprofits nationwide through survey and research of programs and their implementation. Successes in employment, housing and income were tracked through the trial.
“Catholic Charities stood up the Padua program back in 2015 and 2016,” Turner said. “It’s a lot of hard work for that organization to run a randomized control trial.”
Turner said the nonprofit is putting Padua through a second randomized control trial — as well as other poverty-related programs at Catholic Charities.
Leading in an evidence-based way is essential to the organization.
“We really run the risk of living in a world of apathy toward those in poverty,” Reynolds said. “Evidence really is key in ensuring we serve the poor in a dignified way. “
The expansion
That dignity is paramount to the Fort Worth nonprofit as it considers its first two sites for national expansion.
Perry said Padua National partner candidates must have the capacity to implement the model, healthy program implementation infrastructure, stable leadership, strong finances and a general willingness to collaborate.
But the primary responsibility is for partners who implement the Padua Model to serve their community, which allows for adaptation, Perry said.
“At the end of the day, being client-led isn’t just a part of how we serve clients and their interactions, but also how we approach adaptations with various mission sites,” he added.
Early signals of the Padua Michiana chapter based in northern Indiana are promising. The one-year goal of Goodwill Industries of Michiana is 50 clients, and they are already ahead of schedule, according to a Catholic Charities spokesperson.
Reynolds said the goal is to establish 10 sites in the next couple of years. The broader goal is to become the industry norm in poverty-ending solutions.
Although a lofty ambition, Perry said there is precedent. He pointed to the Nurse-Family Partnership, a model that pairs expectant parents with a nurse home visitor, which began in Elmira, New York, nearly 50 years ago.
Now, that model is implemented in over 1,000 counties nationwide.
“If, in however many years time, we were able to do something similar, that would be a dream come true,” Perry said.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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