Building Resilience in Texas: How SBP Fellow Will McCrory is Helping Protect Gulf Coast Communities

Along the Texas Gulf Coast, communities live with the constant threat of hurricanes, flooding, and other extreme weather events. For low-capacity communities, these risks are even greater. Aging infrastructure, limited staff capacity, and tight budgets often mean critical upgrades are delayed. 

When infrastructure systems fail during disaster, like wastewater systems, the consequences can be devastating: raw sewage back up into homes and streets, exposing families to severe health risks and causing long-term environmental damage.

That’s where SBP’s Resilience Fellows program makes a difference. The program strengthens local capacity by embedding skilled Fellows within communities to help leaders secure recovery resources, anticipate future hazards, and implement practical resilience strategies. Fellows work alongside local governments and community partners to advance mitigation projects, build cross-sector partnerships, and unlock federal and philanthropic funding that helps protect families and critical infrastructure before the next disaster strikes.

SBP currently has 11 Fellows serving nine states. With support from the Walmart Foundation, the program now extends to the Texas Gulf Coast, where a dedicated Fellow is helping local leaders build the capacity and expertise necessary for long-term resilience.

“Walmart and the Walmart Foundation’s philanthropy aims to help communities prepare, build resilience and meet critical needs after disasters,” said Brooks Nelson, Director, Strategic Initiatives, Disaster Preparedness and Response for Walmart.  

“Through our support of SBP’s Fellows Program, we’re empowering communities to prepare for and recover from disasters more effectively—protecting families, local economies, and the systems they depend on.”

Brooks Nelson, Director, Strategic Initiatives, Disaster Preparedness and Response for Walmart

Texas Fellow Will McCrory has made a significant impact since joining SBP in 2024. McCrory has helped communities secure more than $3.3 million in disaster mitigation funding, impacting nearly 25,000 residents, many of whom live in neighborhoods where nearly one in seven families live below the poverty line.

“Disasters don’t affect everyone equally,” says McCrory, a native of Texas. “In communities where resources are stretched thin, a single failure—like losing power at a water treatment plant during or after a storm—can quickly become a public health crisis. Through Fellows like me, SBP can make a difference by helping communities secure the resources they need to build stronger, more resilient systems.”

McCrory brings a unique blend of disaster recovery, public service, and hands-on field experience to his role. He has deployed nationwide as a FEMA contractor inspector helping survivors apply for assistance, and worked in administrative support with the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department. 

Securing Bolivar Peninsula’s Water Lifeline

One of his most impactful projects is in Bolivar Peninsula, a coastal community in Galveston County that relies on a single water line running across Rollover Pass—the lifeline supplying water to thousands of homes and businesses. The line, severely damaged in 2008 during Hurricane Ike, has been operating on a temporary fix since then. A failure would leave the entire peninsula without water until repairs were complete.

Bolivar Peninsula’s utility district faced another barrier. It wasn’t included in Galveston County’s multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan, leaving it ineligible for many federal funding sources. McCrory worked with local leaders to address this gap. 

Through McCrory’s collaboration with Bolivar Peninsula’s Special Utility District, Galveston County and the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the community secured Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funding to replace the temporary line with a new, storm-resistant system: a 20-inch water line encased in steel and buried beneath the filled-in pass, ensuring communities have a reliable water source even in extreme weather.

Local leaders say McCrory’s support has made a real difference in their capacity to pursue funding. 

“We are just starting our grant writing effort and don’t have much experience. When Will explained his role and that the SBP Fellows program covers his expertise, we were skeptical at first,” said Sheila Cunningham, General Manager, Bolivar Peninsula Special Utility District. “The idea that an expert would help us without taking a percentage of the award was completely new to us. His guidance has made the learning curve much shorter, and we are hopeful we can build capacity quickly. Many thanks to the Walmart Foundation and other donors for investing in this program—it will benefit thousands of people.”

AT A GLANCE: Rollover Pass Water Line 

• Funding: $3,300,000 (awarded, Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT)
• Impact: Ensures communities have a reliable water source through a 20-inch water line encased in steel and buried underneath the pass

Protecting Dickinson Through Reliable Power

McCrory is also focused on a Galveston County Water District #1 (GCWCID #1) Lift Station Generators Project, which seeks $4 million in FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds to install 21 permanent, natural gas-powered generators at wastewater lift stations. 

Serving 21,000 residents in Dickinson, Texas, the district is the community’s sole wastewater provider and depends on these lift stations to keep the system running safely and reliably.

During Winter Storm Uri in 2021, widespread power outages forced treatment plants to shut down or operate below capacity. In some neighborhoods, untreated sewage spilled into homes, streets, and waterways. The proposed generators would activate automatically during an outage, resist hurricane-force winds, and stay above flood levels.

“We’re so grateful for all that Will is doing for us. His guidance through the long and complicated state and federal grant applications has been a real godsend. We don’t have the expertise, experience, or time to manage this ourselves, and we’re excited to see what the next grant opportunity will bring with his help,” said Ivan Langford, retired General Manager of Dickinson’s Water District, who worked with McCrory on the grant application.

AT A GLANCE: Galveston County WCID 1 Lift Station Generators

• Funding: $4,039,938.00 (pending, FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant)
• Impact: Ensures continuous wastewater operations with permanent, natural gas-powered generators

Strengthening Community Preparedness in the Gulf Coast

McCrory’s impact extends across multiple communities, strengthening water infrastructure and maintaining reliable services during disasters. Aside from the Rollover Pass and Galveston lift station generators, two other projects focus on resilience along the Coast.

Bolivar Peninsula Special Utility District Portable Generator

• Funding: $169,541 (pending, FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant)
• Impact: Keeps water treatment and distribution systems running during emergencies with a 300 kVA portable generator.

Surfside Beach Portable Generator

• Funding: $62,744 (pending, FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant)
• Impact: Ensures continuous water service in Surfside Beach during power outages with a portable generator.

Projects like these exemplify how SBP’s Resilience Fellows are bridging the gap between community needs and the complex world of resilience and mitigation funding. 

“I grew up in Texas, so this work hits close to home,” McCrory says. “Every project we help move forward means families won’t have to endure the same hardships we’ve seen in past disasters. That’s what resilience is all about—building systems that protect people before the storm even arrives.”

Learn more about SBP’s Fellows Program

SBP’s Resilience Fellows Program in Texas is made possible thanks to the Walmart Foundation.