To help anyone else that finds this, I applied a similar concept more generally in a data flow when consuming a text stream [DT_TEXT] in a Derived Column Transformation task to transform it to [DT_WSTR] type to my defined length. This more easily calls out the conversion taking place.
Expression: (DT_WSTR,1000)(DT_STR,1000,1252)myLargeTextColumn
Data Type: Unicode string [DT_WSTR]
Length: 1000
*I used 1252 codepage since my DT_TEXT is UTF-8 encoded.
For this Derived Column, I also set the TruncationRowDisposition to RD_IgnmoreFailure in the Advanced Editor (or can be done in the Configure Error Output, setting Truncation to "Ignore failure")
(I'd post images but apparently I need to boost my rep)