The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health plans to award up to $3 million a year in grants in the next three years to expand and improve mental health services for children and families in Houston and Harris County.
The request for grant proposals can be viewed online at www.hogg.utexas.edu. Proposals are due by June 22. The foundation intends to award multiple grants for one-, two- and three-year proposals, with a focus on geographic areas of highest need.
The grants will be funded by a special endowment Ima Hogg created before she died in 1975. The fund may only be used to pay for mental health prevention, early intervention and treatment services for children, youth and their families in Houston and Harris County.
“The Hogg Foundation’s new grant program aims to expand access to mental health services and supports many children need to prepare them for success in school and in life,” said Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement at The University of Texas at Austin. The foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
The foundation developed the request for grant proposals following an 18-month strategic planning process to improve children’s mental health services in Houston and Harris County. The Harris County Joint City/County Commission on Children facilitated the community-wide process, which was funded by a $99,970 grant from the foundation. The commission plans to release its report later this month.
“The Houston community helped identify a long-term vision and framework for funding quality mental health services for children and families,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez Jr., executive director of the foundation. “We are excited to begin funding programs that will achieve our common goals and fulfill the intent of our donor, Miss Ima Hogg.”
Stakeholders across the Houston area told planners that children and families need better access to quality services that promote mental health and more quickly identify, intervene and treat mental health needs. These services can be delivered to older children and youth in schools and to very young children in pediatric offices, day care centers, social service agencies and other community settings.
The community also recommended designing services to children and families around three core values in the federal “systems of care” approach to mental health. The values promote services that are:
- Child-focused and family-driven. Children and their families fully participate in planning and delivery of services.
- Community-based. Services and supports ideally are provided within the child’s and family’s community.
- Culturally competent. Care is responsive to the cultural, racial and ethnic context of the family.
Texas-based nonprofit organizations and governmental entities are eligible to submit proposals. Examples of eligible organizations include schools and school districts, day care centers, mental health consumer organizations, mental health service providers, health care providers, social service providers, other community organizations, colleges and universities, and relevant departments of regional and local governmental agencies.
The foundation will host an informational teleconference for potential respondents on May 21. Register for the teleconference by May 19 at www.hogg.utexas.edu.
The Hogg Foundation was founded in 1940 by the children of former Texas Governor James Hogg to promote improved mental health for the people of Texas. The foundation’s grants and programs support mental health consumer services, research, policy analysis and public education projects in Texas.
