An estimated 10,000 children and youth in high-need areas of Houston and Harris County will receive mental health services in the next three years through a $7.8 million grant initiative funded by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.
The Austin-based foundation today announced the award of eight grants for community programs involving 27 nonprofit and government agencies in the Houston area. The eight recipients were selected through a competitive process that drew 37 proposals.
The grants are funded by an endowment established by Houston philanthropist and civic leader Ima Hogg before she died in 1975. The endowment may only be used for mental health services for children, youth and their families in Houston and Harris County. With these eight grants, the Hogg Foundation has awarded 167 grants totaling more than $28.3 million from the Ima Hogg endowment since 1976.
“At a time when many nonprofit and service organizations across the country are struggling financially, these grants will benefit thousands of children, youth and their families in the Houston community,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez Jr., executive director of the foundation. “Miss Ima Hogg’s vision, caring and concern for children and families lives on in the community she loved through her generous gift.”
The latest round of grants will fund mental health promotion, prevention, early identification and intervention, and treatment services in schools and community settings such as day care centers and transitional living shelters. Funded projects will adopt three core values of the federal “systems of care” service model:
- Child-focused and family-driven. The child, youth and family are full participants in all aspects of the planning and delivery of services.
- Community-based. Services and supports are provided in the least restrictive manner within the child and family’s community.
- Culturally and linguistically competent. Care is responsive to the family’s cultural, racial and ethnic context.
The foundation awarded the grants in response to recommendations made in a strategic plan prepared by the Joint City/County Commission on Children. The commission issued the plan to improve children’s mental health after leading an 18-month communitywide planning process funded by the Hogg Foundation. The plan can be downloaded at www.hogg.utexas.edu.
2009 Recipients:
- Asian American Family Services (PDF, download Adobe Reader), $498,979 over three years
Project SHINE will serve an estimated 680 youth, ages 11 to 19, in Asian communities in southwest Houston. Partners: Alief ISD and Houston ISD
- ChildBuilders (PDF), $299,832 over three years
Tools for Building Healthy Families will serve an estimated 3,000 children, ages 3 to 5, in Head Start programs in East End, Pasadena, south Houston, southwest Houston, Sunnyside and Third Ward. Partners: Gulf Coast Community Services Association and Neighborhood Centers, Inc.
- Collaborative for Children (PDF), $3,526,634 over three years
South Region Children’s Mental Health Collaborative will serve an estimated 4,000 children and youth, from birth to 18, in the south region of Houston ISD. Partners: Family Services of Greater Houston, City of Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Harris County Systems of Hope, and University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center
- DePelchin Children’s Center (PDF), $830,925 over three years
The Lazos Program will serve an estimated 450 Latino children and youth, ages 5 to 14, in elementary and middle schools in Spring Branch Independent School District. Partners: Houston Communities in Schools and Spring Branch Family Development Center
- Family Services of Greater Houston (PDF), $259,000 over three years
Building Bonds, Building Futures will serve an estimated 250 children, ages birth to 5, of families who are homeless, in transition or in crisis in the Spring Branch area. Partners: Memorial Assistance Ministries and Westside Homeless Partnership
- Harris County Protective Services for Children and Adults (PDF), $1,739,858 over three years
Kashmere SWAP will serve an estimated 1,200 middle and high school students in Kashmere Gardens. Partners: Houston Dept. of Health and Human Services, Houston ISD, and Systems of Hope, Community Youth Services and TRIAD Mental Health programs
- Montrose Counseling Center (PDF), $392,532 over three years
Safe Zones Project will serve an estimated 270 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning teens, ages 13 to 18, in Houston and Harris County high schools that work with Communities in Schools. Partners: Houston Communities in Schools and Houston ISD Counseling and Guidance Dept.
- Star of Hope Mission (PDF), $270,384 over three years
Project Early Start will serve an estimated 150 homeless children, ages 2 to 5, who attend a licensed day care center in the mission’s transitional living center.
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. The foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.
