Check out Understanding Houston's new blog featuring Alice Valdez, founder of MECA Houston!
MECA fosters the growth and development of underserved youths and adults through arts and cultural programming, academic assistance, community building, and support services.
#HispaniceHeritageMonth
UNDERSTANDINGHOUSTON.ORG
Meet Alice Valdez: Musician, educator, advocate, and MECA founder
Understanding Houston
Yesterday at 09:42 ·
One of the most remarkable aspects of life in Houston is its vibrant creative culture that incorporates diverse voices and perspectives. But for every Gonzo or Beyonce, there are vital forces working to ensure children from all walks of life have access to quality arts education.
Alice Valdez is one of those people. As the founder of MECA Houston, Alice and her team have used art to help over 4,000 students overcome challenging circumstances. Learn more about Alice and MECA, in our new blog.
#HispanicHeritageMonth
Understanding Houston
Yesterday at 09:42 ·
One of the most remarkable aspects of life in Houston is its vibrant creative culture that incorporates diverse voices and perspectives. But for every Gonzo or Beyonce, there are vital forces working to ensure children from all walks of life have access to quality arts education.
Alice Valdez is one of those people. As the founder of MECA Houston, Alice and her team have used art to help over 4,000 students overcome challenging circumstances. Learn more about Alice and MECA, in our new blog.
#HispanicHeritageMonth
As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, we’d like to highlight our Latino Giving Circle. Latino Giving Houston, established in 2009 at GHCF, grants to organizations that benefit Latinos in the Greater Houston area and encourages philanthropy within the Latino community. This year’s LGH grant recipient is AVANCE-Houston, Inc. Thank you for all that you do to support our community!
Giving circles are a form of collaborative giving, where groups of individuals donate their money to a pooled fund, and then decide together where to give the money. To learn more, visit www.ghcf.org!
Understanding Houston is a tremendous resource for our community. Explore, learn, and engage with us as we work to build a more vibrant Houston with opportunity for all. #whatmatters
www.understandinghouston.org
UNDERSTANDINGHOUSTON.ORG
How to make the most of Understanding Houston
Happy Work Anniversary to Lydia Hickey (5 years)! We are grateful for all you do to create a lasting impact in our community.
Stay safe, Houston! For updates on the storm, text BETA to 888777.
ReadyHarris
22 September at 06:40 ·
⚠️There are areas of high water around the county⚠️
⚠️Stay off the roadways if possible
⚠️Check road conditions at http://bit.ly/1hIv0gn
⚠️TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN
#TSBeta #Beta #HouNews #HouWx #SevereWx
.
Se reportan áreas inundadas en el condado.
• Manténgase alejado de las rutas viales si es posible
• Verifique las condiciones de las autopistas y carreteras en http://bit.ly/1hIv0gn
.
• ¡Aguas, NO SE Ahogue!
县城周围水位高的地区
•尽可能远离道路
•通过http://bit.ly/1hIv0gn检查路况
•绕不走
.
Có những vùng nước cao xung quanh quận
• Tránh xa đường nếu có thể
• Kiểm tra tình trạng đường tại http://bit.ly/1hIv0gn
• QUAY LẠI KHÔNG DROWN
.
هناك مناطق عالية المياه حول المحافظة
• ابتعد عن الطرقات إذا أمكن
• تحقق من حالة الطريق على الموقع http://bit.ly/1hIv0gn
• استدر لا تغرق
GHCF is excited to celebrate 3 birthdays this month 🥳 Happy Birthday to Nelson Hernandez, Ed Padar, and Rachel Young!
Join us on October 20 for a free program on housing inequities in the Houston region. To register visit, https://bit.ly/3j4xb1X.
TUE, OCT 20 AT 9:00 AM CDT
A Look at Housing Inequities in Houston
Check out Understanding Houston's more recent blog featuring 11 local Hispanic leaders working to create meaningful and positive change in our community! #HispanicHeritageMonth
https://www.understandinghouston.org/blog/celebrating-houstons-hispanic-heritage
Understanding Houston
14 hrs ·
Today, more than half of the students enrolled in Houston-area public schools are Hispanic, and it's crucial that these students and their parents are adequately represented in school leadership and decision-making. That's where Andy Canales and his team at Latinos For Education - Greater Houston come in.
Andy is just one of many Latino community leaders working to make Houston a better place to live, work and play. Learn more about Andy and 10 other local Hispanic leaders you should know in our blog: understandinghouston.org/blog/celebrating-houstons-hispanic-heritage
Welcome Andrea Mayes – our new Senior Philanthropic Advisor!
Andrea brings diverse nonprofit and corporate experience to the GHCF team. Andrea earned a BS degree in Journalism with an emphasis in Strategic Communications from The University of Kansas and an MBA from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining GHCF, she worked as a Consultant at Sterling where she helped mobilize nonprofits and the people behind them to operate effectively and for the long run. Andrea is motivated by a lifelong desire to make the world a better place and is looking forward to partnering with donors to create lasting legacies through impactful and effective philanthropy. Andrea and her husband, Jonathan, enjoy sharing their love for sports, adventure, and the great outdoors with their three young children.
Early voting starts today for Texas residents! In-person early voting is available October 13-30 to any registered voter. Click on the links below to find a polling location near you!
Harris County: www.harrisvotes.com
Fort Bend County: www.fortbendcountytx.gov/home
Montgomery County: www.mctx.org/election/
We are excited to have two students joining the Understanding Houston team as fall data fellows!
Ammara Mukhi is a senior at the University of Houston, majoring in Economics, with an Honors minor in Political Science and Philosophy. Ammara is also working at Tennis Express, where she handles digital marketing. We are very excited to have her extensive data platform skills and her keen eye for detail!
Brandon Warner is a junior at the University of Houston, majoring in Computer Information Systems. He is a Pharis Fellow (DASH- Data Analytics in Student Hands) at UH, and has volunteer and community service experience. Brandon also brings extensive data platform skills and a passion for dashboards!
Congratulations, Second Servings of Houston, on receiving a grant from the 2020 Next Gen Giving Circle! Second Servings’ mission is to alleviate hunger and reduce waste in the city by rescuing surplus food from businesses and conducting free same-day delivery to approved charitable meal sites. As the only prepared and perishable food rescue in Houston, Second Servings will reach approximately 175,000 people annually. To learn more visit. www.secondservingshouston.org.
Generation SERVE (Houston)
9 hrs ·
#thankfulthursday shout out to @greaterhoustoncf
Don’t forget to register for Family Philanthropy Day this Saturday, November 7th! It’s going to be a fun event.
We’re gearing up for Family Philanthropy Day this weekend - there is still time to register! We hope you join us virtually as we make a difference at a distance.
To register, visit https://bit.ly/3o6k5F3.
SAT, NOV 7 AT 10:00 AM CST
Family Philanthropy Day 2020
Can you believe it’s almost the end of the year? Be sure to review our year-end giving deadlines before making your 2020 contribution.
2020 Year-End Giving Deadlines: https://bit.ly/3mTaKPG
It's Election Day! Your vote matters. 🗳
Harris County: www.harrisvotes.com
Fort Bend County: www.fortbendcountytx.gov/home
Montgomery County: www.mctx.org/election/
To kick off Philanthropy Month, we are excited to share a new resource with our donors and community. Several donors have asked us for resources on adapting their giving to issues of racial equity. Greater Houston Community Foundation is taking steps to elevate awareness by creating a giving guide of Black-led nonprofit organizations in Fort Bend, Harris, and Montgomery counties.
Join us virtually on Thursday, November 12, as we officially launch Giving Black: A Guide for Houston Philanthropy!
THU, NOV 12 AT 12:00 PM CST
Giving Black: A Guide for Houston Philanthropy
THU, NOV 12 AT 12:00 PM CST
Giving Black: A Guide for Houston Philanthropy
New disaster content is live on Understanding Houston! Explore data on how disasters have impacted the Houston region and its residents, including a deep dive into the impacts of COVID-19.
http://understandinghouston.org/topic/disasters
UNDERSTANDINGHOUSTON.ORG
Understanding Houston
Understanding Houston
January 5 at 11:46 AM ·
Explore more than 50 unique data points in the new Disaster pages on UnderstandingHouston.org!
In our new Disaster topic and subtopic pages, we examine the myriad ways disasters have and could affect our region and its residents, including a deep dive into the impacts of COVID-19.
We invite you to interact with the data and vote on the topics that matter most to you as we shine a light on this increasingly important topic.
Get started: https://www.understandinghouston.org/topic/disasters
At the end of 2020, we bid a bittersweet farewell to Lainie Gordon, a contract team member who played an integral part in corporate and client services, along with GHCF disaster work (Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19 relief efforts). Lainie has been a wonderful and supportive teammate through two separate contracts with GHCF; September 2017–December 2018 and again July 2019 – December 2020.
Lainie, we appreciate your grace, flexibility, and work ethic as we navigated some of the most critical times for our Houston community. It has been such a pleasure to have you on the GHCF team. You will be missed and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors!
From our family to yours, we wish you a healthy and happy New Year!
This year has been filled with many challenges and uncertainty, yet, we have persevered and rallied around our neighbors to meet the critical needs of our community. The Greater Houston Community Foundation is proud to support Houston and we look forward to creating a meaningful and positive impact with our donors and for our community in the many years to come. Together, we are proudly One Community.
The GHCF office will be closed on Friday, January 1st, and will reopen for normal business hours on Monday, January 4th.
For questions regarding year-end contributions, please contact a GHCF team member or donorservices@ghcf.org.
This week, we virtually welcomed our Governing Board for their first meeting of the year. We look forward to your leadership and support as we embark on our 26th year supporting the Greater Houston region.
*Thank you to those that joined by phone who aren't pictured!
A special thank you to the following Board members as they complete their time on the GHCF Governing Board. We greatly appreciate your leadership and support as we strive to create a lasting impact in our community.
J. Murry Bowden, Hanover Company
Dr. William Bryan, Houston Methodist
Frost Murphy, Next Gen Representative
David Pruner, Heidrick & Struggles
Ramon Manning, Board Chair for Emancipation Park Conservancy, on the importance of investing in and supporting organizations of color.
Happy #WorkAnniversary to Stephanie Lopez (4 years) and Diana Zarzuelo (2 years)! We are grateful for all you do to create meaningful and positive change with our donors and for our community.
GHCF is excited to welcome Mark Folkes to the newly created role of Chief Growth Officer! Folkes, who has a strong track record for effectively growing organizations, as well as a passion for creating positive community impact through philanthropy, will join the GHCF leadership team in April.
Press Release: https://bit.ly/3cHHARu
We are proud to support and uplift the many Black-led nonprofit organizations and the incredible work they are doing to impact the Greater Houston region. To learn more about the GHCF Giving Guide of Black-led Nonprofit Organizations, visit www.ghcfgivingguide.org!
Nonprofit Colleagues 📢 📢 If your organization is listed in the Giving Guide, tag GHCF and use hashtag #GHCFGivingGuide!
Does your nonprofit want to participate? Contact us at connect@ghcf.org!