EHF is announcing $2.1 million in grants to help organizations across Texas work with community members to become advocates for health and adopt new ways of solving health-related problems in their neighborhood. These new grants support groups working with low-income residents and neighborhoods in need across the state.
“As we’ve seen during COVID-19, the changes needed to improve the health of Texans go beyond only going to the doctor,” said Elena Marks, EHF’s president and CEO. “These grants help communities develop leaders who advocate for healthy lifestyles and push for solutions that address the underlying, non-medical neighborhood conditions that contribute to poor health.”
EHF’s $2.1 million investment includes:
- $300,000 to Austin Interfaith Sponsoring Committee to develop sustainable organizing clusters located in five central Texas counties addressing a broad range of health disparities through organizing groundwork to improve community health and health equity.
- $250,000 to Baker Ripley in Houston to train and support Community Engineers in Pasadena and neighborhoods near Hobby Airport and integrate evidence-based health and wellness programs
- $135,000 to Bluebonnet Trails Community Services in Central Texas to develop a community engagement academy to train affordable housing resident leaders and staff in Bell, Burnet, Milam and Williamson counties to advocate for people to have healthy lifestyles and health-promoting neighborhoods
- $115,400 to Communities for Better Health in Houston to strengthen the capacity of the Acres Homes neighborhoods and health action team to develop a healthy community
- $250,000 to Equidad ATX, Inc. in Austin to build a holistic, sustainable, and equitable health-focused community by bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders to address social determinants of health, especially as part of the Colony Park Preservation Plan
- $150,000 to Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation in Houston to help the Center for Urban Transformation convene and train a Fifth Ward Community Council on Health to do an assessment of social determinants of health and draft a strategic plan to improve health outcomes
- $300,000 to Gulf Coast Leadership Council in Harris and Fort Bend counties to train leaders in four community clusters to address socioeconomic and racial disparities through advocacy strategies that improve health in their communities
- $75,000 to Healthy Futures of Texas to build support for women’s preventive health care and the family planning safety-net in Texas through advocacy
- $60,000 to Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy to help congregation-based community health leaders influence public policy on behalf of vulnerable and marginalized people in Texas
- $250,000 to Texas Organizing Project Education Fund in Houston to develop and train community leaders to advocate for health in low-income Black and Latino neighborhoods
- $125,000 to The Immunization Partnership to engage with medical and non-traditional partners to promote immunizations statewide
- $200,000 to Young Invincibles to train young adults to become community leaders through the Young Advocate Program that educates them on policy strategies and advocacy that works to increase health insurance coverage among young Texans
