Supported community-led collaboratives promoting mental health and wellbeing.

Prevention Institute continued to partner with the Hogg Foundation on the Communities of Care (CoC) initiative, which entered its sixth and final year in June 2024. Nine community-based collaboratives worked throughout the Houston region to support mental health and wellbeing for youth and their families by amplifying their voices through efforts like Connect Community's Stories at The Garden and East End Communities' Photovoice Exhibition and highlighting the importance of lifting up the lived experiences of community to inform decision-makers. The collaboratives also identified opportunities for youth and resident leaders to advocate for local priorities. For example, Babies in Baytown's parent leaders educated elected decision-makers and the business community about a child care center tax exemption to benefit low-income communities and Reaching Richmond Community Collaborative's Junior Street Captains presented opportunities for park and green space improvement to the City of Richmond Parks and Recreation Board.

PI and the Hogg Foundation convened the CoC collaboratives twice to deepen their relationships with each other and conduct long-term sustainability planning. The collaboratives also engaged in a Policy Peer Exchange to act on shared state advocacy goals to promote educational equity and access to mental health resources. Finally, PI supported Asian Americans Attaining Awareness and The Future Is US at the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee's Interim Hearing on Children’s Mental Health to share testimony from their residents and youth.

Funder: Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.

Image by Healthy Outdoor Communities.