The Hogg Foundation has awarded $11.5 million in grants to 11 Texas organizations for the Communities of Care initiative. The initiative supports collaborative approaches to well-being in the Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area. The grants will strengthen efforts to transform the environments where people live, learn, work, play and pray, bringing a population health approach to support resilience, mental health and well-being for all members of a community, and with a focus on children and youth of color and their families.

Ten organizations were awarded $800,000 each to build on an existing community collaborative. The collaboratives consist of key stakeholders from across sectors and community members who are working together to plan and implement activities that address a wide range of community needs related to resilience, mental health, equity and well-being. An eleventh organization, Prevention Institute, was awarded grant funding to coordinate the initiative.

The Communities of Care initiative grows out of the foundation’s new strategic direction, which has moved from a primary focus on individual mental illness to the upstream causes of poor mental health at the community and systems level. It recognizes that community-based approaches are necessary to make a lasting transformation in mental health and well-being.

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