Mission Bend UMC–Loving Neighbor In Alief

 Mission Bend United Methodist Church

Mission Bend United Methodist is a partner with TMO in our collaborative efforts to bring stability to families in Alief.  The following is a brief description by Carrie Leader, associate intern,  of the churches efforts in Alief.  We are proud of their continuing efforts to love God and love Neighbor.  Please pray for their continued efforts.

 

Mission Bend United Methodist Church adopted Holmquist Elementary School in Alief ISD as their primary outreach last year.  As we deepen this relationship, we are looking for ways to make lasting positive impacts on the families who send their children to this school.

We are committed to raising funds so that every child who is eligible for the Backpack Buddy Program can take home food each and every weekend this school year.  Last year, Houston Food Bank provided enough food for 50 children.  Holmquist had over 230 eligible children on their list.  We, as a church, created our own “bags” so that half of the children took food home every weekend.  This required enough food for 60 bags and we had over 20 faithful volunteers who contributed time every week to assemble the backpacks (which we also provided) and deliver each week.  We had volunteers pick up empty backpacks and we continued this cycle every week, beginning in December.  We had a number of other members who faithfully contributed monies and food for the initiative.

This year, we are proud to collaborate with Westside Homeless Partnership to bring self-sufficiency to ten Holmquist families.  This is a pilot program for WHP as they look to expand into Alief ISD and possibly into Katy ISD.  They have a tremendous success rate for the past twenty years they have worked in Spring Branch ISD.  With self-sufficiency comes stability for the children who have been subjected to frequent moves during their school year, disrupting their education and their social connections.

Feng Shui in Alief– A Path To Harmony

“In harmony with the Tao,
the sky is clear and spacious,
the earth is solid and full,
all creatures flourish together,
content with the way they are,
endlessly repeating themselves,
endlessly renewed.

  When man interferes with the Tao
    the sky becomes filthy,
the earth becomes depleted,
the equilibrium crumbles,
creatures become extinct.”

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

 

Houston Realtors who work with persons with a Chinese heritage  often have to have one extra skill in their Realtors tool box–an understanding of Feng Shui, an ancient oriental art to insure health, happiness, and harmony.  Feng Shui has its origins in Taoism, conceived by Lao Tzu, some 2500 years ago.  Even though there are numerous expressions of Feng Shui, it is primarily related to the orientation of the home and its interior.  It places great importance on the locations and orientations of rooms, shrubbery and the use of color.

For those of us who are not Asian, this may seem strange and even though we wouldn’t be as precise as followers of Feng Shui, we would still feel some hesitancy if our front door opened into our garage or bathroom or if we had a purple front door.  Feng Shui is more nuanced than this.   But it is partially about flow and is also about living a healthy and harmonious life.

Because of the large Chinese Asian community in Alief, Feng Shui has many followers and many would not think of buying a home or business location without considering Feng Shui.  But Feng Shui is only one aspect of the larger consideration attributed to following the principals of Taoism.  The Tao symbol above signifies the Yin and Yang or the balance between opposites.

The circular shape of the symbol represents the Tao. The intertwined pieces point us towards the inherent balance of two opposite forces of Yin and Yang.  Yin represents (feminine, negative, and dark) and yang represents (masculine, positive, and bright). Neither can exist without the other such as day and night or birth and death. They are ever-changing, constantly flowing one into the other.  The small dots in the middle of the larger tear drops symbolizes that even in the larger piece the opposite is also in the primary. Together they form a whole.
 The yin and yang symbol reminds us of the nature of duality (a situation that has two states that are both complementary and opposed to each other.)  These concepts are difficult for westerners to grasp.  Our tendency is to see brute power as being privileged over acquiescence and submission.  Even the concept of Love God and Love Neighbor seems too passive and unworkable to many Christians.  Often the concept of loving neighbor just doesn’t seem very practical.

The challenge that Feng Shui and Taoism present to us is the question of how can a community as diverse as Alief, live in harmony with the different religions, languages and cultures. Maybe we can learn something from Taoism–that the opposites that we confront in our world, even though different can help us create a society that values the opposites resulting in harmony, respect and acceptance of the other.  As a beginning point in this quest, consider forces in Alief that help create harmony and appreciation of the other.  Then we can ask ourselves how we can build on those points of appreciation and make the negatives into positives.

One simple way is to know a neighbor.  In a recent conversation with the manager of Sun Blossom Woods apartments in Alief, she said that she had encouraged her residents to meet at least their next door neighbor.  She believed that this would help create community.  But she said that she had very poor results from the effort but continues to work toward building a more relational community.  Isolation and distrust works against the idea of harmony and reinforces the dark side of creation.  In the coming year TMO will be working with her and the adjacent schools to build relationships that will be affirming and positive.

TMO builds relationships that enhance people’s lives

 

Have You Ever Played Chicken Foot?

One of my fondest memories of my grandchildren, was when one of them would come over to our house to spend the night and we’d all play chicken foot.  If you’ve never played chicken foot with a four year old you haven’t lived.  It’s about the most mindless game in the world that the whole family can play.  You can play it in about twenty minutes and when you’re playing with a four or five year old you’ll more than likely be making up new rules as you go along.

Working in the schools, churches and apartment projects in Alief has been eye opening in terms of engaging families.  Low-income families have many hurdles to navigate. Other than making enough money to make ends meet here are a few of the challenges:

1. They often do not spend quality time with their children.
2. They do not have a family or community support system.
3. They do not have a church home.
4. They may move as many as three or four times a year and may spend time as a “couch surfer” while living with an acquaintance until they have saved enough money to rent another apartment.
5. There is very little stability in their lives
6. They are not engaged in their children’s schoolwork or the school.

With many families having little or no support, we wondered how to engage them with the goal of creating a more stable community environment.  The schools have  family centers which is a primary way the schools engage parents.  But most of the schools have less than a dozen parents that attend regularly.   That’s not a condemnation of the Family Engagement program as much as it is a reality of working several jobs resulting in families not being able to attend functions during the day.  So, we decided that if the parents couldn’t come to the school, we’d go to them.  Thus, the family game nights.  So, what does a family night with board games have to do with creating stability?

1. We’re hoping that parents, along with their children, will be engaged in fun activities that don’t include television and video games and that will build a closer bond between children and parents.
2. We’re hoping that families will meet other families in their project that will be conducive to healthy relationships. In so doing, it is our hope that families will not move as much if there are community ties.
3. TMO and member congregations will work with parents to develop leadership skills among the parents and engage parents in discussing ways to build bonds with their children’s school and to affirm that these families are not victims but have worth.
4. It is our prayer that church members of supporting congregations will be able to be a positive and loving influence on these families.

For the next two Sunday’s Memorial Drive United Methodist Church is collecting gently used board games and puzzles that will take no longer than an hour to play.  Four Square Fellowship will be conducting the sessions.  This will be a continuation of their efforts at Alief Square Apartments which in the past has been primarily with just the children.   As is stated above. the goal is not just to play games but also will be to foster community and develop closer relationships with one another and the schools.  So far, there has been a wonderful outpouring from MDUMC contributing games.  So much so, that we probably will have the ability to do the same project with another apartment or two.  The only thing lacking to make that happen is to have supportive congregations or church groups to take on the responsibility of organizing and facilitating the program.  TMO will train facilitators and offer input and support.  And if you don’t know how to play chicken foot we’ll all sit down and figure out how to do it together.

I’m also looking for Mexican Bingo.  I understand that this is a big item in the Hispanic community.   

Pray for us all as we embark on this innovative endeavor.

I’m Being Nickeled and Dimed to Death

 

For those of us who consider ourselves as upper middle class, who have a bank relationship and pay our credit cards off every month, we don’t worry too much about check cashing fees, ATM fees, and debit card fees.   But more and more many of us are looking at the fees on our bank statements and wonder about how much we’re paying.  But what if you’re not able to pay off your cards at the end of the month or you have a couple of debit card overdrafts.  It makes you begin to wonder what it’s like for persons who don’t have a bank account, who come up short at the end of the month and have to go to a pay day loan store and end up having to pay the equivalent of 400% annualized interest rate on a loan for only a few hundred dollars.

American Express has produced a really great documentary on the plight of the poor and middle class and the cost of banking.  You may know someone who is affected by this issue.

 

TMO is proud to have been one of the supporters of a city ordinance that put restrictions on pay day loan and title loans to make them more transparent.  And as the video presents, there’s more that can be done.  The video gives a number of suggestions where communities can become involved and make some real changes.  If your church, school or organization wants to embark on financial education or financial assistance program, contact me and we’ll work together to help folks be more financially stable.

What Kind of World Does God Want?

This is an effort by Abiline, Tx. to develop and bring the community together to live into “loving God, loving neighbor. TMO has as one of its goals to create community where people can not only develop meaningful relationships, but in the process transform their communities.

I Lift My Lamp Beside The Golden Door

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

by, Emma Lazarus

Central American Children hopeful they can stay

Since humans walked upright and decided that there was a better home than where they were, there has been migration.  Not everyone agrees on when humans began migrating from Africa but it is theorized that the first effort to move was 1.8 million years ago.  The real migration came in waves starting about 80,000 years ago and continues today.  In most cases evidence shows that if the area was inhabited, this movement was disruptive to the environment and to other humans.

Immigrant children hopeful of being able to stay

As a result of poverty, oppression and lack of resources, this disruptive migration continues today.  And with conditions throughout the world today, there is little evidence that this will change any time soon.  Whether it was the drawing of new boundaries  in the Arabian peninsula by the English and French in the early 20th century or the support of oppressive regimes in Central America by the United States, history shows that this kind of disruption has far reaching results and is often impacted by outside influences.

Our current situation on our southern border with thousands of children coming from Central America seeking the American dream seems to be a problem with no solution.  For some the solution seems easy.  As one Facebook contributor wrote, “When you see them coming across the border, have your gun ready and just tell them to turn back, and if they don’t obey just solve the problem in the “Texas way”.  When asked what he meant by that, he was unable to give an answer, saying only that he didn’t mean that he would shoot them.  This is a complex problem and is not just the U.S.’s problem.  It was born in those Central American countries that developed an oligarchy culture where the rich hid behind high fences and had personal militia that allowed the cartels to act with impunity and where the politicians and the church were in the pockets of the rich.  And when that system seemed to be threatened, the U.S. aligned themselves with the oligarchies and came to protect what were perceived as U.S. interests which resulted in keeping the peasants poor and hopeless.

As we sit here today as Americans, we see the thousands of children streaming across the border.  We know that we cannot just send them all back without a plan that is based on some kind of compassion.  Maybe they keep coming because we’ve done too good a job of selling the world that we live behind the “golden door” and that it’s a land of opportunity.  And maybe our American poverty and lack of good education and healthcare for the poor is better that what they come from.  And maybe we should tell them that there are those who would still restrict the vote to our citizens.  But I’m not ready to advocate that.  As I look at Alief I see the positive possibilities of this wonderful land of opportunity, where immigrants came to America in small boats with only the clothes on their back, where persons walked hundreds of miles in the desert after spending years in a refugee camp, or as a young child riding on the top of a train for over 1500 miles only to be raped, kidnapped, or killed. Even with the diversity in Alief, it works, which gives me hope that what exists in Alief can work elsewhere.

The challenges of human migration have been with us since our human beginnings, but I hope that in our current crisis we acknowledge that we are all God’s children and that we are able to find solutions that show compassion for the sacredness of all human life.  We will not find a perfect solution but there’s got to be something better than the “Texas way”.   As a Texan, I’m  appalled  and insulted by that characterization.  We can do better than that.

Where Can a Guy Get a REAL Massage in Houston?

TMO congregations begin to map out crime abatement strategy

12 TMO congregations gave up Saturday morning to map out 2014 strategy

Last Sunday four MDUMC Sunday School classes had Marilyn Green of Chapelwood UMC talk about human trafficking in Houston.  She gave alarming statistics concerning numbers of women and men who are caught in the web of crime brought on by sex trafficking and labor trafficking and how insidious the results are for those caught in this web of crime and degradation.  It is estimated by Children at Risk that there are over 300 massage parlors in Houston and hundreds of cantinas where sex, drugs, and other crime is common place.

I wondered how many of these establishments were in the Memorial, Alief, East and North Houston.  Interestingly a preponderance of establishments were in about a three mile circle around Galleria, but you can rest assured that at least one is close to you.   These activities don’t include street prostitution and the Hot Sheet motels that exist throughout Harris county.  And if you want to know what goes on in a massage spa, just go to the internet headings on Houston Massage Parlors and pull the articles on “spa etiquette “.

At the end of the lesson most everyone wanted to know what could be done since we understand that this is not a victimless crime and that along with the trafficking there is also other crime including drug dealing, murder, and organized crime activities.  Numerous workshops are being conducted in Houston and Texas.  They are quite informative but lack much in the way of specifics for dealing with the issue whether it be labor trafficking or sex trafficking.  And it can be quite frustrating trying to close down one of these establishment.   I have a friend who lives in the county and some homeowners found out about a massage parlor doing illicit activities.  There was a sting conducted and the place was shut down, but within a week it was open again.  This is only one example of the difficulty in policing such activities.

One action that has worked in the past is that neighborhoods have banded together to change the neighborhood.  In the Best elementary area of Alief ( see “Six Brave Mothers and Grandmothers”) the neighborhood was successful in getting prostitutes off the streets around the school.  In Spring Branch families were able to shut down for good, a cantina where there was prostitution, drug dealing, and violent crime.  Both of these efforts were done with the help of TMO to organize the community to make changes that would make families safer.  But it took working together and a belief that people were entitled to live in a safe and affirming environment.  And you can’t just do it once.  You have to be persistent and keep working to keep the neighborhood safe.

Over the past few months TMO congregations have been conducting house meetings around issues affecting their neighborhoods and families.  The main concerns that emerged were crime and safety issues.  Last Saturday about fifteen TMO congregations met to discuss these concerns and to map out a strategy to address them.  As a next step congregations will continue to have house meetings to enlist a larger constituency that is willing to work for change.  The first action step beyond Saturday will be to invite the Captain of the different policing districts where citizens can lay out concerns and work with the police to develop a strategy.  Next steps after that will be as a result of those discussions.  Here are some possible ways to address the issues.  None of these will be easy to accomplish by a small group and they may take years to accomplish.  And as you will note it may be necessary to go to the state legislature to get action.

1. Tear down abandoned houses and buildings that are a haven for elicit activities

2. Develop strict rules on licensing of masseuses and check on ages of these persons, immigration statues, and state credentialing.

3.  Stiffen occupancy standards for Massage parlors.

4. Stricter restrictions on gaming parlors.

5. Work for more rehabilitation for sex workers including drug and alcohol rehab, housing and job training.

The question we all have to ask ourselves is whether these issues are important to us.  It’s not enough to say that we don’t like it that little girls are becoming sex slaves at twelve or thirteen or that immigrants are indentured and may never work off what is asserted that they owe to their captors.  Houston is a wonderful city, but we have a lot of issues that effect the quality of life for us all.  We may run to the perceived safety of the suburbs and allow some of our neighborhoods to be hollowed out with poverty and crime.   We know that as the faith community we are taught that God has created us all as sacred, and even though we do not personally know these least among us, we are still called to not only be compassionate, but also to be angry enough to seek justice.

Not Just any Job but Good Jobs, Good Jobs, Good Jobs →

TMO celebration of Capital Idea grant of $500k

The expression on participants faces at a Capital Idea Houston orientation are varied  and individual.  Some attend by themselves, others bring their children.  Up until recently about 80% of the attendees were women.  Occasionally, a parent will bring their grown child to the orientation, hoping that something will click in that child’s brain that will motivate he/she to move to a different level of responsibility.  Some are ex-offenders looking for a new beginning.  And I can remember a wheel chair bound woman who had taken two buses to get to the orientation and wanted so much to be accepted into the program.  And thirty minutes into the session, we always seem to have stragglers who show up.  When they are told that the meeting is closed, they most often can’t understand why we won’t let them in.  But that’s the first step in a series of six hurdles an applicant must navigate that allows Capital Idea to find out who really wants to enter the program that will change their lives and the lives of their children forever.  For those who make it into the program and are successful their motivations are varied.  But for most who make it, the primary motivation is that they are sick and tired of being sick and tired of being stuck in a low paying job and realizing that unless they do something, they will be stuck in that merry go round for the rest of their life.  And they don’t just want a job, they want a good job. In a recent TMO meeting with Houston’s Mayor Anise Parker, she stated that currently Houston needed 20000 skilled jobs filled to deal with the current demand by industry.  This did not include the need for future employment opportunities  that will be available in the next few years due to retirement by our aging workers.  Why then can we not fill this gap in  a short length of time.  Primarily it’s because these are skilled jobs that take anywhere from eighteen months to four years to train for and receive required certifications.  Additionally, here are other varied and diverse reasons.

1. The past public schools curriculum focused students toward a four year college degree .  Few potential young high school graduates were focused on getting  a trade.   Under the states HB5 education bill, this emphasis is changing to help students have more diverse alternatives to their education. This would include training for a high skilled, well paying job.

2.  Often, even though a young person attempts a college degree, they either pick the wrong curriculum,  don’t have the finances to finish, or life issues happen and they find themselves not qualified to earn a living wage.

3.  Many of us make poor choices as youth and wake one day and realize that we have dug ourselves a deep hole that makes it difficult to dig out.

4.  Older workers may be displaced by technology or other factors and cannot find a job that will pay anywhere close to the salary they have been displaced.  In fact, the basics of their skill set may no longer be needed and the only way to survive is to retool with a new set of marketable skills. Capital Idea Houston and other labor mediating programs that the IAF (TMO is a IAF affiliate) has developed throughout Texas in the past fifteen years have been highly successful.  Currently, these programs are in San Antonio, Austin, the Rio Grande valley, and El Paso and have trained and helped find employment for thousands of students in high paying jobs to achieve a part of their American Dream.

Capital Idea Grads tell their story

Last week Capital Idea Houston with the help of TMO was successful in getting the City of Houston to allocate an additional $250,000 dollars in this years budget for Capital Idea.  This is in addition to the $250,000 allocated last year.  It costs about $5000 a year for a student to receive an education through our collaboration with Houston Community College and Lone Star College.  Currently, CI has about 150 students and this infusion of capital will enable 50 new students to attend school for one year.  In the next five years TMO hopes to facilitate Capital Idea–Houston in increasing the number of students to 1000 with a budget of over $3million dollars. As technology and industry evolve, workforce training will need to be both streamlined and available to those who need it, but do not have the resources to take advantage of programs that might be available. The successful model that Capital Idea through TMO and the IAF has established throughout the state can help to fill the void in meaningful employment.  If the middle class is to survive, Texas must not only have Good Jobs, Good Jobs, Good Jobs, but they must have the means by which to train persons to step into those jobs.  I keep reflecting on what Mayor Parker said; that right now Houston needs to fill 20,000 skilled jobs in order to address the needs of industry.  TMO through Capital Idea–Houston is addressing this issue and will work to bring churches, schools, industry and government to the table to address this very important challenge.

Second chance learners looking for a better life with Capital Idea

Who Is My Neighbor?

TMO builds relationships that enhance people’s lives

In Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan, he shows how one man, the Samaritan,  goes out of his way to not only give aid to the man who was beaten and robbed by thieves, but who went the extra mile to care for the man. We think that crime is bad in many of our cities and neighborhoods, but the Samaritan story shows that even in Jesus time crime was a concern.  We also know that this is not just a story about crime but it’s also about helping any person in need.  Coupled with the stories of the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus’ healings, we see that Jesus was not just about preaching God’s will but he was also using the example of relationality  to help us understand that the gospel is about community based on relationships.

Robert Putnam in his book, “Bowling Alone” laments that institutions such as churches, schools, community organizations, and fraternal organizations are losing their influence in our communities.  The reasons for this includes distrust of the other, radical individualism, social mobility, fear of change in our midst, and a desire to hold onto what has been in the past.  This results in isolation, fear and apathy.  He further states that in the past, power in these institutions existed due to “connections among individuals–social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arises from them”.  Putnam goes on to say that this ability to trust and work together, over time, requires a certain amount of person to person contact  to develop trust and mutual understanding.  It cannot be created instantaneously or en masse.  This is difficult, if not impossible, in a fluid society.  Simply put, we don’t know our neighbor.

TMO has been in existence in Houston for over 30 years and in some neighborhoods where we have had member religious organizations, they have moved through three or four iterations of change during that time.  In one community church, the congregation originally was all white, then it evolved into an all black church, then the community around it became primarily Hispanic, and later the neighborhood became a gentrified white townhouse community.  Some of the congregation did not leave the church, but left the neighborhood and moved elsewhere.  They now go to church in the church plant and after church they go back home.  As a result there is little interaction between members and the community at large.

Love God, Love Neighbor

So, because of this isolation the majority of the congregation knows few of its neighbors. But, this lack of relationships is not just about isolation.  In Matthew 5: 13-16 Jesus speaks of his followers as being the salt that sustains the world and gives the world it meaning.  This saltiness is both individual and communal. We are called to be pro-active in our ministry which starts with our relationship to God and then moves to those who are also called but who have not been focused on Christ’s message.   And if the salt loses its taste it will be cast out and trodden under foot.  Jesus in these verses also states that we are the light of the world and not to hide our light under a bushel basket.  In our world, that more and more values relationships less and less, Christians are called into relationship, first with the community of Christ and then those others who need to learn what it means to be loved as a neighbor.

One of TMO’s goals is to build relationships within communities that will help provide an atmosphere where trust and reciprocity can exist; where persons can feel accepted and that are valued as children of God.  But TMO’s work is not always about Kumbaya.  Communities have tensions and stress.  And for a community to flourish  relationships need to be strong enough to endure the differences in interests. TMO offers people the opportunity to develop the leadership skills necessary to be full participants in society.  This  requires training and the development of leaders to focus on issues effecting the lives of persons in the community.

How then do we build relational community?  The primary way is for us to develop more relationships within our sphere of influence as well as across those lines of influence.  A few suggestions are:

1. Join an ongoing small group such as a Sunday school class, Bible study, school group, or civic association.

2.  Mentor a child or adult.

3.  Get to know your neighbor.  Have you ever noticed that people who walk their dogs have a whole set of acquaintances?

4.  If you live in an apartment project encourage people to have building get togethers.

5.  Develop ongoing service projects that require interaction between those who serve and those who are served.

These are just a few ideas and I know there are many more.  Give us examples of what you’ve done in the comments section.

The Church dedicated a peace pole on 12-22-13

With the school year winding down, TMO will be focusing on building more relationships not only in Alief but throughout Houston.  So far this spring we have had a very successful “pressures on families” campaign and we’ll meet on June 21 at 10am at Resurrection Catholic church at 915 Zoe to discuss our findings, particularly in the area of crime prevention.

In Alief, we will be expanding our relational footprint by visiting churches and civic groups to develop more relationships.  We need a few gregarious persons who like to meet new people to help with this.  For more information leave a comment or email me at franklinolson@sbcglobal.net.

Small Encounters With Big Implications →

Sometimes the time and effort putting together an action seems less important than a big event such as the recent Family U.  Changes such as the AISD hiring of additional family liaisons don’t get much recognition but have far reaching effects in the overall scheme of things.  And the efforts of grass roots community members slogging through the community to make seemingly insignificant relationships with neighbors can create the Organic Community that we have referred too numerous times in this blog. TMO has been quite busy over the past few weeks in pressing forward with plans that have been in the making, in some cases, for months.  Just in case you might have thought that all TMO did was do great things in Alief, these are some of the highlights and accomplishments for not only Alief but also throughout the county.

A Presentation to the Alief ISD

A small contingency of parents, pastors and TMO leaders. Not shown: John Sauri, Beryl Hogshead

One of TMO’s goals in working with schools and churches is not only to get them to work together but also to express those goals and accomplishments  at appropriate community venues.  Such was the case on May 20 when TMO, AISD parents from Best elementary and pastors from the community made a short presentation to the AISD board to recognize the district for hiring more family liaisons so that each school now has its own liaison.  Even though we only had a total of five minutes for the presentation it was important for the parents, pastors and TMO leaders to both recognize the districts actions concerning Family Engagement and for parents, pastors and TMO leaders to be recognized for their efforts.  The mothers who presented have been quite a force in the Best Elementary and were instrumental in leading the neighborhood crime cleanup that had such a positive impact on the community.  As a part of the districts effort,  a full time director of the program was hired to organize and move the program forward.     She is Mrs. Shanceller Terry and she has done a terrific job in organizing and implementing the program.   Family Engagement has had a positive outcome in all schools with the result that families are becoming more deeply engaged int the process of education and community building.  The end game with the Family Engagement program is to help parents be more engaged in their children’s education, resulting in greater student achievement,  as well as parents taking part in the governance of the school and the district.  TMO has  been an effective partner through our input and in participating in the programs successes and growth. In our presentation we also recognized the district for giving all district employees a 5% across the board raise and for new starting teachers a salary of $50,000.  We also requested that the liaisons be given an increased employment category.  This would have a positive financial increase for these hard working persons.

Councilperson Mike Laster holds meeting of stakeholders at Higher D church On May 21 Councilman Laster held a community meeting of community stakeholders at the Higher D church on Bissonett which is about  a block from Best elementary, a TMO partner school.  To me this was one of the best community meetings I have been too in memory.  Several city agencies, Best elementary parents and the principal of Best were in attendance.  There were also apartment managers and church people in attendance.  The primary concern of Best parents was the pocket park across from Best that has no lighting and minimal facilities.  Parents want more enhancements to the park.  I also found that Sugar Branch apartments has been given funding from the Salvation Army for apartments for homeless persons.  Finding affordable housing for homeless families in Alief has been a goal for TMO for over a year and we are hoping to connect the schools to this community initiative.  Meetings with the Councilperson and other community stakeholders are planned throughout summer to advance these important community projects.

Capital Idea Houston celebrates receiving  a $500,000 grant from the state ACE fund for workforce development in Harris county                                      

Bob Fleming Capital Idea Director                                                      Two Capital Idea Houston Graduates

TMO celebration of Capital Idea grant of $500k

On May 23 at Trinity United Methodist Church,  TMO and Capital Idea Houston celebrated Capital Idea had just received a $500,ooo grant from the state ACE fund.  This will enable Capital Idea to provide community college education for up to 200 students in fields that will enable them to obtain a living wage in critical skills that Houston industry needs.  In attendance were officials from HCC (Houston Community College) TMO leaders and pastors and state representatives Garnett Coleman (D),  Dr. John Zerwas (R) and Sylvester Turner (D).  In the last legislative session, it was recognized by the legislature that job training for high skilled jobs is in great demand and the representatives present all agreed that this funding was well deserved and needed. TMO’s role in this was to help create a conversation and support from legislators on this need.  TMO also conducts outreach for prospective students for the program.   Students are currently recruited from Harris and Fort Bend County and attend either Houston Community College or Lone Stare CC.  Capital Idea then provides screening of applicants and carries out the actual case management for all students. Upon graduation Capital Idea assists in helping grads to find a job.  Capital Idea’s goal is to increase the program from the current 150 students to 1000 within five years.  Alief adults have been recipients of the program and several in jobs paying over $20 per hour.