Here are local and national organizations and other entities that you can contact to fight inequality in your area:
General
An alliance of trainers, organizers, and institutional leaders who have devoted ourselves to the work of creating racially equitable organizations and systems.
Housing
We're a diverse, multicultural group focused on increasing business with the Asian community locally and abroad for all Asian countries, as well as improving the overall economic prosperity of Houston. We host and support numerous activities around the city to encourage our members to develop lasting relationships.
BakerRipley connects low-income families and individuals to opportunity so they can achieve the life they've imagined. Offers access to rent and utility assistance, education, job and career development, immigration and citizenship services, senior services, free tax help, disaster recovery and more.
Since 1998, DFSH has been dedicated to its mission of empowering women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and development tools to help women thrive in work and life.
We educate, train, and hire individuals with barriers to employment to help them thrive. We connect people, families, and communities to improve lives and to meet the workforce needs of today and tomorrow.
Houston Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program
Administered by the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and BakerRipley, the fund provides $159 million in rent and utilities assistance to families who are struggling.
The Houston Housing Authority provides affordable homes and services to more than 58,000 low-income Houstonians, including over 17,000 families housed through the Housing Choice Voucher Program and another 5,700 living in 25 public housing and tax credit developments around the city. HHA also administers the nation's third largest voucher program exclusively serving homeless veterans.
RISE! - The Women's Resource of Greater Houston
RISE! is unique in that it is delivered to female students in Houston school settings during school hours. Participants explore financial topics such as understanding your personal relationship with money, practicing responsible budgeting and savings and banking basics. In addition to financial education, RISE! participants receive practical career and college readiness lessons on topics such as communicating personal strengths and abilities, identifying career opportunities, writing a resume, and dressing for success.
Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation
Offers home downpayment grants to first-time and repeat home buyers in Houston, Galveston and Beaumont, Texas. TSAHC programs target the housing needs of low-income families and other underserved populations in Texas who do not have acceptable housing options through conventional financial channels.
The Gulf Coast Workforce Board and its operating affiliate Workforce Solutions, are the public workforce system in the 13-county Houston-Galveston region of Texas. The board helps employers meet their human resource needs and individuals build careers, so both can compete in the global economy.
Health
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
The Texas Health and Human Services COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line can be reached at 833-986-1919.
The African American Health Coalition is a community based nonprofit in Houston, Texas. The Coalition promotes healthy lifestyles and healthy communities for people of African American descent, but welcomes members, partners and support from all races and ethnic backgrounds.
Provides free screenings for sexually-transmitted diseases like chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV in the Houston area and nationwide. AHF Wellness Centers provide information about STDs, safer sex, cryotherapy treatments for genital warts, and referrals to doctors who specialize in HIV for anyone who tests positive.
Asian American Health Coalition of Greater Houston Area
The mission of the Asian American Health Coalition is to improve the health of residents in greater Houston through culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
The Hispanic Health Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles among Houston's Hispanic and Latino community, especially those with limited access to resources and information. We work continuously to eliminate health disparities and increase health literacy in these communities and among their supporters.
HOPE Clinic provides health care services to all people, regardless of the patient's ability to pay. In particular, HOPE Clinic serves the uninsured, under-insured, those with limited English proficiency, and low-income patients. A unique characteristic of HOPE Clinic is its capacity to provide services in 30 different languages, including: Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean, Burmese, Arabic, and Spanish. HOPE Clinic's mission is to provide quality healthcare without any prejudice to all people of Greater Houston in a culturally and linguistically competent manner.
America's largest food bank in distribution leads hunger relief in 18 southeast Texas counties. The Houston Food Bank distributes food and other essentials to those in need through a network of 1,500 community partners.
Our mission is to end childhood hunger by delivering free healthy meals to the doorsteps of Houston's hungriest preschool-aged children and through collaboration provide their families with resources to help end the cycle of poverty.
LGBT Switchboard Houston - 24 Hour Helpline
LGBT Switchboard 24-Hour Helpline has been on the line for Houston's GLBT community since 1982. A service of the Montrose Center, LGBT Switchboard continues to rely upon dedicated and specially trained volunteers to sustain itself. Provides resources to deal with depression, suicide and crisis intervention; domestic violence help and shelter; sexual assault and hate crimes support; addition support and treatment; HIV & STD information; LGBT affirming resources; and community events and visitor information.
Legacy identifies unmet needs and gaps in health-related services and develops client-centered programs to address those needs. Provides adult primary care, pediatrics, dental care, vision services, behavioral health services, OB/GYN and maternity, vaccinations and immunizations, health promotion and community outreach, wellness and nutrition, and comprehensive HIV/AIDS care on a sliding scale.
Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston and Galveston County
Interfaith Ministries' program provides home-delivered meals to approximately 4,900 homebound seniors and disabled adults in five counties. The program also delivers weekend meals and a week's worth of breakfast to about a quarter of our most frail and isolated clients. This nutritional support helps
Planned Parenthood - Prevention Park Health Center
Planned Parenthood is one of the nation's leading providers of high-quality, affordable health care, and the nation's largest provider of sex education. With or without insurance, you can always come to us for your health care.
The Montrose Center can provide around the clock, scattered site emergency shelter for LGBT survivors of domestic violence, as well as transitional housing. Advocacy and counseling services also are available.
The Rose reduces deaths from breast cancer by providing access to screening, diagnostics and treatment services to any woman regardless of her ability to pay. From the initial screening mammogram through diagnostic procedures such as ultrasound and biopsies, as well as access to treatment-all are part of the quality breast health care offered at The Rose.
The Women's Fund serves at risk adolescent girls and underserved women living in Houston and Harris County who have limited or no access to health education information and are at risk for a variety of health issues.
Education
Asian American Studies Center at University of Houston
The AASC is an interdisciplinary academic center dedicated to the study of Asian/Asian Americans in the United States and abroad. Its mission is to generate knowledge, increase awareness and foster rich opportunities for learning about the Asian/Asian American experience.
Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans
AAMA has empowered men, women and children to pursue their dreams and inspired leaders within the community, through its schools, counseling and prevention services, career guidance and extra-curricular offerings.
Black Queer Resource Center for Liberation
BQ+ is dedicated to building community resources through programming, events, and collaboration that reduces the incidence and effect of HIV, creating and procuring employment opportunities, housing a community burial fund in partnership with community organizations, building knowledge around policy and advocacy, and providing support groups for issues like intimate-partner violence, racial injustice, and social injustice.
The Chinese Community Center is a multi-ethnic organization serving all Houstonians. Our mission is to bridge East and West by enriching families with educational, cultural, and social service programs. We serve diverse cultures, diverse generations, and diverse needs. Our staff speaks English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Spanish.
Community Family Centers
Formerly Chicano Family Center, CFC serves low-income families within Houston's impoverished Greater East End. CFC works towards its mission by providing a safe and nurturing environment for children to excel and adults to learn, strengthening community partnerships, and promoting cultural understanding and community empowerment.
The Institute of Chinese Culture (ICC), established in 1970, is Houston's first Chinese language school. ICC began its first classes at Rice University and used the university facilities until September 1988 when ICC was relocated to the Clare wood campus in southwest Houston.
Houston Area Alliance of Black School Educators
HAABSE's primary goal is to enhance the education of all students. HAABSE is particularly sensitive to the needs and interests of the Black community. Using the HAABSE network, members can share and provide many valuable professional services and intervention strategies focused on improving the educational environment of Black youth and educators in our community.
Houston ISD - Mandarin Immersion Magnet School
The school's vision is to immerse students in a culture-rich environment that allows them to become balanced bi-cultural and bi-literate citizens for the global economy.
The mission of HMAAC is to collect, conserve, explore, interpret, and exhibit the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the southwest and the African Diaspora for current and future generations.
Latinos for Education - Greater Houston
Our mission is to develop, place and connect essential Latino leaders in the education sector. We are building an ecosystem of Latino advocates by infusing Latino talent into positions of influence.
Out For Education is one of the most successful LGBTQIA+ scholarship-granting foundations in the United States, dedicated to the purpose of providing LGBTQIA+ scholarships to Houston-area LGBTQIA+ youth. Out For Education believes that, by assisting our LGBTQIA+ youth in their educations, we are providing a vibrant future for the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Women's Institute of Houston (WIH) has served thousands of men and women searching for a community of learners in Houston. We proudly offer a variety of programs, including weekly classes, Sunday lectures, lecture luncheons, and online learning experiences. Everyone who joins our program has the opportunity to learn something new every day. Become involved at WIH and be enriched.
In our programs, women acquire the essential financial knowledge, skills and confidence they need to make sound decisions and improve their lives - for themselves and for generations to come. For 2.8 million Houstonians who are experiencing financial distress, The Women's Resource trains and coaches women and girls, meeting them where they are. We are inspiring financial change, improving financial health, and overall individual and family wellbeing.
VCSA promotes excellence in education, leadership and skills development through culture and science. Our organization encourages multi-generational and cross-cultural collaborations. We foster civic participation in the mainstream and Vietnamese America and Canada through core event programs that celebrate Vietnamese culture as well as educational initiatives to emphasize civic engagement and a better understanding of the Vietnamese culture.
Policing
AAPOL strongly believes in the concept of "community policing," a concept which calls for a cooperative partnership between the community and police officers. This partnership encourages open communication in order to ensure a safer environment for all concerned.[Text Wrapping Break]
AVDA is a nonprofit organization that has served the Houston community for 40 years with the mission to end family violence by advocating for the safety and self-determination of victims, promoting accountability for abusers and fostering a community response to abuse. AVDA is dedicated to providing multilingual, transformational, life saving services to survivors of abuse and their families.
Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council
HCDVCC creates collaborations that maximize community resources, increase safety for victims of domestic violence, & hold perpetrators of domestic violence accountable.
Houston Peace & Justice Center
HPJC serves as an action center for peace and justice efforts. We provide peace education, activism training, and collaborative resources for individuals, families, and organizations throughout the Greater Houston area to build a just, non-violent community.
LGBT Switchboard Houston - 24 Hour Helpline
LGBT Switchboard 24-Hour Helpline has been on the line for Houston's GLBT community since 1982. A service of the Montrose Center, LGBT Switchboard continues to rely upon dedicated and specially trained volunteers to sustain itself. Provides resources to deal with depression, suicide and crisis intervention; domestic violence help and shelter; sexual assault and hate crimes support; addition support and treatment; HIV & STD information; LGBT-affiriming resources; and community events and visitor information.
Texas Law Help
Free legal help for victims and survivors of domestic abuse.
Environmental Justice
Works to protect and restore the integrity of Houston's bayous, rivers, streams, and the bays through advocacy, education, and action. Their vision is to be an effective and sustainable organization focused on making the Lower Galveston Bay watershed a productive and healthy ecosystem that serves our communities' natural, economic, and recreational needs for generations to come.
Houston Arboretum & Nature Center
This 155-acre non-profit urban nature sanctuary provides education about the natural environment to people of all ages. It plays a vital role in protecting native plants and animals in the heart of the city where development threatens their survival. The Houston Arboretum is a private non-profit educational facility that operates city land.
Houston Peace & Justice Center
HPJC supports local environmental and environmental justice projects through volunteering, event sponsorship and small grants to activists.
Houston Wilderness works with a broad-based alliance of business, environmental and government interests to protect and promote the 10 diverse ecoregions of the 13+ county area around Houston, Galveston Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico, including coastal prairies, forests, wetlands, and waterways
Houston's growth is consuming thousands of acres of the Katy Prairie. Once lost, it will never be replaced and the loss of these lands threatens the well-being of people and wildlife in the region. Since 1992, KPC has been working to protect the prairie for people and wildlife.
T.E.J.A.S. Barrios (Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services)
Dedicated to working with communities in a way that actively empowers community members to take action and speak out for themselves. Projects include air monitoring, education, events, toxic tours and youth outreach.
The Wildlife Center receives over 9,000 injured, ill and orphaned wild animals each year and is one of the largest wildlife care centers in the United States. Our mission is to care for injured, ill and orphaned wildlife through rehabilitation, public education and release. Volunteers and donations help us meet our mission.
