Features

Data-driven strategies highlight the complexity and impact of nonprofit work in Houston

For several generations, the Alexander Jewish Family Service has provided an array of social services to people in need.

How Houston's only public recovery high school is creating new paths for student success

Of all youth in Harris County, high schoolers had the highest rate of substance-involved health care facility visits and deaths from 2018-22, according to a new report.

Housing, disasters, money and education: The Urban Edge in 2024

Extreme weather, the shortage of affordable housing and the benefits of prekindergarten were of greatest interest to Urban Edge readers this year, especially as they pertain to the Houston region.

How a Houston Yellow Cab brownfield became a green light for affordable housing in Near Northside

Before ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber emerged in Houston, outposts like the Yellow Cab headquarters, just north of downtown, dispatched taxis to people in need of quick transportation.

Over $20 million in federal grants boost Houston’s investment in parks

Houston has over 1,200 parks and nearly 65,000 acres of greenspace. Keeping them adequately funded requires a combination of public-private partnerships, tax increment reinvestment zones and ballot initiatives.

A Houston initiative helped 2,000 people of color become homeowners — but there’s more work to do

After renting for the majority of her adult life, Tonia Macklin recently became a homeowner for the first time. The native of southeast Houston achieved this goal with the assistance of the Harris County Homeownership Collaborative’s Own the HOU initiative, a multiorganization effort that seeks to bridge the homeownership gap for people of color.

How Houston is trying to make philanthropy work smarter in disaster recovery

A national report last year by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy indicated an imbalance between how philanthropic disaster funds are spent.

Master-planned community in northeast Houston puts affordable housing within reach

Last year, Nura Jemal, her husband and two sons lived in a two-bedroom apartment in southwest Houston. But with a third son on the way, they began to reconsider their living arrangement.

How research helps Spring ISD drive student success

Leaders in Spring ISD don’t have to look far to find district graduates who have benefited from their schools’ Career and Technical Education programs. Michael King, a 2018 grad, is an audio/video technician in the district’s technology department, an example of talent and dedication meeting opportunity.

Seeking Solutions: Connect Community bolsters success of new immigrants in southwest Houston

Since its founding in 2016, Connect Community and its partners have put $126 million toward community development and holistic revitalization in the Gulfton and Sharpstown neighborhoods in southwest Houston.

Homeless coalition’s new CEO: Diversion, prevention key to reducing Houston’s unhoused population

With nearly 25 years of experience at social service agencies in Houston, Kelly Young is no stranger to the needs of the most vulnerable people in our area.

Seeking solutions: Pro-Vision Inc. strives to end intergenerational poverty in Houston’s Sunnyside

After nine years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, cornerback Roynell Young determined his playing days were over at the end of the 1988-89 season.

10 in 2023: Top stories from the Urban Edge

Housing costs, the economy, increasing demands on income and concerns about the environment weighed on the minds of Urban Edge readers in 2023.

'I Am Barbara Jordan': Houston honors hometown political icon

Before she became a national figure, political leader and University of Texas professor, Barbara Jordan was born and raised in Houston’s Fifth Ward. There was a time, however, when Houston — a deeply segregated city — could have lost the chance to claim her.

Houston ISD centralizing wraparound support services for students and their families at new Sunrise Centers

The Houston Independent School District has bolstered its wraparound services with the opening of seven new Sunrise Centers since September. These services assist with a variety of non-instructional needs, including after-school care, clothing, enrichment activities, food, health care, school supplies and other resources.