Greater Houston has gained a reputation for being generous. Historically, our region has often topped lists in national studies measuring total philanthropic assets, percentage of income given to charity, and overall financial health of nonprofit charity organizations. Our expansive, rich nonprofit sector enriches our communities and our local economy and is one of the largest …
Category Archives: Blog
Houston is Engaged
We live in eventful times. The past few years have been replete with once-in-a-lifetime events, including the many impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, historic natural disasters and a variety of galvanizing political issues in between. While reactions to these events run the gamut, their impacts have been widespread in our digitally connected world, contributing to …
Key Insights from The Big Picture | Fort Bend County
On October 6, 2022, Fort Bend County residents convened at Long Acres Ranch in Richmond, TX, to learn, engage, and explore ways to solve some of the county’s most significant challenges. At this event, Understanding Houston shared key data highlighting Fort Bend County’s strengths and challenges. Guests also heard from representatives from Fort Bend County …
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Key Insights from our Ending Homelessness in Houston Event
On September 21, 2022, Greater Houston Community Foundation hosted a program to celebrate the progress made in reducing homelessness in the Houston three-county area and explore how we can continue to work together to end homelessness in Houston. Results from the 2022 Homeless Count Survey done by the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston, indicate …
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Houston is Big
Houston is big. The region’s size and all it encompasses has become an in-joke among residents — “Houston is an hour away from Houston,” the old saying goes. The city is sprawling, populous, industrial and growing. The reasons for the sprawl, rapid population growth and the breadth of successful industries are many and complex. We …
Is Houston really that affordable?
Over the years, the greater Houston region has gained a reputation for affordability. Historically, Greater Houston is the rare major metro in which the cost of living is low and overall opportunity is high, especially relative to its size as the fifth largest metropolitan area and the fourth largest city in the nation. Our region’s …
A deep dive into domestic violence in Texas and across the Houston region
Texas has seen three times the number of family violence deaths since 2017 with rates of family violence increasing across all three counties Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse or intimate partner violence (IPV), is a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an …
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Key insights from our Mental Health Data Dive + Workshop
Greater Houston Community Foundation hosted a program on July 20, 2022, to convene experts, researchers and practitioners around the increasingly severe mental health crisis affecting children and adolescents. The program began with a brief data presentation from Understanding Houston, to set the stage for the deeper dives from guest speakers that would follow. The convening …
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Houston is Hot
Residents of the three-county region are no strangers to Houston’s heat We all know that Houston is hot. How quickly is Houston getting hotter and why? And what — aside from making us sweat — are the implications of the region’s excessive heat? The rising heat foreshadows many distressing possibilities as it relates to climate …
Houston is Diverse
Why diversity and inclusion matter and what they truly mean in Greater Houston It’s no secret that Houston is diverse. The region was recognized for its multiculturalism long before it was reported to be the most racially/ethnically diverse place in the nation. We typically measure diversity in terms of race or ethnicity, but it is …