Responding to pressure from The Metropolitan Organization (TMO), the City of Houston has issued demolition orders for two long-vacant buildings, one of which is a strip mall that has been abandoned for over 30 years.

Over a year after Hurricane Beryl and a derecho windstorm made thousands of homes uninhabitable, TMO (The Metropolitan Organization) leaders and allies persuaded the City of Houston to boost funding for home repair from zero to $100 Million, using federal disaster recovery dollars. 

TMO leaders and others in their communities have been detained and deported while at work, after dropping their children off at school, and upon calling the police for help after experiencing domestic violence. In response, TMO organized more than 15 'Know Your Rights' workshops across Houston with 1,500 community members.

In the closing weeks of the 2025 legislative session, over 100 Texas IAF leaders mobilized once again to stop a corporate tax giveaway that would have slashed wages and cost Texas schools hundreds of millions in lost revenue.

House Bill 105, filed quietly in the final days for bill filing, would have gutted key wage and job creation standards in the JETI (Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation) program. JETI replaced the failed Chapter 313 program in 2023, effectively cutting it in half.

If passed, HB 105 would have created a new class of “Priority Projects” for companies investing $750 million or more, allowing them to:

• Avoid proving their tax breaks were a “compelling factor” in choosing Texas,
• Sidestep any requirement to create new jobs,
• Lower wage standards from 110% of the average industry wage for that type of manufacturing facility to 110% of the average county manufacturing wage, which includes many low wage manufacturing jobs, often tens of thousands of dollars less.

On May 31st, nearly 90 leaders from Northeast Houston gathered for Homestead Reimagined—a community meeting at New Hope Baptist Church, organized by TMO leaders. The event focused on redeveloping a former Kmart shopping center off Homestead Road, which has remained abandoned for the past 30 years.

Pope Francis meeting with Rabbi David Lyon. He and Bishop John Ogletree (photo below) are leaders with TMO and wrote this article.

[Originally published in Houston Chronicle]

Last year, Pope Francis met with a group of 15 or so Houston community organizers and leaders in his private residence. It was the third time he’d met with us, members of The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) of Houston and colleagues from the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). This time, he counseled us not to lose the ability to laugh.

It is with great sadness that we learned the news this Easter Monday morning about the death of Pope Francis.

Over the past three years, we, as representatives of The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) and our sister organizations of the Industrial Areas Foundation, were privileged to meet him three times in his Santa Marta residence at the Vatican, each an encounter of 90 minutes or more. 

It felt extraordinary that the successor to St. Peter would carve out such time to meet with a group of community organizers and leaders in the midst of a schedule that included preparing for grueling international travel, receiving visits from foreign leaders, and hosting the global synods. Not to mention issuing numerous apostolic letters and encyclicals.  

115 leaders from five TMO institutions in Houston's Third Ward -- St. Mary's Catholic, Pilgrim UCC, St. James Episcopal, Good Hope Baptist, and Friends of Columbia Tap -- convened in early February to celebrate the history and future of the Columbia Tap Rail-Trail, a 4-mile walking and biking trail that runs the length of the neighborhood and holds deep, historical significance.

The meeting comes after half year of relationship-building amongst the congregations and multiple trips to City Hall to follow up on past promises to invest in this important element of recreation and transportation infrastructure.

Following these efforts, the City of Houston announced it had sought out and been awarded a $7.5 million grant from the Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) and the federal government to enhance safety and accessibility along the Columbia Tap Trail. The Columbia Tap Trail sits along a former rail line that was constructed in the 1850s by enslaved Black men and was used to transport sugar and cotton from plantations in surrounding counties to the Port of Houston for shipment around the world.

Participants learned about the historical significance of the trail and witnessed TMO leaders secure commitments from key city officials on related issues including lighting, historical markers, and future meetings around public safety and transparency.

[Photo Credit (main): Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle]

[Excerpts]

During a press conference at Trinity United Methodist Church, leaders of The Metropolitan Organization ...said they were opposing an HISD bond for the first time in the group’s 44-year history due largely to the lack of trust and “meaningful input from community members” in developing the measure... 

[said] Linda Hollins, a trustee at Trinity United Methodist Church, “Our children are relying on us, and so today, we call out HISD administration and the appointed Board of Managers for placing a bond proposal on November's ballot that lacks adequate input from all stakeholders: parents, teachers, pastors (and) community members.”

Coalition of Houston Religious, Community Leaders Joins Opposition to HISD's $4.4B Bond Measure, Houston Chronicle [pdf]

Press Conference Video Footage, The Metropolitan Organization

Recently, three Houston area TMO leaders and organizers met with Pope Francis at the Vatican for an engaging conversation. Rabbi David Lyon of Congregation Beth Israel and Lead Organizer Elizabeth Valdez  (both sitting next to Pope Francis in photo above) along with Organizer Facundo Berretta Lauria represented TMO at this meeting. They were part of a delegation of 18 leaders from the West/Southwest IAF which is a regional network of broad-based organizations. TMO has been a part of this network  for over 40 years.

At bottom is a link to press spanning three continents and languages.  Directly below are excerpts from an article published in Jewish Herald-Voice.

[Excerpt]

As the only Jewish person in the room, Rabbi Lyon said he had a feeling he would be called on after the introductions.

“Sure enough, he did call on me, and I shared my vignette on how IAF has made me a more effective rabbi in interfaith and organizational work,” said Rabbi Lyon.

“I highlighted interfaith work in Houston with my good friend [Daniel] Cardinal DiNardo and Bishop [John D.] Ogletree and how TMO has given us ways to hear stories to make a difference and to express our gratitude with greater generosity....”

“I quoted the Mishna in saying, ‘It is not our obligation to do all the work, but neither are we free to desist from trying. The day is short, the work is long, and the L-rd is waiting....’”

“The pope’s eyes lit up and he called his aides into the room. He had written these encyclicals and other short essays, and he distributed to all of us a stack of books. Nobody expected it. I think he felt like I had offered a meaningful text, so he, too, wanted to share a meaningful text.”

Rabbi Lyon was impressed.

“I don’t read the pope’s words on a regular basis and I don’t subscribe to the Vatican news, but I couldn’t help but be moved after sitting in his presence. He showed us that a man of obvious power, authority and significance could be very humble and humorous. And like any good clergy, he was an excellent listener.”

[Photo Credit: Jewish Herald-Voice]

Houston Rabbi Travels to Rome for Meeting with Pope Francis, Jewish Herald-Voice [pdf]