Low-income communities across Harris county have long paid the price for decades of public disinvestment — watching floodwaters rise into their homes, losing power when disaster strikes, and seeing entire neighborhoods go without the basic services. TMO leaders organize to change that reality, grounded in the belief that every person deserves dignity and that public systems must serve everyone, not just a few. Through leadership development and sustained organizing, TMO has secured major wins: a $100 million home repair fund for Hurricane Beryl survivors, a $250,000 Community Lighthouse to keep neighbors powered when the grid fails, a $7.5 million investment in Columbia Tap Trail improvements, and hard-won commitments to transform long-abandoned properties into community assets. This work is not about one-time projects — it is about building durable community power so that infrastructure becomes what it always should have been — a visible expression of respect and belonging for every resident.
In response to widespread power loss during extreme weather events like Hurricane Beryl, The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) secure $250,000 to construct Houston’s first Community Lighthouse at New Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.
The project comes after repeated outages left millions without reliable access to electricity, exposing gaps in disaster preparedness—particularly in neighborhoods already facing longstanding infrastructure challenges.
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.
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.
On February 2nd, nearly 120 TMO leaders from St. James Episcopal, St. Mary of the Purification Catholic, Pilgrim UCC, Good Hope Baptist, Friends of Columbia Tap, and several other local groups gathered at St. James Episcopal Church for a community event celebrating both the history and future of the Columbia Tap Trail— the historic four-mile walking and biking trail that stretches through the heart of Third Ward.
Christina Leal published this page in Issues 2026-06-24 14:00:43 -0500