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.

After nearly three years of organizing, The Metopolitan Organization (TMO) leaders are celebrating a major victory for access to life-saving healthcare. The Harris County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to acquire 8.9 acres in Hermann Park to expand Ben Taub Hospital and address dangerous overcrowding at one of Houston’s most critical trauma centers.

TMO recognizes the County Commissioners for their vote to help meet the increasing demand for inpatient care in Harris County.

This win follows sustained organizing by TMO leaders, including securing nearly 2,200 petition signatures in support of the expansion online and in person at congregations throughout Harris County. Leaders educated their communities, held a press conference, delivered public testimony, and conducted behind-the-scenes negotiations and meetings with county commissioners to move the project forward.

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.

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]

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Press Conference Coverage:

In Wake of Beryl Outage, TMO Demands Action for Most Vulnerable

TMO clergy and local leaders were joined by Patricia Darnauer, executive vice president and administrator of LBJ Hospital, at a press conference held at St. Francis de Assisi Catholic Church.

[Photo Credit: Aswad Walker, Houston Defender]

TMO Leaders Demand Action, Accountability on Slow Hurricane Beryl Response, Houston Defender [pdf]

Religious Leaders Demand Action for Remaining Powerless Homes, Houston Chronicle [pdf]

Survey Shows More Than Half of Families Still Struggling After Beryl, CW39 Houston [pdf]

6:31am Newscast, July 16th , Houston Public Media

[En el Condado de Brazoria]

Ver última prensa:

TMO Exige Medidas Para Los Más Vulnerables

Patricia Darnauer, vicepresidenta ejecutiva y administradora del Hospital LBJ, se unió al clero de TMO y a los líderes locales en una conferencia de prensa celebrada en la Iglesia Católica San Francisco de Asís.

[Aswad Walker del Houston Defender tomó la foto de arriba.]

TMO Leaders Demand Action, Accountability on Slow Hurricane Beryl Response, Houston Defender [pdf]

Religious Leaders Demand Action for Remaining Powerless Homes, Houston Chronicle [pdf]

Survey Shows More Than Half of Families Still Struggling After Beryl, CW39 Houston [pdf]

6:31am Newscast, July 16th , Houston Public Media

TMO clergy and local leaders were joined by Patricia Darnauer, executive vice president and administrator of LBJ Hospital, at a press conference held at St. Francis de Assisi Catholic Church. 

[Excerpts]

TMO seeks accountability, more aggressive outreach, and transparency so the general public knows what’s going on and collaboration so Harris County residents aren’t running around like chickens with their heads cut off” seeking much-needed resources like food, water, and medicine....

Community and faith leaders joined North Houston residents under the banner of The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) announcing they are in the process of scheduling a meeting with Houston’s Mayor John Whitmire “to discuss the [power] outage, the response to the outage and to look at future activities that need to happen to be proactive so that we can prevent this [in the future].”

“Because we know this is just the first hurricane, early in the season, and we’ve got a long way to go,” said Linda Hollins a TMO leader and member of Trinity United Methodist Church.

But TMO members didn’t wait for the yet solidified meeting date with Whitmire to voice their frustrations over the slow, and in many cases still non-existent, restoration of power to the 180,000 citizens across Houston and Harris County still in the dark, and more specifically residents of the Kashmere Gardens/Fifth Ward community where their press conference convened at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

[Photo Credit: Aswad Walker, Houston Defender]

TMO Leaders Demand Action, Accountability on Slow Hurricane Beryl Response, Houston Defender [pdf]

Religious Leaders Demand Action for Remaining Powerless Homes, Houston Chronicle [pdf]

Survey Shows More Than Half of Families Still Struggling After Beryl, CW39 Houston [pdf]

6:31am Newscast, July 16th , Houston Public Media