Parks and Natural Areas Roundtable - March 8 (Online)

The next Parks and Natural Areas Roundtable will be from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 8.

Registration is required. For more information, contact Andrea Tantillo.

The River, Lakes, Bays 'N Bayous Trash Bash is being re-imagined for 2021 to protect volunteers and their families. The event is still set for the week of March 27, but will feature educational videos about watersheds, sources of pollution, and ways to keep our waterways clean.

Cleanups are encouraged on an individual family level but will not be hosted at our normal Trash Bash sites. Save the date and learn how to be a good steward of our Galveston Bay watershed, from backyard to bay.

Trash Bash hopes to welcome everyone back in person in 2022.

H-GAC and the Spring Creek Watershed Partnership will hold a public meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 8, to discuss community-driven strategies for water quality improvement in preparation for the development of a Watershed Protection Plan.

The event will be online, and registration is required.

More information about this project is available online or by contacting Rachel Windham.

Save the date for H-GAC's next Bringing Back Main Street Roundtable from 9:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday, April 27.

The event will be online, and registration is required.

H-GAC hosts quarterly roundtables to help local governments, chambers of commerce, and economic development interests promote the economic revitalization of downtown areas.

For more information, contact Cheryl Mergo at 713-993-4520.

H-GAC has created a recovery resources web page with information compiled from federal, state, and local sources to assist local governments and their residents recover from the impacts of Winter Storm Uri. The page will be updated frequently as more information becomes available. H-GAC staff have resumed services and operations. Please contact us at 713-627-3200 if you have any questions or need additional information.  

H-GAC recently conducted a survey of 237 employers to gather data on the impact of COVID-19 on local businesses and their employees. The survey also gathered information about the future of office space and telework programs. To read the full survey and results, visit datalab.h-gac.com/employersurvey/

H-GAC plans to release a call for study sponsors for the Livable Centers program later this month. Sponsors are limited to local governments or other eligible entities.

This is not a request for proposals from consulting firms. 

H-GAC and project sponsors have completed more than 30 livable centers studies, and 75% of those studies report that implementation expectations are on-track. Learn more about the program's progress in the 10-year evaluation report and summary.

More information about deadlines, specific application content, and pre-proposal meetings will be available online.

For more information, email [email protected].

More than 20 projects across the Houston-Galveston region were honored for serving as models for best management practices in parks, natural areas, and water quality as part of the H-GAC's annual Parks and Natural Areas Awards and Water Innovation Strategies of Excellence (WISE) Awards recognition ceremony. The event was held online on February 5.

Winners were selected for recognition by panels of expert judges and industry professionals.

Those recognized include:

Coastal Communities works to provide communities resources and opportunities to reduce pollution concerns in area waterways. One of the resources is the Coastal Communities Roadmap with free outreach messaging communities can share with residents on different topics, such as illegal dumping, pet waste, and FOG (fats, oils, and grease).

A full year’s worth of messaging is available, with two messages each month in four formats (social media graphic, web banner graphic, flyer, and bill insert).

All messages are free to download, and communities are welcome to add their logo/branding to all messages.

For more information, contact Kendall Guidroz.

Serving as H-GAC’s small business financing arm, the Houston-Galveston Area Local Development Corporation (H-GALDC) is able to help new or established small businesses access capital to purchase and develop real estate. With interest rates at all-time lows, now may be the time to move your business from a lease to a mortgage.

For more information about H-GALDC and its resources visit hgaldc.com or email [email protected] and learn how H-GAC can help your business.

For more than 30 years, Keep Texas Beautiful, in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation has awarded the prestigious Governor's Community Achievement Awards to Texas communities for their outstanding overall efforts to keep their communities beautiful. This year, 10 winning communities will share $2 million in landscaping awards from the Texas Department of Transportation, with the amount based on population size. The funds are used for landscaping projects along local rights-of-way. The deadline to apply is Thursday, March 4. 

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is hosting the Take Care of Texas Art Contest for kindergarten-fifth grade students to depict positive ways to help keep the air and water clean, conserve water and energy, and reduce waste. The deadline to enter is Friday, March 15.

The deadline for the Texas General Land Office's 25th Annual Treasures of the Texas Coast Children's Art Contest has been extended to Wednesday, March 10. All public, private, and home-schooled students in in kindergarten-sixth grade are invited to submit artwork depicting why the Texas coast is important or special to the student. Prizes include inclusion in a 2022 calendar, and a grand prize of airline tickets, a cruise, and a feed the fish tour. The teacher of the student with the winning artwork will also receive recognition and prizes.

H-GAC has compiled a list of local, regional, state, federal, and private funding sources for local governments and other organizations. H-GAC also maintains a list of ongoing funding opportunities for parks improvements and economic recovery resources.

If you know of a funding opportunity, forward it to Andrea Tantillo.

Looking for interactive applications or GIS data related to the H-GAC Community and Environmental Planning Department? Visit H-GAC's interactive applications web page.

H-GAC has a Facebook page where information about current and upcoming events is posted. Please visit and like H-GAC's page. While there, visit other H-GAC pages on Facebook, including Recycling, Trash Bash, Regional Data Lab, Bacteria Implementation Group (BIG), and West Fork Watersheds Partnership.

Find the latest information about activities around the region at H-GAC's Twitter feed @HouGalvAreaCog. H-GAC's water resources program also offers Twitter updates on water quality issues in the region @HGACwater.