Democratic lawmakers wanted to replace a defunded agency by creating a new office that would look at health inequities across the state. But after Republicans pulled it into ongoing debates about transgender rights and critical race theory, the bill died in the Senate.
Pharmacist Ilana Druker gives a vaccine to Beverly Mills, a teacher at Houston Independent School District’s Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center. A proposal that recently died in the Legislature would have created an office to track health outcomes for Texans. Credit: May-Ying Lam for The Texas Tribune
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When the state’s Office of Minority Health Statistics and Engagement was defunded in 2017, no one could have predicted a massive pandemic would emerge three years later one that disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic and disabled Texans, among other marginalized people.
Fifth Ward agency approves massive development deal despite residents outcry
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Kendra London poses for a photograph against a mural of Fifth Ward landmarks Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, at Fifth Ward in Houston. A city agency supports a huge development proposed along south of Clinton Drive between Jensen Drive and Hirsch Road. Community activists, including London, whose family have been living in the neighborhood for six generations, worry the development will drive out existing low-income residents in the historical Black neighborhood.Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
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A truck drives east on Clinton Drive next to fenced fields Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, at Fifth Ward in Houston. A city agency supports a huge development proposed along south of Clinton Drive between Jensen Drive and Hirsch Road. Community activists worry the development will drive out existing low-income residents in the historical Black neighborhood.Yi