An A-List Care Team -Houston Methodist DEI Funding at Work
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Santa Maria Hostel was honored to have been awarded Houston Methodists’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program grant award for a second year. |
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Through the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Grant, Houston Methodist focuses on addressing social determinants of health impacting social minority groups such as women, people experiencing homelessness, older adults, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants and more. The unique challenges faced by various social minority groups requires a unique approach to removing the barriers experienced which can lead to poorer health outcomes. This grant program targets the social determinants of health, the conditions within which people are born and live, that are often the underlying cause of today’s major societal health issues such as lack of insurance, obesity, poor mental health, heart disease and more.
Santa Maria’s grant award focuses on providing gender-specific recovery coaching, transitional services and reentry/recovery support for women with histories of justice involvement and substance use residing in the Greater Houston area. As part of this grant, we work closely with the Harris County specialty courts to identify participants and link them with recovery services. Methodist DEI funding allowed us to expand our service capacity through the addition of a new Recovery Coach position.
Valarie Gonzales, our DEI-funded coach, meets each woman for a seamless transition between jail to treatment, shepherding her closely through the admissions process. This begins a long-term relationship to support each participant on their recovery journey. Valarie helps them develop an individualized health and wellness plan, accompanies them to court, links them with community resources, and provides an incredible amount of individualized one-on-one support. She works closely with Mary Covington, Court Manager for Harris County’s specialized court, Responsive Interventions for Change (RIC). Mary knows first- hand that repeated offenses are often rooted in substance use disorder and believes in the Santa Maria treatment program as a vehicle for real change. Mary is an integral part of services, offering one more layer of support as the participant gains stability. Amelia Murphy, Santa Maria Senior Director of Recovery Support Services, lends her passion and expertise to oversee overall program quality and effectiveness.
During our first grant year, 290 justice involved women were served, the majority of whom were women of color. Participants reported improvements in employment, enrollment in education, housing stability and recovery capital, setting them on a path for successful community integration and long-term recovery. |
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For many years, Santa Maria’s team has been committed to the reintegration of women after incarceration. We are grateful for Houston Methodist’s forethought and leadership in the area of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Santa Maria is proud to be selected as one of their partners in this effort and will continue providing reentry services that promote the dignity and potential of each of our participants. |
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Keller Williams - RED DAY |
Thursday May 12, our Bonita House campus was turned into RED DAY! A group of 50 volunteers from Keller Williams Memorial, arrived bright and early to start their annual day of volunteering. |
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This group of realtors and administrative staff, divided into five different groups to work on projects such as: painting walls in three of our apartment units, landscaping throughout our campus, power washing the main entrance and common areas, organizing and sorting clothes in the donation center as well as assisting our childcare staff with fun and educational activities with the children in our residential programs. |
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Special thanks to Semyon Sharetsk and Melanne Adams Carpenter who chaired this RED DAY and helped us get organized weeks in advance, to ensure our projects were efficiently completed. |
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On Friday May 13, 50 residents and 50 staff members of Santa Maria were treated to a one of a kind free shopping experience. Gina Scarbrough Dickinson from CABI and a team of 12 fashion consultants arrived that morning to set up a beautiful display of clothing and temporary dressing rooms, in two different areas at the Bonita House campus. This allowed the 100 shoppers to go through the rooms to see the CABI collection and with the personal assistance of a fashion stylist, each one picked 5 pieces of clothing and a piece of jewelry to help ramp up their wardrobe... it was an absolute treat!
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CABI is committed to helping women thrive and providing excellence in all that they do, their vision is a world without extreme poverty, and empowering women is how they’ll get there. |
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Thank you to our friends from CABI for the outpouring of love and joy brought to campus. Everyone is still buzzing with excitement. |
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We were very excited for the return of Texans CARE to Bonita House this past Saturday. We were one of many sites scattered all over town that brought the Texans' players, cheerleaders, mascot, and other support staff from the team out into the community to serve. |
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This blitz was organized and expertly coordinated by the great team at United Way of Greater Houston as a part of their community involvement platform.
The volunteers at Santa Maria were from the Battle Red Ladies, a special group of women who LOVE all things Texans. #BattleRed. It turns out they loved Santa Maria, as well. After a brief introduction to the mission and work of Santa Maria, these ladies got to work landscaping and painting iron fencing. They were joined by Texans players, Issac Yiadon and Daesean Hamilton and of course, TORO, the team mascot! Turns out these great players can work wonders with weeding and mulching, showing their dedication to the city they represent!
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Thanks to the Texans, our friends at United Way and of course, the lovely BattleRed ladies! Glad you have you back! |
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Support our mission of empowering women and their families to lead healthy, successful, productive and self-fulfilling lives. |
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