The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health is excited to award $2 million in grant funding over two years for eleven nonprofit advocacy organizations to hire in-house policy fellows. The fellows will participate in the foundation’s Mental Health Policy Fellow and Policy Academy initiative.
Nonprofit advocacy organizations often have the potential to impact public policy, however, many are constrained by limited budget and staff capacity. In 2010, the Hogg Foundation launched the Mental Health Policy Fellow and Policy Academy initiative to address these challenges.
Throughout the two-year fellowship, the Policy Academy, facilitated by Texans Care for Children, will provide intensive mentoring, professional development, education, and hands-on experience in mental health advocacy and policymaking at the state level. Texans Care for Children is also among the recipients of funding for a policy fellow.
In 2016, the foundation expanded the initiative with the launch of the Peer Policy Fellows program. This program increases the role and voice of individuals with lived mental health experience, also known as peers, in policy development and implementation. For additional information on the Policy Fellow and Policy Academy initiative, see the retrospective evaluation, “Systems Change Philanthropy“, published in The Foundation Review.
For the 2024-26 Policy Fellow and Policy Academy grants, we are piloting a thematic focus on child, youth, and family mental health. Preference was given to organizations located in Central Texas to facilitate closer engagement with the policy-making efforts at the state capitol during the 2025 Texas legislative session.
“We look forward to fostering collaboration, coordination, and coalition-building among this new cohort of Policy Fellows,” said Shannon Hoffman, policy program officer at the Hogg Foundation.
Recipients of the Peer Policy Fellow grants are:
- Asian Texans for Justice, Austin ($158,840)
- Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, Austin ($190,894)
- Mental Health America of Greater Houston, Inc., Houston ($203,407)
- National Alliance on Mental Illness – Texas, Austin ($166,848)
- Texas Civil Rights Project, Austin ($183,918)
Recipients of the Policy Fellow grants are:
- Disability Rights Texas, Austin ($194,150)
- National Association of Social Workers – Texas, Austin ($196,350)
- Texans Care for Children, Inc., Austin ($171,710)
- Texas Association of Community Health Centers, Austin ($183,920)
- Texas Counseling Association, Austin ($182,105)
- Texas Pediatric Society, Austin ($161,368)
“A thematic focus will allow us to concentrate resources and make a concerted effort to create impact in child, youth, and family mental health policy,” said Alison Mohr Boleware, policy director of the Hogg Foundation. “At the same time, it remains in line with our strategic approach to go upstream and address the root causes that influence our mental health and well-being.”