AUSTIN, Texas – Five nonprofit advocacy groups received a total of $682,000 over two years to hire an in-house fellow through the Hogg Mental Health Peer Policy Fellows Grants program. The fellows are certified peer specialists who will receive intensive training, education and experience in mental health advocacy and policy work.
The purpose of the grant program is to increase the consumer voice in mental health policy development and implementation, and to build consumer capacity to effectively engage in mental health policy and advocacy. Through this grant program the foundation will build on our existing graduate fellowship program by creating a track for peer policy fellows.
“As a foundation we recognize that the consumer voice, though blossoming in other areas, is still critically lacking in the policy realm,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation and associate vice president for the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin. “Funding a cohort of future policy experts who also have lived mental health experience opens up exciting possibilities.”
Each fellow is provided with an experienced mentor. Both fellows and mentors attend the Hogg Mental Health Policy Academy. The academy provides training and support for the fellows, their mentors and others involved in advocacy work in Texas. The fellowships are two years long.
Recipients of the fellowship grants are:
- Communities for Recovery
- Grassroots Leadership
- National Alliance on Mental Illness of Texas
- One Voice
- Texans Standing Tall
The Hogg Foundation advances recovery and wellness in Texas by supporting mental health services, policy analysis, research and public education. The foundation was created in 1940 by the children of former Texas Gov. James S. Hogg and is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.