September 2026 Staff Highlights

Here’s a snapshot of the presentations made, events hosted, and honors received by the talented and dedicated staff of the Hogg Foundation during the month of September 2026.

Laisha Alvarado is joining the Texas Grants Resource Center (TGRC) team as our new program associate! Laisha received her Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and her Bachelor of Arts in government with a minor in business from The University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to coming to the Hogg Foundation, her work has included community engagement and development for the Great Springs Project, a conservation nonprofit working to create a greenway of connected lands and trails between Austin and San Antonio over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.

In her role as program associate, Laisha will help visitors access TGRC resources, including its extensive grant database, and create new materials to support the work of community members and nonprofits.

Jason Castillo, policy program specialist, presented an overview of Texas’s mental health policy landscape as of the 89th and 90th legislative sessions to school counseling and mental health professionals at the Austin ISD Region 13 Education Service Center. The Service Center provides professional development, certifications, resources, and support services to educators and school counselors throughout Central Texas.

In her capacity as School of Social Work Postdoctoral Association representative, Kelley Glover, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow, served as a member of the planning committee and a research poster judge for the 2026 UT System Postdoctoral Research Symposium. Guided by the theme “Success in a Dynamic Research Landscape,” the event brought together more than 150 postdocs, faculty, and leaders from the University of Texas System to promote postdoctoral research contributions to higher education and the broader research enterprise.

She also led the first session of her Exploring Wellness Through Music and Storytelling workshop series for the Veteran Spouse Network (VSN) peer support program where she works as a peer leader. Housed within the Institute for Military & Veteran Family Wellness, in partnership with the Steve Hicks School of Social Work and the Dell Medical School, the VSN’s work is influenced by the understanding that veteran families rely on strong communities to support each other while facing their unique challenges.

At The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Liberal Arts, Kelley led an Embodied Drumming Circle event sponsored by the Student Well-Being Center. The Center is home to the Humanitas Student Well-Being Collective, which strives to foster a culture of empathy, kindness, and support for Liberal Arts students through a wide array of events and programming.

Elizabeth Stauber, archivist and records manager, led the Dialogues on Mental Health Records Symposium. The symposium was part of the Hogg Foundation’s Dialogues on Mental Health Records project, begun in 2024, which has provided a platform for addressing the challenges of managing historical public mental health records through a series of nationwide convenings. The symposium brought together over 56 archivists, historians, genealogists, descendants, former patients, and hospital administrators from across the country to foster collaborative work in managing historical mental health records.

Rick Ybarra, senior program officer, represented the Hogg Foundation at the annual meeting of the Rural Health Philanthropy Partnership (RHPP), a forum for philanthropies, federal staff, and select rural health partners to explore emerging rural health issues and opportunities to enhance health in rural America. In addition to acting as a member of the 2026 RHPP Program Committee, Rick was invited to participate on a reaction panel for the keynote address by Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, President of the National Academy of Medicine, on the broadening interest in rural health issues and the unique opportunities of strategic public-private partnerships.

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