Shared Inquiry: Collaborative Research and Dialogue
The Hogg Foundation works to strengthen the knowledge base and understanding of community-level mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention by encouraging an exchange of information and ideas among grantees, partners and community members.
Our ultimate goal is to improve resilience, mental health and well-being in everyday life. To achieve this goal, the foundation invests in collaborative research and dialogue to advance our understanding of the community factors that influence mental health, especially for marginalized populations.
We want mental health providers, community members, policy makers and advocates to be informed and committed to making choices that improve mental health and well-being for themselves, their families and their communities.
Our Journey as a Learning Organization
In 2018, the foundation began a journey towards becoming a true learning organization. By completely reimagining the role evaluation could play at the foundation, the staff chose to pivot towards hiring a strategic learning and evaluation program officer – someone who could close the learning loop between acquiring new knowledge and implementing learning to create action.
“A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.” Read more.
Learning Theme: “Race, Power, and Privilege”
In order to support our grantees and rise to the challenges of the times, foundation staff decided to deepen our understanding of the role race, power, and privilege play in the social determinants of mental health.
There are several mechanisms implemented at the foundation that have supported our organizational learning:
- Staff have committed to read our weekly Mental Health Headlines, a focused news clips email curated by foundation staff;
- The foundation meets weekly for “Get n’ Go,” a brief meeting, where staff can offer updates, share learning, transfer knowledge, and reflect as a group;
- Every three weeks, staff meet for “courageous conversations,” which is a time for the foundation to practice being bold, taking risks, and making mistakes;
- Professional development is a key part of our learning organization. Every staff member has attended the Beyond Diversity training, hosted by Leadership Austin in partnership with the City of Austin Mayor’s Task Force on Institutional Racism and Systemic Inequities.
Featured Grant
Mental Health Communication
We partnered with the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Health Communication to begin production on a whitepaper meant to advance the American conversation about mental health.
Scholarships and Fellowships
We offer graduate-level scholarships and fellowships to promote the study and pursuit of mental health careers. Eligibility and application procedures vary by award.
Ima Hogg Scholarships in Mental Health
Scholarships of $5,000 each are awarded annually to graduate students of accredited social work programs in Texas.
Moore Fellowship for Doctoral Research
An award of $20,000 for doctoral students at UT Austin completing a dissertation on the human experience in crises.
Frances Fowler Wallace Dissertation Award
Scholarships of $3,000 each are awarded annually for dissertation research of doctoral students in Texas.
Related Content
Shared Inquiry: A Better Way to Learn
What does it mean for communities to learn together — on purpose?
Learning from the Collective Wisdom of Our Grantees
Shifting the focus from evaluation to learning is a win for grantees and funders.
Community-Based Participatory Research
An effective public health approach in underserved communities.
Get Involved
Funding Opportunities
We build capacity through planning, implementation and collaboration grants to eligible organizations.
Events and Networks
We create platforms for conversation and learning through coordinated networks and convenings.
News and Resources
We provide information and tools to educate and transform how communities promote mental health.