We are honored to share that Greater Fayette Community Foundation has been selected as one of eleven organizations across Texas to receive funding through a major initiative focused on strengthening mental health in rural communities. This $375,000 investment reflects the growing need for mental health support in rural South Central Texas.
GFCF will utilize this grant money to support a new research project, Empowering Rural Voices. This project funds research that impacts the future goals and initiatives of GFCF by providing guidance to the Community Impact Advisory Councils on how to best administer funds.
Below is the official Hogg Foundation for Mental Health press release announcing the $6.5 million initiative and the organizations selected to lead this important work.
The Hogg Foundation and Partners Have Awarded $6.5 Million in Grants to Support Well-being in Rural and Rural Border Communities
The Hogg Foundation, along with two partner foundations, has awarded $6.5 million in grant funding over five years to 11 organizations to improve mental health, resilience, and well-being in rural and rural border communities.
The Strengthening the Mental Health of Rural and Rural Border Communities initiative will build on community strengths and foster community-driven solutions to create, support, celebrate, and promote mental well-being.
Ten Texas-based organizations from rural or rural border communities have been awarded $375,000 for each of 12 project sites to create or build on an existing community collaborative.
An 11th organization, Texas A&M School of Public Health Rural Impact through Support and Evaluation, was awarded $2 million to coordinate a learning community of the twelve sites and provide mentorship, advice, coaching, and technical assistance to the collaboratives.
Two of the funded organizations, Aspire a Mindful Place and Panhandle Community Services, operate project sites that are being funded in partnership with Amarillo Area Foundation and Bivins Foundation, respectively.
The selected communities are in areas of Texas marked by limited access to mental health services and poorer mental health outcomes, within regions designated as mental health professional shortage areas.
For the purposes of the grant, “rural” is defined as communities with a population of less than 50,000 people as of the 2020 Census. “Rural border” is defined as communities with a population of less than 50,000 people as of the 2020 Census and within 62.5 miles of the Texas-Mexico border.
“This initiative encourages local leadership and collaborative community efforts,” says Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation. “It aims to support and strengthen partnerships between local organizations and involve community residents, so that by working together and building on what they already do well, they can strengthen mental health, resilience, and well-being in their communities.”
“Rural areas, especially those along the Texas-Mexico border, have rich cultures and a deep-rooted spirit of community,” says Rick Ybarra, senior program officer for the Hogg Foundation. “These collaboratives will serve as exemplars and sites of innovation to improve community mental health along the border and rural communities throughout Texas.”
A significant focus of the initiative is to involve the entire community – not just sector leaders but also community members with lived mental health experience.
“Our grantee partners are deeply committed to elevating community voices, especially those historically not included in leadership and decision-making, because true innovative progress happens when every perspective is heard and valued,” says Tammy Heinz, senior program officer and consumer and family liaison for the Hogg Foundation.
The new initiative builds on the success of the foundation’s Collaborative Approaches to Well-being in Rural Communities initiative which fostered broad-based community-led approaches for strengthening mental well-being in Bastrop, Brooks, Morris, Nacogdoches, and Victoria counties.
The eleven new grantee partners are:
- Alliance of Border Collaboratives (El Paso County)
- Aspire a Mindful Place (Hutchinson County)
- Big Bend Conservancy (Brewster County)
- Boys and Girls Club of Pharr – San Juan (Hidalgo County)
- Communities in Schools of Southeast Harris and Brazoria County (Matagorda County)
- Dublin Public Library (Erath County)
- Family Services of Houston and Harris County (Montgomery County)
- Greater Fayette Community Foundation (Fayette County)
- Migrant Clinicians Network (Maverick and Val Verde Counties)
- Panhandle Community Services (Dallam/Hartley and Ochiltree Counties)
- Texas A&M University School of Public Health – Rural Impact through Support and Evaluation
The press release above was written by The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and published February 6, 2026.
Looking Ahead
We extend our sincere congratulations to this outstanding list of grantee partners. Greater Fayette Community Foundation is proud to stand alongside you in this cohort, united by a shared commitment to strengthening mental health, resilience, and well-being across rural Texas.
Together, we look forward to learning from one another and building community-driven solutions that honor local voices and expand access to care.
Stay tuned for listening session dates, and be on the look out for GFCF at your local nonprofit event.