A message from Houston angels

Houston is one of the most populated, diverse cities in the entire country. As a chapter, we acknowledge and celebrate the fact that the people we serve through our mission are, in fact, incredibly diverse. They come from different walks of life, and have confronted different challenges, traumas and forms of oppression. We have always felt it was important to have hard conversations about social issues that our city faces, and racism is one of them.
Kids in foster care, many of whom are people of color, have grown up in systems that have failed and are still failing them. Our organization knows that the foster care system is broken and often holds children back, rather than empowers them. We know that so many of them will become homeless, poor, or incarcerated. Kids who grow up in the foster care system are starting 10 steps behind... add additional steps if they are of color and face the challenges of systemic racism as well.

We want you to know that Houston Angels remains committed to being a part of this conversation. We will always support action that enables our children to be heard and have equal opportunities to thrive.

Some of our team members have personally experienced trauma, abuse, forms of racism and oppression. Some of us have already done a whole lot of work to learn about these topics. And some of us admit that we are just getting started and still have a lot to learn. But we ARE a team of people determined to continue learning more about what the people we serve actually need, from a variety of angles: socioeconomic, cultural, physical and mental health, and more. The solution is complex, and ALL of these things affect the outcome.

As an organization, we intend to continue:

• educating ourselves and volunteers about the foster care system, and dive deep into all of the factors that hold these kids back from succeeding - including systemic racism
• conversing with real families and youth here in Houston about what they are experiencing and how Houston Angels could improve its programs. The people we serve have their own voices, and we will continue to listen
• connecting and collaborating with diverse organizations and community leaders throughout the city to ensure that we are representing all walks of life, and advocating for appropriate resources for our families and youth

Our organization was literally created to get to the root of the problem. We are not interested in silencing realities or bandaging outcomes. We will continue learning, collaborating, customizing our support to each and every family and youth that walks through our door, and doing whatever we can to support our local community in this great city of Houston. Our kids deserve better than these systems that hold them back.
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COMMUNITY. EMPOWERMENT. HOPE

These are our organization's core values. We believe in: communities coming together, empowering kids to succeed, and creating hope for the future.

And we believe that Black Lives Matter.

​Sincerely, Houston Angels