Hogg Foundation for Mental Health: Advocating for Texas Girls
Texas Girls’ Mental Health Matters to Us
We are proud to announce that Girls Empowerment Network has been awarded a $134,000 Policy Fellow grant from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. We are one of ten selected nonprofit advocacy organizations receiving a total of $1.2 million in grants.
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health first launched the Mental Health Policy Academy and Fellows initiative in 2010, allowing organizations and individuals to expand their efforts for mental health advocacy.
“Girls’ mental health is at the core of our 24-year mission, and we currently address the unique needs of Texas girls through primary prevention and secondary intervention programs that we have in place in Austin, Houston and Dallas,” says Julia Cuba Lewis, MSW, CEO of Girls Empowerment Network. “Our programmatic emphasis on building self-efficacy and studying how our curriculum is increasing self-efficacy in girls has been a giant discovery in our agency over the past two years and is a critical part of our recent success. This grant allows us to change the landscape for Texas girls’ mental health policy.”
With this grant, we have hired on-staff Hogg Mental Health Policy Fellow, Vanessa Beltran, who will work under the supervision of our Director of Impact, Sarah Miller-Fellows, PhD, MPH. Vanessa will also work closely with Girls Empowerment Network staff located in Austin, Houston and Dallas.
“The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health recognizes Girls Empowerment Network’s opportunity to make a significant contribution at both state and local levels, informing public officials and systems about the state of Texas girls,” said Sarah Miller-Fellows, PhD, MPH. “Engaging in direct public policy work will allow Girls Empowerment Network to broaden our impact across the state, promote best practices for prevention and early intervention for girls services, and collaborate with other agencies advocating for mental health policy for girls.”
The need for a state level advocate for girls in public policy discussions is underscored by 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control. Two in five Texas girls report experiencing depressive symptoms for more than two weeks in the past year. Texas high school and middle school girls also report higher rates of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts than Texas boys. Texas girls also report higher rates of mental health risk factors than Texas boys. Texas high school and middle school girls report more than double the rate of bullying than Texas boys, and additionally, Texas high school girls experience sexual violence at more than double the rate of Texas boys.
At Girls Empowerment Network, we understand how much girls’ mental health can affect their daily lives. We hear their ‘yums’ and their ‘yucks’ during our virtual Spark Kit check-ins. And, our 2017 report, #Stressed #Savvy: Texas Girls Talk, shared what we heard when listening to girls navigate messages of girl power and “having it all.”
This grant is the next step in our work to help all girls believe they are unstoppable. The first year of the grant will focus on state-level advocacy and the second year will focus on regional advocacy and development of a long-term policy advocacy strategy that can be sustained for years to come.