Gulf Coast Leadership Council

Over a year after Hurricane Beryl and a derecho windstorm made thousands of homes uninhabitable, GCLC-trained leaders from TMO institutions and allies persuaded the City of Houston to boost funding for home repair from zero to $100 Million, using federal disaster recovery dollars. 

In response to widespread power loss during extreme weather events like Hurricane Beryl, Gulf Coast Leadership Council (GCLC) secured a $250,000 grant to construct Houston’s first Community Lighthouse at New Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.

The project comes after repeated outages left millions without reliable access to electricity, exposing gaps in disaster preparedness—particularly in neighborhoods already facing longstanding infrastructure challenges.

This week, Harris Health approved a proposal to name the chapel at the new LBJ Hospital The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) Chapel—recognizing the role GCLC-trained leaders played in advancing the $2.5 billion bond that made the new facility possible.

[TMO receiving the Garnett F. Coleman Health Equity Award from Harris Health]

Weeks after securing a path forward for the expansion of Ben Taub Hospital, The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) was recognized by Harris Health with the Garnett F. Coleman Health Equity Award.
The award acknowledges the role TMO leaders played in addressing long-standing overcrowding at Ben Taub—work that spanned multiple years and required public education, accountability, and negotiation.

The award acknowledges the role of Gulf Coast Leadership Council in preparing TMO leaders to address long-standing overcrowding at Ben Taub—work that spanned multiple years and required public education, accountability, and negotiation.

After nearly three years of organizing, the Gulf Coast Leadership Council (GCLC) and The Metopolitan Organization (TMO) leaders are celebrating a major victory for access to life-saving healthcare. The Harris County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to acquire 8.9 acres in Hermann Park to expand Ben Taub Hospital and address dangerous overcrowding at one of Houston’s most critical trauma centers.

GCLC recognizes the County Commissioners for their vote to help meet the increasing demand for inpatient care in Harris County.

This win follows sustained leadership development and organizing by TMO leaders, including educating their communities, holding a press conference, delivering public testimony, and conducting behind-the-scenes negotiations and meetings with county commissioners to move the project forward.

The Gulf Coast Leadership Council is continuing to train and develop leaders across Harris County to implement what voters already approved: a critical expansion of Ben Taub Hospital that would add 100 new patient rooms and relieve dangerous overcrowding at one of Houston’s most essential emergency care facilities.

GCLC leaders, members of TMO institutions, and Houston residents have been detained and deported while at work, after dropping their children off at school, and upon calling the police for help after experiencing domestic violence. In response, GCLC organized 27 Know Your Rights and Family Safety Workshops and Immigration Civic Academies with over 2,000 community members from 21 congregations in Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Harris Counties. 

Responding to pressure from GCLC-trained leaders from TMO institutions, the City of Houston has issued demolition orders for two long-vacant buildings, one of which is a strip mall that has been abandoned for over 30 years.

It is with great sadness that we learned the news this Easter Monday morning about the death of Pope Francis.

Over the past three years, as GCLC-trained leaders of The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) and our sister organizations of the Industrial Areas Foundation, we were privileged to meet him three times in his Santa Marta residence at the Vatican, each an encounter of 90 minutes or more. 

On February 2nd, nearly 120 Gulf Coast Leadership Council (GCLC) leaders and community members gathered at St. James Episcopal Church for a community event celebrating both the history and future of the Columbia Tap Trail— the historic four-mile walking and biking trail that stretches through the heart of Third Ward. Participants represented St. Mary of the Purification Catholic, Pilgrim UCC, Good Hope Baptist, Friends of Columbia Tap, and several other local groups.