TMO fueled by community-based organizing
in other places.
Q: How does TMO decide what issues to address?
Cummings: We hold what we call house meetings. These are small group conversations between six to eight people, leaders of the different congregations. An agenda is developed, where people share the pressures that are affecting their families and their neighborhoods. People begin to speak out — ‘This is what’s happening to me’ — and people begin to realize they’re not the only ones.
Q: Briefly, tell us about a few TMO accomplishments that have influenced public policy in Houston.
McGee: We brought it to the county’s attention that we needed more locations for dialysis treatment.
Cummings: That came out of house meetings at St. Anne’s (Catholic Church) on Westheimer. One lady talked about her brother not having insurance and needing dialysis. He didn’t get care and got very sick to the point he had to go to the emergency room. Others began talking about how they were on dialysis, too. Turned out that Harris Health did not have a dialysis facility that lowincome and uninsured residents had access to. We went before the Harris Health board and got them to build a dialysis center in the Third Ward (to serve low-income and uninsured patients.)
McGee: Community policing is another area. We felt that if there was a police presence in our community, if there were some street-front substations, we could get to know them and they could get to know us, and it would bring about a reduction in crime. We approached the police chief about that, and that’s how we got community policing in Houston.
Cummings: We had done a lot of research. There was a 30-minute response time from police in some neighborhoods.
We also started Capital Idea Houston, a workforce development effort that partners employers, community college officials and community leaders. It’s modeled after Project Quest, which has been in operation in San Antonio for 20 years. There are six of them now, including in El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley, Dallas and Austin.
A study by Trinity University in San Antonio showed that the economic return of Project Quest was $17 for every dollar invested after five years. It’s a combination of earning power, paying taxes, saving money in public aid programs. Now, the people who’ve gone through the program are self-sufficient.
TMO and sister organizations across the state also worked to pass the indigent health care bill during the 71st Legislature in 1989. Because of that, the poorest of the poor must now be taken care of. It’s hard now for the poor to access health care; it was even worse back then.
Q: Your organization has been at this for nearly 40 years. What does it take to get policymakers’ attention? What do they respond to?
McGee: I’ve learned that politicians respond to people power. Across the years, we have learned that when we organize around issues that affect our families, our communities, our churches, policymakers have a tendency to listen to what we’re talking about. We’re not just out there tooting our own horn about what we’re trying to accomplish.
Cummings: They know we’ve done our research. We go to the officials we know can respond. We don’t just go out on the street or talk to random city officials. The focus is to be at the table where the decisions are being made. We’re build- ing power to be able to do politics — negotiating and compromising around the issues that affect our families. We’re not about ideology or partisan party.
Q: What’s next for TMO?
Cummings: Expanding Capital Idea within Harris County to reach more people, and also expanding it outside of Harris County, especially to Fort Bend County. It’s a fast-growing, diverse area. We want to expand the reach of the organization geographically. There are issues that affect people that cross county lines. We want to create the same kind of awareness in the communities that TMO has historically done in Houston.
McGee: Working on immigration — trying to get comprehensive legislation to help persons obtain a path to citizenship. But with the gridlock on this issue, we are focusing on local immigration issues and making sure that families are treated fairly.
On a living wage, we’re pushing for $13 an hour locally. And we’re working in the Denver Harbor area to stop unjust housing. The community is trying to prevent old, family neighborhoods from being turned into townhomes. They’ve gotten a lot of energy for that.