H-GAC receives a portion of the money collected as tipping fees at landfills across the state as pass-through funding from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to fund solid waste grant projects throughout the 13-county H-GAC region. 

As part of this program, H-GAC will award $59,865 in solid waste program grant funds to eligible projects through a competitive process. The grant application period will close at noon Wednesday, June 22. H-GAC hosted a workshop on how to complete the grant application in May. The workshop presentation and recording are available online.  

For more information about the grant program or to be added to an email list to receive future solid waste grant notifications, contact Erin Livingston. 

As part of our Regional Conservation Initiative, H-GAC will actively assist with preparing grant applications, convening stakeholders, and otherwise supporting the implementation of priority conservation projects across the 13-county H-GAC region. To guide our efforts, we are collecting information about planned conservation projects from local governments and non-governmental organizations and categorizing the projects in a priority list.

See the current priority project list and learn more about our work online. The list will be updated quarterly. 

Staff encourages you to submit your conservation projects by Thursday, July 14, or email [email protected] with any questions.

One-on-One Adopt-A-Spot Meeting Appointments - The H-GAC Trash Free Texas project staff is offering one-on-one appointments for cities, counties, and other organizations who want more information about participating with the Trash Free Texas Adopt-A-Spot Map.  

The Adopt-A-Spot Map is a free web-based tool that helps to connect volunteers to places in need of routine litter cleanup while allowing cities, counties, and organizations to maintain control of their own litter cleanup programs. 

For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact Kendall Guidroz. 

Trash Free Texas Adopt-A-Spot Webinar Recording - If your city or organization has an Adopt-A-Spot volunteer litter cleanup program, wants to start one, has areas in need of routine litter cleanup, or just wants to learn more about this resource, you can watch a recording of the Trash Free Texas Adopt-A-Spot Map Webinar, recorded live on Thursday, February 24. Participants heard from Trash Free Texas staff and partners and had the opportunity to ask questions about how the tool can help meet their cleanup goals. 

Caney Creek Stakeholder Meeting – June 9 (In Person)

H-GAC invites residents, local governments, businesses, and non-profits within the Caney Creek Watershed to attend a stakeholder meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 9.

Registration is requested, but not required, to attend.

For more information about the project, visit H-GAC's web page or contact Steven Johnston.

Clean Waters Initiative Workshop – June 16 (Hybrid)

Make plans to attend the next H-GAC Clean Waters Initiative workshop on Thursday, June 16. 

Registration is requested to attend in person and required to attend online. 

For more information, contact Rachel Windham. 

Parks and Natural Areas Roundtable – July 11 (In Person)

Save the date for H-GAC's next Parks and Natural Areas Roundtable on Monday, July 11. The meeting will be from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at H-GAC, second floor conference rooms.  

Registration is requested, but not required, to attend.

For more information, contact Andrea Tantillo.

Rescheduled: Drones in Environmental Enforcement Workshop – July 14 (In Person)

Make plans to attend H-GAC’s Solid Waste Workshop Series: Drones in Environmental Enforcement from 1 to 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 14.

The event will be in person at H-GAC, second floor conference rooms. Registration is requested.

For more information, contact Erin Livingston.

Disaster Debris Funding Opportunities for Local Jurisdictions – July 21 (Online)

Make plans to attend H-GAC's Disaster Debris Funding Opportunities for Local Jurisdictions webinar from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 21, to learn about disaster debris related funding opportunities available to local jurisdictions.

The event will be online, and registration is required.

For more information, contact Erin Livingston.

Bringing Back Main Street Roundtable – July 26 (In Person)

Mark your calendars for H-GAC's next Bringing Back Main Street Roundtable on Tuesday, July 26. The exact time and location will be announced soon.

H-GAC hosts quarterly roundtables to help local governments, chambers of commerce, and economic development interests promote the economic revitalization of downtown areas.

For more information, contact Cheryl Mergo.

Texas Litter Database Available for Tracking, Analyzing Litter Across the State

Accessible through any smart device or computer, the online tool available at https://txlitter.org/ enables employees, volunteers, and others to better track and analyze litter collected during cleanups. All users can access the data – either through viewing on the maps and graphs page, or through data downloads. 

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development released a guide to help rural communities access resources to boost economic development. The resource guide outlines programs and services in four areas: 

Texas Water Development Board Releases Flood Resources Guide for Community Officials

The Community Assistance Team at the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) released the Community Official Flood Resource Guide, developed in partnership with the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas – Austin.

This comprehensive guide contains information to aid community officials, such as floodplain managers, city officials, emergency personnel, and others, with flood resources available to Texans including best practices, links to beneficial websites, videos, and toolkits.

The resources are tailored to specific audiences, such as

The guide also includes tips on outreach and flood education, survey results on Texans’ understanding of flood risk, and more.

The Community Official Flood Resource Guide Volume 1 is available for download on the TWDB’s Community Assistance Program webpage. For more information, contact [email protected].

Registration is open for the Keep Texas Beautiful 55th Annual Conference June 27-29 in Austin. Keep Texas Beautiful is a network of Texans working together to make the state the best place to live, work, and play. Local partners and affiliates are equipped with tools they need to help clean up and prevent litter across the state. The annual conference is an opportunity for participants to share, learn, and celebrate local, regional, and state accomplishments and programs and includes networking, field trips, educational sessions, awards presentations, and exhibits.

A rendering and recommendations from Live/Viva Greater Eastwood, a 2020 H-GAC Livable Centers study are included in the City of Houston’s application for a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to transform Telephone Road. The project, if funded, would include several safety improvements, including adding or enhancing bike lanes; improving sidewalks and crosswalks; converting traffic lanes to more pedestrian-friendly spaces; and connecting similar projects north and south of the project. This planned project fills the gap between The Harrisburg Redevelopment and Gulfgate Redevelopment authorities’ projects to create a 5-mile multimodal thoroughfare between the Hobby Area and Houston’s East End. (Reported by Chron.com)

H-GAC's Livable Centers Program works with local communities to reimagine auto-focused infrastructure, policies, and programs to be more multi-modal friendly.

Yin Hon Jonah Wan, a student at Mandarin Immersion Magnet School was chosen as the fourth-grade winner in the 2022 Take Care of Texas Art Contest. 

Each year, the Take Care of Texas Kids Art Contest is a fun way for K-5 students to learn about protecting the environment and come up with creative ways to share this knowledge with others! Students submit their artwork of how they, along with their friends and family, help keep the air and water clean, conserve water and energy, and reduce waste. The students that submit the best art can win a tablet or laptop computer. 

Celina Gao, a sixth grade student at Freemind Art Studio, Katy, was selected to win the grand prize in the Texas General Land Office 26th Annual Treasures of the Texas Coast Children’s Art Contest and will receive a prize package including round trip airfare and a Caribbean cruise.

H-GAC's Community and Environmental Planning Department has compiled a list of local, regional, state, federal, and private funding sources for local governments and other organizations. H-GAC also maintains a list of ongoing funding opportunities for parks improvements, conservation projects, and economic development resources.

If you know of a funding opportunity, forward it to Andrea Tantillo.

Looking for interactive applications or GIS data related to the H-GAC Community and Environmental Planning Department? Visit H-GAC's interactive applications web page.

H-GAC has a Facebook page where information about current and upcoming events is posted. Please visit and like H-GAC's page. While there, visit other H-GAC pages on Facebook, including Recycling, and Trash Bash.