With Hurricane Harvey, the COVID-19 pandemic and this year’s historic winter storm, it’s been a rough time for Texas, and small businesses have suffered. However, there are plenty of available financial resources to help business owners who might benefit from guaranteed loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The traditional SBA loan guarantee program helps [...]
As the Houston Police Department’s Asian community liaison, Officer Don Vo is a familiar face throughout the city and especially in the International and Southwest management districts. He embodies the “community policing” approach of cultivating relationships with residents and business people before they might need HPD’s help in an emergency. The 14-year veteran of law [...]
Alief ISD has opened its new, state-of-the-art 78,000-square-foot facility dedicated to professional growth and talent development of educators. The Center for Talent Development is located at the former Burlington Coat Factory location off Westheimer and Highway 6. And the only thing that fell below expectations with this new facility is that the final cost is lower than [...]
Each plot takes you to a different place at the Alief Community Garden. A dozen cactus plants reach upward of 4 feet on a 25-foot-long bed belonging to Gus Munoz. Up close, against blues skies, the fleshy paddles transport you to arid central Mexico or, in Munoz's case, the Rio Grande Valley, where he grew [...]
When Winter Storm Uri descended on Houston in mid-February, causing massive blackouts and freezing water pipes throughout the state, Patrick Hoang decided to spring into action. Hoang, who with his wife, Stacie, own and operate Fish-N-Pets Unlimited at 11710 Bissonnet, saw an opportunity to give back to the community. His store stayed open in the [...]
An exotic building in the International Management District overflows with symbols. And the site is a treasure in another way: Chinese and Vietnamese cultures are distinct, but this is a place where they visually overlap. Teo Chew Temple, at 10599 Turtlewood Court, is a public place for worship and reflection. Many of the local founders [...]
With 61 apartment complexes sprawled across the International Management District, a partnership with the Houston Apartment Association has contributed to better security for residents and better education for thousands of school children. The Rental Credit Reporting System, funded by the District for multi-family property owners, is a program that allows landlords to better screen potential tenants’ [...]
When she was interviewing for admission to the master’s program she later completed in business at Paris Dauphine University, Julie Le was asked what her dream was. “I wanted to create a business that would be so successful it will survive my death,” Le told the interviewers, adding: “But I won’t do it until I [...]
Research shows that children who participate in high-quality pre-K programs are more likely to read on grade level by 3rd grade, and that students who do have a greater chance of graduating from college and being career-ready. But pre-K enrollment has fallen short across the nation for a variety of reasons, and now it has [...]
Christian Dashaun Menefee is the youngest elected Harris County attorney and the first African-American in the position. He has lived in Houston since early childhood and attended K-12 in the Klein and Alief independent school districts. Menefee, 32, attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, receiving a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He was [...]
