In my two and a half months as a University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work legislative intern at the Texas Capitol, I have learned a lot. Some of what I’ve learned has changed how I view things, some of what …
Researching plastic waste for a class presentation last semester at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work and watching “The Devil We Know” caused my existing passion for environmental change to hit rapid growth. Waste management, waste reduction, …
Today I am sitting in the Texas House of Representatives County Affairs Committee office eating a leftover P.F. Chang’s fortune cookie, reflecting on something my supervisor said that will stick with me so long as I am invested in changing policy. He …
There are roughly 554,000 people living on the street on a given night in the United States and mental health and homelessness are sadly being criminalized nationwide.For far too long, people have thought that being homeless is a choice, when …
It’s Social Work month tradition that I pop in from my administrative role and say hello in the best way possible; a Buzzfeed themed list. As it is SJS’s birthday, I always post on the ides of March, perhaps playing …
As someone who knew very little about Texas politics and accepted a position as a policy analyst through the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work’s legislative internship program, I’m sure you can imagine the daily wrestling of feeling like …
Dear Diary, This weekend I attended the Texas Legislative Black Caucus (TXLBC) Luncheon and Gala, parts of the organization’s biennial Summit. It was an amazing feeling being in a room full of people who look like me. In this Capitol setting, …
Since accepting the offer to participate in the Austin Legislative Internship Program, we have been told over and over again that we will be working with some very important people within the state of Texas. It’s been recommended that we …
This is my first legislative session and first blog post ever. I am much more daunted by the former than the latter, which screams volumes, given my avowed phobia of writing. Despite heeding all the advice and wisdom I could muster …
During the last decade, the number of emergency room and hospital visits linked to suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among children nearly doubled, according to a study in Pediatrics. This was especially true among youth 15 to 17 years of …
