HOUSTON (1080 KRLD) - Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Houston just received a big boost.
The United Arab Emirates Consul General in Houston is granting $6.5 million dollars to the Greater Houston Community Foundation. This gift is part of a $10 million relief pledge from the UAE to the State of Texas.
The Greater Houston Community Foundation will oversee, manage and distribute the grant funds to the specific projects that help with homeless problems, public health expansion and community revitalization. City of Houston spokesperson Alan Bernstein says ,"The money is going to allow the city of Houston to reopen the Flores Neighborhood Library, upgrade the library's computer lab and buy new furniture."
The Homeless Navigation Center will receive around $2 million to create and operate a facility designed to increase short-term housing alternatives for the unsheltered homeless population.
The Houston Health Department will receive around $1.1 million to expand the Pediatric Asthma in the Home Stretch Program to three more schools in the Houston Independent School District, test children for blood lead poisoning and create the Children's Environmental Health Mobile Unit.
Funds will support staffing, school stipends, testing supplies, lab services and the creation and maintenance of the mobile unit.