Mayor Sylvester Turner, along with grand marshals, Olympic Gold Medalists and Houstonians Simone Biles and Simone Manuel will kick off the 2016 holiday season with the 67th Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 24th. This year’s parade celebrates Houston as a spirited global, American city, with a focus on family.  

NEW FLOATS and HIGH-FLYING BALLOONS will glide through the route along with special appearances from Tom Turkey, Santa Claus, The Houston Children’s Choir, Greater Houston area Olympians, Metro Dance Company, the Apache Belles from Tyler, Texas, the Bulldog Band from Trenton, Missouri, and so much more! This year Houston will also kick off a new tradition, the “Mayor’s Citywide Sing-a-Long”, where parade viewers and participants will join together to sing “What The World Needs Now Is Love”.

Houston’s inaugural Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1949 when Santa arrived at Union Station and rode his sleigh to the downtown Foley’s department store. Today, the annual Holiday Parade is produced by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and will begin on Smith at Lamar, north to Walker, east to Milam, south to Pease, west to Louisiana, north to Clay, west to Smith, and north to end at Smith and Dallas.

Sponsors of the H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade include: H-E-B, Airgas, Hyatt Regency Downtown Houston, Super Bowl Host Committee, Highland Village Shopping Center, Magical Winter Lights, Wells Fargo, McDonalds, Arro App, GOYA Food, First Choice Emergency Room, Miri Piri Academy, Dickens on the Strand, SP+ Parking Kings BierHaus, and Lone Star Ford.  

The 67th Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade begins at 9 a.m., is free and open to the public.  A limited amount of seats are available at the parade’s starting line, and can be purchased through the official website for $28 each including service fee. Curbside space along the route for lawn chairs and blankets will be plentiful. Arrive early to partake in the food truck offerings stationed throughout the route.

Easy access parking is available along the route, and Metro buses will be running on a holiday schedule. For route and schedule information, please visit Metro at www.ridemetro.org or call 713-635-4000.

For more information, please visit www.houstonthanksgivingparade.org. Follow us on Twitter @MayorsEvents, #HOUSTONONPARADE or at www.facebook.com/HoustonSpecialEvents.

Houston is a cornerstone of Veterans Day celebrations in the United States.  As a city, Houston is proud to pay tribute to our men and women in the military by providing an annual “Houston Salutes American Heroes Veterans Day Celebration”.  This civic celebration honors and celebrates the brave men, women, and families who pay the ultimate sacrifice for liberty and freedom.

The celebration begins with a job, resource and health fair for military personnel, past and present. Many returning veterans find themselves unemployed or under employed while trying to effectively translate their extensive military skills into the current job market.  Approximately 300,000 veterans live in the Houston metropolitan area with 22,000 of those veterans having returned since 9/11.  The health fair will provide on-site health screenings, including flu shots.

The ceremony will begin at 10:00 am and end with a moment of silence in memory of the WWI signing of the Armistice. The salute continues with a 11:30 am parade that winds through downtown. Over 10,000 Houstonians pay tribute to our veterans by observing the parade and have the opportunity to participate in the job/health fair.

For More Information:

Mayor's Office of Special Events
City Hall
901 Bagby, 1st Floor
Houston, TX 77002
PHONE: 832.393.0868
E-MAIL: veteransday@houstontx.gov

Join Us Friday, December 2, 2016!!!

Ring in the season with the 97th Annual Mayor's Holiday Celebration and Tree Lighting Presented by Reliant, an NRG Company on Friday, December 2, 2016 in the heart of downtown Houston. The spectacular event is a holiday tradition of music, Santa, fireworks and family fun. A towering Holiday Tree, glowing with energy efficient LED lights, shimmering ornaments and a stunning star topper will light up the streets of downtown Houston this holiday season. The event takes place in Hermann Square at City Hall, 901 Bagby St., from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

• Read the 2016 Press Release

The public is invited to bring a new, unwrapped toy to the Reliant booth at the Mayor’s Holiday Celebration to help make the holidays brighter for a child this season.  Everyone who brings a toy will receive a light-up Santa hat from Reliant. The annual toy drive benefits the Salvation Army Greater Houston Area Command.

The Mayor's Holiday Celebration and Tree Lighting Presented by Reliant, an NRG Company produced by the Mayor's Office of Special Events, Susan Christian, Director. 

In partnership with Mayor Turner and the City of Houston, the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee announced a slate of upcoming event dates on Tuesday for the one-of-a-kind fan experience: the Touchdown Tour. The first of the 11 dates will be held on October 8, at Mason Park, located at 75th Street and Tipps.

The Touchdown Tour, designed to bring the excitement of the Super Bowl to the Houston area as the region prepares for Super Bowl LI in February, will feature interactive games, a Houston Texans mobile locker room, special photo booths, giveaways, music and more. Food and beverage will be available for purchase. On both Friday and Saturday, the Host Committee will also engage the community through a combination of its Touchdown Houston legacy initiatives regarding education health and community enhancement.

“Not everyone will be able to be in the seats at NRG Stadium on game day in February, but that should not mean they don’t get to experience the fun,” said Mayor Turner.  “The Touchdown Tour will take the Super Bowl experience on the road to neighborhoods all over Houston.  I want to thank the host committee for delivering on my request to figure out a way for all Houstonians to participate in the excitement leading up to the big game.”

Selected community parks will host the Touchdown Tour dates with the exception of the November 19th date which will take place at Kingwood High School.

“The Houston Super Bowl Host Committee and the City of Houston are committed to giving all residents an unparalleled Super Bowl experience,” Sallie Sargent, the President and CEO of the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee, said. “We want to bring the excitement of Super Bowl LI into the community, and Mayor Turner and the City of Houston have been instrumental in turning this vision into a reality.” The Touchdown Tour’s kickoff event was held August 27 at the nonprofit science and space learning center, Space Center Houston followed by a stop at Joint Base San Antonio.

For more information, visit the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee’s website: www.housuperbowl.com and follow the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or visit www.houstonspecialevents.org.

Touchdown Tour Schedule Dates:
All events will be scheduled from 11A – 2P 

Take our survey on what issues the City should focus on next year! 

In 2015, Houston's City Council took the groundbreaking step of adopting the city's first general plan, Plan Houston. The Plan describes a vision and goals for our community and identifies twelve core strategies that represent the City’s approach for achieving the vision.  

The City of Houston is now actively working towards achieving the community goals laid out in Plan Houston. The next step is to understand the community's interests so that policy makers can consider them as they develop City priorities for the next budget year. The City's next fiscal year begins July 1, 2017. You can share your thoughts on what the City should be focusing on by responding to a brief survey: www.planhouston.org.     

Your input, coupled with Plan Houston's strategic guidance, ensures that the City will use its limited resources in the most effective means possible to improve our community. The survey is open from October 14, 2016 through November 25, 2016.  Call 832-393-6600 if you have questions or would like to request one or more paper copies of the survey.  

Go to www.planhouston.org to learn more about the Plan Houston goals and strategies.  

¡Conteste nuestra encuesta acerca de los problemas en que la ciudad se debe de enfocar el próximo año!

En el 2015, El Consejo de la Ciudad de Houston tomo un paso innovador adoptando el primer plan general de la ciudad, Plan Houston. El plan describe la visión y metas para nuestra comunidad e identifica doce estrategias fundamentales. Estas estrategias representan la manera  en que la Ciudad va a lograr la visión.

La Ciudad de Houston esta activamente trabajando  hacia el logro de las metas de la comunidad presentadas en el Plan Houston. El siguiente paso es entender los intereses de la comunidad para que las autoridades encargadas de crear las normas y regulaciones  consideren esto  al momento de desarrollar las prioridades de la ciudad para el presupuesto del próximo año.  El siguiente año fiscal de la Ciudad comienza el primero de Julio del 2017. Puedes compartir tus ideas acerca de en qué debería enfocarse la Ciudad respondiendo a una corta encuesta. www.planhouston.org

Tu contribución con comentarios, en combinación con las guías estratégicas del Plan Houston, asegurara que los recursos limitados de la Ciudad se usen de la manera más efectiva posible para mejorar nuestra comunidad. La encuesta estará  disponible de Octubre 14, 2016 – Noviembre 25, 2016. Llame al 832-393-6600 para preguntas o para recibir una o más  copias de la encuesta.

Vaya a www.planhouston.org para aprender más acerca de las metas y estrategias de Plan Houston.

Mayor Sylvester Turner announced a $1 million grant from JPMorgan Chase to support Houston’s ambitious efforts to end chronic homelessness through The Way Home – the Houston region’s nationally recognized homeless housing initiative.  The award makes JPMorgan Chase the first corporate donor to support The Way Home’s development of permanent supportive housing for homeless Houstonians.  

The Way Home has now raised $7 million towards its $15 million goal to finish creating 2,500 units of housing for chronically homeless individuals.  These vulnerable individuals have all been homeless for a year or more and suffer from a disabling condition.

Ending chronic, veteran and family homelessness is a top priority for Mayor Turner and the City of Houston, as well as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Labor and Veteran’s Administration.

More than 100 local governmental, business, faith, nonprofit, and charitable organizations are working together under The Way Home umbrella to build and manage a single system focused on a “Housing First” model to solve homelessness.  Since 2011, more than 3,325 chronically homeless individuals and over 4,920 homeless veterans have been permanently housed, helping reduce overall homelessness by 57% and essentially ending veteran homelessness in the region.

The $1 million grant will be invested in The Way Home’s Permanent Supportive Housing Capital Grant Fund, managed by the nonprofit Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH).  In 2013, CSH began a partnership with the City of Houston to meet the housing and services needs of people struggling with homelessness.  As part of this community-driven process, the City and local stakeholders also prioritized the creation of affordable housing to prevent future homelessness.

Forty-two Flood-prone Homes To Be Elevated
The Houston City Council (City) unanimously approved an agreement between the City and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) for the City's administration of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMA). As an applicant on a FEMA-awarded FMA grant, the TWDB has agreed to reimburse the City, as sub-applicant, up to $14,846,975.92 for the elevation of forty-two flood-prone homes.

In response to the 2015 Memorial Day flood event, the City elected to submit a grant application to the annual FEMA call for the FMA grant program. The grant program makes funds available nation-wide to address the mitigation of flood-damaged properties that hold flood insurance policies through the National Flood Insurance Program.

Homeowners with properties designated by FEMA as Severe Repetitive Loss or Repetitive Loss, volunteered to participate in the program prior to the submission of the grant application. Depending on the National Flood Insurance Program loss history of each property at the time of the grant application, participating homeowners will be awarded between 75% and 100% of eligible home elevation project costs. The remaining home elevation costs are the responsibility of the individual homeowners.

Each property owner will enter into a contract with the City outlining the requirements for accepting the grant funding. Homeowners will then choose a contractor from a list of contractors pre-certified by the City. Design, permitting, and construction costs will be paid directly by the City to the contractor selected for each home project. Payments for other eligible costs, such as temporary housing, will be made directly to the homeowner.

November Citizenship Month festivities promote good citizenship through civic engagement, inclusiveness and unity.

As part of Houston’s annual Citizenship Month activities, on October 27, 66 people from 25 countries took the oath of citizenship during the first ever U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremony held at city hall.  Council Member Mike Knox and numerous city, state and federal officials were on hand to witness the very moving ceremony.

The ceremony was followed by a program and reception hosted by the Mayor’s Citizenship Month Committee led by Houston’s First Daughter Ashley Turner, who is serving as honorary chair of Citizenship Month.  The program featured the presentation of Mayor Turner’s proclamation of November as Houston Citizenship Month, a celebration of “the many faces of Houston.” In its eighth year, Citizenship Month commemorates what it means to be a contributing citizen of Houston through civic leadership, community service and actions that embrace racial and ethnic diversity. 

The program also featured the presentation of the 2016 Citizen of the Year Awards to Citizenship Committee members Benito Juarez, Yu-Ru Hwang and Munira Panjwani. The awards recognize exceptional leadership and community service.

The public is invited to enjoy a variety of performances, exhibits, films, lectures, talks, children’s story hours, arts and crafts, charity events and festivals throughout Citizenship Month. The event venues include city libraries, museums, university campuses, neighborhood centers and green spaces. 

Event highlights include the following:  “Be the Peace--Be the Hope,” traveling exhibits that will be on view in the City Hall Annex tunnel and at several Houston and Harris County libraries, November 1 to December 15; the Aga Khan Foundation Walk at Sam Houston Park on November 12; and the World Cup Soccer Tournament at Eldridge Park, which started on October 16 and runs through November 20.  For more details and a full calendar of events, visit http://www.citizenshipmonth.org/.

Houston Citizenship Month is an initiative of the Department of Neighborhoods Office of New Americans and International Communities (ONAIC).  The annual celebration is organized under the leadership of the Citizenship Month Committee in collaboration with community partners. For more information about ONAIC, visit http://www.houstontx.gov/oic.

• Minor critical emergency home repairs are those repairs critically needed to alleviate life, health or safety hazards
  
• Applicants must be qualified to participate in the program; applying does not guarantee approval for or acceptance into the program
  
• Rebuilding Together Houston will provide critical repairs UP TO $10,000 per home to qualified applicants
  
• Specific repair services are determined based on condition of home, cost of repairs and availability of funds