About Us

One Voice is a collaborative of diverse organizations in the Greater Houston area working together to ensure that the health and human service needs of all Texans are addressed in legislative, regulatory, funding, and other public policy initiatives.  One Voice includes both Partnership Members, who advocate for health and human service issues, and Resource Members, who provide information needed to support informed decisions.

One Voice was created in 2004 after state budget cuts left many health and human service programs questioning their abilities to survive, and many of their clients unable to access critical services.  Local governments and organizations were faced with tremendous funding deficits after millions of federal dollars were unavailable because of the state’s hesitation to invest in needed matching state dollars. 

One Voice is truly unique in that it has brought together very diverse public and non-profit organizations that are advocating together for quality health and human service programs. Among others, membership includes those who work in agencies that:

• provide in-home and nursing home care to seniors;
• provide foster care and adoption services to abused and neglected children and their families;
• work with children and adults who have chronic illnesses and/or mental health needs and rely on public services to help meet those needs;
• work to improve standards for healthcare providers;
• work to strengthen the quality of child care and educational opportunities for children; and
• provide multiple services.

Additionally, some members, such as the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, educate and prepare students for careers in health and human service organizations, while others, such as the Joint City/County Commission on Children, assess the general welfare of youth in the community and offer ways to meet their needs.  

At the time that One Voice was created, the membership determined that two overarching themes were common to all organizations – the need for strong prevention and early intervention programs, and the ability to maximize federal funding for health and human service programs in Texas.  The One Voice message is very simple – “Keep Texas dollars working in Texas.”

One Voice is committed to building a strong, visible community network.  One Voice is governed by an Executive Council.  Issues are developed and approved through a formalized committee and priority workgroup structure. Current workgroups address public policy issues related to:

• behavioral health;
• child protective services;
• community care for senior and disabilities;
• early childhood education;
• health care; and
• basic needs;
• community support for public education.