Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement

About Us

Houston Community and Partnerships Engagement (HCPE) uses nature as a tool to authentically engage communities and collaborate with partners to improve people’s lives in the Houston Region. Since 2014, we have been working with partners to help Houstonians learn about, care for, enjoy, and benefit from nature.

The city is within the 4th largest metropolitan area in the country with a population exceeding seven million. It is also one of the most diverse cities with no ethnic majority and more than 145 languages spoken.

The Gulf-Houston region is also well known for its biodiversity. It is situated in one of the most ecologically diverse urban areas with nine surrounding national wildlife refuges, and is at the juncture of the East Texas Pineywoods, Columbia and Trinity bottomland forests, the Katy prairie, coastal bays and estuaries, and the Gulf of Mexico. Its position makes it a hotspot for avian migration, with millions of birds passing through the region each year.

For these and many other reasons, HCPE is working to engage the community in nature-related programming and conservation efforts.

Contact Us

Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement
(830) 220-4760

5208 Harrisburg Blvd., Unit B
Houston, Texas 77011 
Office hours by appointment only. 

Visit a Refuge Nearby

Where the Gulf of Mexico meets the southeast Texas shoreline, thousands of acres of fresh and saltwater marsh are protected by the Anahuac and Brazoria National Wildlife Refuges. These coastal marshes not only support a diversity of wildlife, but they also help buffer the region’s communities from storm surge and filter pollutants.

Further inland, remnants of a once vast coastal prairie can be found within the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, home to one of the last populations of the critically endangered bird.

Surrounding the Houston area and under the protective umbrella of the Trinity River and San Bernard National Wildlife Refuges is a diversity of bottomland hardwood forests especially important to wintering and migrating songbirds.

What We Do

Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement (HCPE) was established to connect Houston to the nine surrounding national wildlife refuges, public lands and waters owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The belief is that building an appreciation for nature in Houston leads to the appreciation for and conservation of nature everywhere, including on national wildlife refuges. To do this, we are:

• Working with partners to incorporate environmental education into after school and summer programs offered at community centers and city parks.
• Creating the conservation leaders of tomorrow by engaging and employing young people leading the change in education and communications.
• Providing children and families confined to hospitals and health care facilities access to nearby nature and national wildlife refuges.
• Empowering educators with resources and tools needed to effectively teach about wildlife, habitat, and careers in conservation.
• Coordinating with partners, private landowners, and national wildlife refuges to use hunting and fishing as a means of addressing food insecurity.
• Introducing a cadre of college students to the agency’s conservation mission, a professional development opportunity that will benefit them throughout their careers.

Educational Resources

Are you an educator looking for standardized plans and nature-based activities for your class? We provide downloadable ready-made lesson plans, activities, and other resources designed for your students.

Get Involved

Maybe you are looking for a meaningful volunteer experience, educational resources, or you are a young person interested in a career in conservation? Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement provides different avenues to get involved, including:

Volunteer: We can use your help delivering environmental education programming to families at Ronald McDonald House or youth attending after school programs at community centers.

Do an Internship: Gain real-world experience developing quality, inquiry-led environmental education programs and communications products.

Are you an educator? Access nature-based, formal lesson plans and informal activities for your classroom! Participate in virtual field trips and engage through workshops and trainings.

Volunteer

Environmental education: We are looking for volunteers that enjoy getting children out into nature! Be part of the team that conducts after-school nature programs at community centers for youth (6-10 years old). Join us at Ronald McDonald House-Houston where we engage young people and their families in games and activities. Or help lead virtual field trips to forests, wetlands, beaches, and other habitat types where students from across the state can engage conservation professionals. In the summer, help lead field trips to a nearby national wildlife refuge national wildlife refuge
A national wildlife refuge is typically a contiguous area of land and water managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  for the conservation and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.

Learn more about national wildlife refuge . No experience is necessary, but you must past a background check, have transportation, and like being outdoors!

Internships

An internship with HCPE will help you develop important skills, gain real-world experience, and develop high quality products for your resume – while you are helping young people enjoy and benefit from nature. You will network with a diversity of organizations and agencies and receive guidance and support to help you reach your academic and professional goals. These paid internships are typically six months and are offered twice a year.

Our Partners

Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement is a partnership-driven program, and its priorities are based on the needs identified by the community. We help build the capacity of partners so they can expand upon their own important work. Working closely with our partners, we:

• Provide environmental education programming at Houston Parks and Recreation community centers and Ronald McDonald House-Houston.
• Create opportunities and provide resources for students and educators at Houston’s Furr High School, an environmental justice school focused on building social and environmental stewardship.
• Work with the Texas Education Agency’s Region 4 to provide virtual programs that meet state-based requirements for educators to effectively teach about wildlife, habitat, and careers in conservation.
• Introduce college students to wildlife conservation through academic internships at local universities, including Texas Southern University and the University of Houston.
• Offer paid internships through the Student Conservation Association and other youth corps programs to help create the conservation leaders of tomorrow.
• Coordinate opportunities that have helped secure nearly a million dollars in funding since 2014 for 30+ Houston partners.