Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The City of Houston made another huge stride this week and doubled our daily testing capacity from 1,000 to 2,000 individuals. This means that now the City is testing anyone who wishes to be tested. You or your family member can call 832-393-4220 where you will be provided a unique identification code and directions on where to go.

As we continue to adjust to the new normal under COVID-19, several District C civic clubs have began meeting virtually, including West End and Rice Military. Please let our office know if your neighborhood is interested in doing this; we have compiled a list of best practices and creative ideas for virtual community engagement and will be happy to share this with you.

For any COVID-19 related needs, our office is here for you and ready to help. This week we called 12 senior facilities located in the district to check in on our seniors and their caregivers. We are taking proactive steps and connecting residents to resources and assistance. As a reminder, at the bottom of this email is our District C COVID-19 resources guide including how to find and give assistance.

As a reminder, the District C office remains open and we are ready to answer your questions and follow up on constituent cases. The best way to reach us is by email at districtc@houstontx.gov, or you can call our office 832-393-3004 and leave a voicemail with your name and callback number. For more frequent updates you can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

We are here to serve you and connect you throughout.

We're hearing countless stories around the country of neighbors stepping up to help one another. If you have positive stories about efforts that you, or someone you know, are doing to help others, we would love to spotlight you. Email our office (districtc@houstontx.gov) with pictures and a description that we can share. This could be making masks for neighbors, children writing notes to seniors, donating supplies, you name it!

Hotel Ordinance Will Combat Human Trafficking

This week, City Council approved the Hotel Ordinance, requiring all hotels to provide training for their employees to recognize common signs of human trafficking. Houston is the largest U.S. city to have an anti-human trafficking ordinance, and only the second city in the U.S. after Baltimore.

Efforts like this are more important than ever right now, given the fact that during the COVID-19 crisis, more children are out of school and likely spending more time online, where traffickers commonly find their victims. Also, with more people furloughed or laid off, there will be a new group of vulnerable people.

This ordinance was presented and vetted by City Council at last week's virtual Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Council Member Kamin, which you can watch online here. We are grateful to Minal Patel Davis, Special Advisor to the Mayor on Human Trafficking and her staff, along with Jamey Caruthers, Senior Staff Attorney, Children at Risk, and our hotel and lodging partners around the city, for their hard work on this important step to protect the vulnerable members of our community from sex and labor trafficking.

Welcome Kate Dentler to District C!

Please welcome the newest member of the District C office, Kate Dentler! Kate will graduate from the University of Houston in May with a degree in political science and is excited to work with the committed and engaged neighborhoods in our district. As communications director, she will help our office be responsive and creative through emails, social media, and outreach to community newspapers and publications. You can reach her at Kate.Dentler@houstontx.gov. Welcome to District C, Kate!

District C Update

This week we were able to help Sunset Terrace Montclair resolve two longstanding issues: replacing a water meter lid that had been missing since October of last year and removing construction cones left on Drake St. for a long period of time. These issues had been reported through 311 but our office was able to follow up with Houston Public Works and make sure that they were resolved. You can always reach out to us after reporting through 311, provide the service request number, and we will help close the loop with the city department.