Since 1974, the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and its local affiliate organizations have worked to address issues such as infrastructure in underserved communities, public school funding, and workforce development and education programs.

Catholic bishops have supported the effort since its inception. And for its members and organizers, the work is perfectly aligned with Catholic social teaching.

"There are all kinds of ways to be Catholic," said Bob Fleming, a leader with Texas IAF affiliate The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) of Houston. "But when I worked with Catholic Charities, and when I worked with TMO, that's when I felt most Catholic."

Austin Vineyard Church doesn’t have a steeple or stained glass depictions of angels and saints. Its beige aluminum siding looks more like a warehouse than a place of worship. But as soon as I entered the building on a Friday night in late July, there was no mistaking where I was.

Smiling churchgoers welcomed me as the smells of a multicultural potluck filled the air. Many congregants wore vibrant textiles from Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Soon after I arrived, the group’s excited chatter was drowned out by the sound of a Nigerian worship band.

The band leader introduced the first song and explained he would be singing in his native language.

“But God understands every language,” he said.

While Abbott continues to claim the Biden administration has “open border policies,” human rights advocates say the Biden administration’s border policy excludes too many asylum seekers.

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar agrees with those advocates. In late July, he ruled that current border policy is contrary to federal immigration law. All of this while the Biden administration reported 60,000 less border encounters per month from May to June.

But what’s actually changed on the ground?

Pastor Abraham Barberi is no stranger to shifting border policies. He works with One Mission Ministries in Brownsville and has been doing humanitarian work around there and across the border in Matamoros for more than twenty years.

“When I came to Matamoros years ago, my biggest concern or my biggest desire to do something here was the violence,” Barberi said. “The cartels were fighting against each other and there was a lot of violence.”

Jesse Gould joined Texas Standard to provide some context on the potential psychedelics have to help active-duty military and veterans. Gould is an Army Ranger veteran whose own PTSD symptoms disappeared after an ayahuasca retreat in Peru. His non-profit, Heroic Hearts Project, helps veterans find psychedelic therapy programs.

Gould said that current federal drug laws make psychedelics difficult to study and illegal to prescribe. Ocasio-Cortez spoke to that issue at the press conference with Crenshaw. “Right now our hands are tied in terms of getting the science we need,” she said.

Allowing these treatments for active-duty military could serve as a gateway to psychedelic therapy for veterans and the general public.

Targeting active-duty military will also help alleviate PTSD in soldiers as soon as it arises, hopefully reducing suicide rates. “Let’s get ahead of the problem, resolve the trauma as it comes up and lead to a healthier military population as well as healthier military family populations,” Gould said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sent a letter to Texas school districts and charter schools warning them about a bill that allows school counselors to be replaced by religious chaplains.

Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed this bill, SB 763, into law. The bill requires school districts to vote by March 1 of next year on whether they will allow schools to have chaplains on staff.

Rev. Erin Walter is the executive director of the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry and has written about this bill for ACLU Texas. She joined Texas Standard to discuss the bill and its implications.

Texas Standard: First, can you describe the typical duties of a chaplain?

Erin Walter: That’s a good question. I have served as a chaplain in a hospital setting and in the YMCA community center and I love the work of chaplaincy. It can involve being present for people, being present to whatever their spiritual practice or religious background is, and being with them in prayer or just in listening or sitting with them and holding their hand in the hospital.

But there are others. I’ve heard many occasions where a chaplain may proselytize in one of those settings, which is not the kind of chaplaincy that we’d like to see, but we know that does happen. So it kind of depends on who the chaplain is with what they might see as their role.

Tina Cannon wears many hats as the president and CEO of the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

A typical day could include everything from emptying the trash to organizing fundraising events. No matter what the task may be, Cannon’s work is always aimed at promoting local LGBT businesses. Or, as she calls them, “mom and mom and pop and pop shops.”

“Everything that we do is around trying to elevate their experience and leading them to prosperity, whatever their definition of prosperity may be,” Cannon said.

In 2020, Cannon added another role to her job description: music festival organizer. She created Pride in Local Music as a way to help local queer musicians who were out of work due to pandemic shutdowns.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims call Texas home and June 28 marks an important date on their calendar. Eid al-Adha, which is often called “Big Eid,” is celebrated on this day.

Imam Anwer Imam, the Director of Religious Affairs at Nueces Mosque in Austin, told Texas Standard the holiday celebrates the Prophet Abraham overcoming a set of challenges given to him by God.

According to Islamic scripture, Abraham was commanded to leave his family and build a sanctuary for God’s worship. Finally, God challenged Abraham to sacrifice his son. Because of his unwavering devotion, God allowed Abraham to sacrifice a lamb in place of his son.

Imam said Abraham’s profound devotion is why Muslims revere him and celebrate Eid-al-Adha.

“That’s why he’s held up in the Quran, the Muslim holy book, as a paragon for piety, for virtue, for sacrifice,” Imam said.

It’s quite the spectacle, and an unsettling one at that: Thousands of dead fish washed up on Gulf Coast beaches in Southeast Texas last week. What was going on? And what do experts say might be the cause of all of this?

Katie St. Clair, manager of the Sea Life facility at Texas A&M University at Galveston, joined the Texas Standard to discuss this phenomenon. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.

Texas Standard: I understand these were mostly one species. Tell us a little bit about this species of fish and why they seem to be washing up on the shores.

Katie St. Clair: Yes. So these were Gulf menhaden, which belong to the Clupeid family of fishes – this also includes species such as the herrings and shad. And these are small bait fishes that form large aggregations in the thousands to hundreds of thousands. And they are often seen swimming close to our water surface. That makes them extremely susceptible to these low dissolved oxygen or hypoxic events.

On Feb. 23, cheers echoed out from the Millennium Youth Sports Complex parking lot as disaster relief volunteers watched a truck packed full of Waterloo Sparkling Water pull up to the curb. In a matter of days, the snowstorm that had been projected to hit Austin late Valentine’s Day had transformed into a state-wide disaster, leaving hundreds of thousands of Texans without electricity or running water. And while the state’s response was not as swift as many had hoped it would be, Austin community organizers immediately jumped into action, performing door-to-door wellness checks and transforming school parking lots into distribution centers.

Don’t believe Dale Watson when he calls himself lazy. In addition to writing and recording his own music and keeping a busy tour schedule, he works tirelessly to promote other artists with his Ameripolitan Music Awards. As if that weren’t enough, he revitalized the legendary Memphis juke joint Hernando’s Hideaway in 2019 and continues to own and operate the venue.

He may be in his mid-twenties, but Zach Person already has an impressive resume. The guitar phenom and singer-songwriter was playing at Houston’s House of Blues before he was old enough to drive. And rather than enrolling in college after high school, he opted to audition for American Idol, where Harry Connick Jr. called his sound “refreshing” and Jennifer Lopez said he was “from another time.”

With his self-titled debut album, Person moves beyond the label of guitar prodigy and steps into his own as an artist.

Grady Spencer’s Texas roots run deep. He grew up in the small town of Paducah, got his musical start in nearby Lubbock and now hangs his hat in Fort Worth. In November 2020, he released an EP, Hard Times Nostalgia, that featured covers of songs he enjoyed as a kid, like Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon” and George Strait’s “Carrying Your Love With Me.”

Leti Garza’s latest release is more than musical entertainment or artistic self-expression. The five-song EP, Borderland, tells the story of Garza’s involvement in the 2018 Christmas at Tornillo protest near El Paso. Borderland’s minimalist instrumentation and poetic, bilingual lyrics allow Garza to connect directly and deeply with listeners. By sharing her story, she hopes to encourage others to reflect on the tragic, complex situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Garza’s path to Tornillo started when she learned of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” border policy. The policy meant some immigrants were being deported while their children were detained in the U.S. Although President Trump rescinded the family separation policy in June 2018, the damage had been done. Many children remained at the makeshift Tornillo tent city until January 2019.

Although Israel Nash has incorporated some new sonic textures into his latest long-player, Topaz, fans can still expect to hear the qualities that they’ve grown to love in Nash’s previous albums. Thanks to co-producer Adrian Quesada, Topaz blends horns, soul rhythms, and fat guitar tones into Nash’s signature hazy psychedelia. The result is a cohesive album that is simultaneously familiar and fresh. Nash has also expanded lyrically, including political themes with his heartfelt storytelling. Here, Nash talks about the new album, how Texas changed him, and what he’s looking forward to.