Hometown Glory

Annise Parker ranks top among nation's mayors for climate protection, with anassist by Laura Spanjian

Houston's Green Office Challenge helped Houston earn the Climate ProtectionAward.
Photo by Caroline Gallay
With the help of Laura Spanjian the Parker administration has launched a numberof green initiatives, including downtown community container gardens.
Photo by Paula Murphy

There's a mayor's club, and they've named our own Annise Parker as the first-place winner for the 2011 Climate Protection Award.

The United States Conference of Mayors selected Parker as the top large city-mayor from 130 prospective applicants in its fifth annual awards program, which recognizes mayors who implement innovative practices that work toward increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Houston's green building initiatives, including the Green Office Challenge, were started by Mayor Parker with the help of sustainability director Laura Spanjian, and played a large part in Houston's winning the award.

"Houston is a leader on energy efficiency, and we are proud to receive this national recognition for our work in green buildings," Parker said in a statement. "The Houston Green Office Challenge and Energy Efficiency Incentive Program are unprecedented opportunities to bring citizens into the city-wide sustainability strategy."

Houston consistently ranks on the EPA's top 10 list of cities with the most Energy Star-certified buildings, and is the largest municipal purchaser of renewable energy in the nation.

To read about how you or your office can get involved in the city's energy conservation programs, visit the Green Houston website.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”