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Record of Proceedings

Technology and Innovation Committee Meeting – August 20, 2026

Committees and Commissions — Thursday, August 20, 2026
BodyHouston, Texas
SessionCommittees and Commissions
DateThursday, August 20, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 46:29

Transcript — VerbatimClick a line to jump · ⧉ to share it
0:15

Good afternoon, everyone.

0:17

The time is 2 01 p.m.

0:20

I will call to order the August meeting of the Technology and Innovation Committee.

0:27

My name is Mario Castillo.

0:28

I represent District H and serve as the chair of this committee.

0:31

And today I'm joined by colleagues, Councilmember Sally Alcorn, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Amy Peck, along with staff from Councilmember Panzarella's office and Councilmember Ramirez's office.

0:45

And also Vice Chair, Councilmember Martinez.

0:49

We have three items on the agenda today, so we'll uh move forward with that.

0:55

I do just want to thank everyone for being present.

0:58

This is our third meeting of the committee.

1:00

Uh we have looked inward at the city, we have looked outward at our uh innovation ecosystem and landscape.

1:07

And today we'll be doing uh a mix of both.

1:10

Um but we're gonna start with Impact Hub Houston and catalyzing impact innovation.

1:17

I would like to welcome Grace Rodriguez, the co-founder and CEO executive director of Impact Hub Houston for our first presentation.

1:27

Thank you so much.

1:28

Good afternoon.

1:30

Council and committee members.

1:32

Um as you heard, I'm Grace Rodriguez, co-founder and executive director of Impact Hub Houston.

1:37

And I want to share a few things that we're doing to turn Houston's civic innovation and business communities into one coordinated engine for growth in our region.

1:45

Um I shared a lot of slides with a lot of content for you to refer back to later.

1:49

Uh but for now I'll move quickly through the slides so we'll have some time for questions at the end.

1:53

We are trying to get them.

1:54

Okay, we're good.

1:55

We got them up.

1:57

Perfect.

1:58

And so um, I saw that you had you know some friends and frequent collaborators present last time, um, Lawson, JR, and Taylor, and I saw Taylor provided some background for him, so I figured I'll provide you.

2:09

Can you go to next, Emmanuel, um, with my logo soup?

2:14

Um let's see.

2:17

There you go.

2:18

So these are some of the organizations I've either served on the board for, uh, been a part of, co-led or co-founded over the years, and my approach and perspective to this work comes from deep practical work in and with the diverse communities that these logos represent.

2:32

Next.

2:34

Um, since founding uh to Impact Hub Houston in 2018, we've been inspiring, connecting, and enabling people to build solutions with real world impact.

2:42

We cultivate community, facilitate ecosystems, empower entrepreneurs, and develop infrastructure to sustain and scale all of that work effectively.

2:51

And our result results are pretty good.

2:53

We've connected over 32,000 event attendees, collaborated with over 128 community partners, supported over 2,000 entrepreneurs, and connected over 74 businesses with 56 million plus in capital and contracts in the last two years alone.

3:08

Next.

3:10

And we are also part of a global network of over 135 impact hubs across 70 plus countries around the world.

3:17

Um we are recognized by the United Nations as the world's largest community accelerating solutions for the sustainable development goals.

3:23

And you can refer back to this again.

3:25

I think the results speak for themselves.

3:27

And so next, the first thing I wanted to share with you today is the upcoming Houston hackathon.

3:33

Next founded in 2013, the Houston Hackathon brings people together to tackle local challenges and collaborate on solutions with potential to improve life in our region.

3:44

We host it in partnership with the city's Office of Innovation, so Jesse Bounds has been uh an ally um and supporter for um since the beginning.

3:51

Um anyone can bring an idea or tackle a challenge posted by the city, community groups, or neighbors.

3:57

So we invite you to submit challenges too.

3:59

This year's hackathon kicks off on September 25th at the ION.

4:03

And we'd love to have you submit a challenge.

4:05

Maybe have you or your staff volunteer.

4:08

Um donate to the cause, of course.

4:09

We want to feed everybody, make sure everybody's resources, and then or if at least show up as an observer.

4:15

Next.

4:18

Sorry.

4:19

Okay.

4:20

So since 2013, over 140 solutions have been built.

4:24

Last year, four winners directly tackled city priorities, including the Houston Ready Hub, uh, focus on disaster prep, the emergency preparedness wizard, address storm readiness, a digital bulletin board, address civic transparency, and that was a challenge that Jesse himself presented, and then helping hive matches volunteers to neighbors in need.

4:43

And we have two success stories as proof of the hackathon working.

4:47

In just one year, two solutions were piloted and are being launched.

4:50

Uh, step up became community exchange, a project of the change lab, which is now fiscally sponsored by Impact Hub Houston.

5:00

It centralizes info from over 7,500 organizations and 5,500 verified resources across 89 neighborhoods.

5:04

It's translated into English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Technology and Innovation█████████████████████████████████████████████57%
Procurement███████████████████████29%
Personnel Matters██████7%
Community Engagement████5%
Transparency██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Technology and Innovation Committee Meeting – August 20, 2026

The Technology and Innovation Committee of the Houston City Council, chaired by Mario Castillo (District H), met on August 20, 2026, at 2:01 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting featured three presentations: Impact Hub Houston, the modernization of the city's HR learning and performance system, and a new five-year cooperative purchasing agreement for technology. One member of the public testified. No votes were taken; the meeting was informational.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Terrence Davis, Executive Director of Texas Finance Association and an AI engineer, expressed his direct support for Impact Hub Houston, noting he is a member and volunteer expert. He briefly described his company's work creating AI-powered learning games that have trained over 3,500 people.

Discussion Items

  • Impact Hub Houston Presentation (Grace Rodriguez, co-founder/CEO)

    • Grace Rodriguez presented Impact Hub Houston's work to turn Houston's civic innovation and business communities into a coordinated engine for growth. Key initiatives include:
      • Houston Hackathon (Sept. 25, 2026, at the ION): Since 2013, over 140 solutions have been built; 2024 winners tackled disaster prep, storm readiness, civic transparency, and volunteer matching. Success stories include CommunityExchange.us (centralized info on 7,500+ organizations) and Friender for Life (pet adoption matching).
      • Future Ready Workforce Development: A 17-member resiliency collaborative (now 84+ partners) anchored by JP Morgan Chase. Impact Hub provides training and certification in AI, data analytics, cybersecurity via Google for Nonprofits scholarships (500 scholarships). Lost MBDA grant funding due to DOGE.
      • Sync Platform: An AI-powered ecosystem coordination tool (System for Network Collaboration) to connect Houston's 80+ support organizations, reduce silos, and provide shared dashboards. Also part of a global network of 135+ Impact Hubs.
      • Statistics: Connected 32,000 event attendees, 128 partners, 2,000 entrepreneurs, 74 businesses with $56M+ in capital/contracts.
    • Councilmember Martinez asked about the city's current role and resourcing. Rodriguez noted limited direct city support but highlighted Jesse Bounds (Office of Innovation) as a consistent ally who needs better resourcing. She emphasized the need for a digital platform (Sync) and targeted task forces to coordinate ecosystem stakeholders.
    • Councilmember Ramirez's staff inquired about workforce training funding and data tracking. Rodriguez explained the collaborative's composition, the Google scholarships (no mandatory tracking but they want to do longitudinal tracking), and expressed need for continued funding.

  • Modernizing HR Learning & Performance System (Dr. Crystal Besex, Chief Transformation Officer, HR; Kalpana Pillai, Deputy CIO, HITS)

    • The current TMS platform is at end of life in 2026. The city will replace it with a new learning and performance module integrated into the existing HR1 platform (already adopted by employees for pay, benefits).
    • Phased approach: Phase 1 (through Dec. 31, 2026) focuses on business continuity—access, course assignments, HEAR goals, and essential reporting. Phase 2 will add advanced integrations (e.g., Teams, third-party tools) and user experience enhancements.
    • Benefits: Seamless HR integration, minimal learning curve, one-click access, AI-enabled future features. No explicit cost savings quantified, but operational efficiencies from existing HR1 data and reduced training burdens.
    • Cost: Approximately $600,000 for both learning and performance modules (licensing). Current TMS licensing cost to be provided later.
    • Staff from Councilmember Ramirez's office asked about feedback solicitation; presenters noted a survey is launching. Staff from Councilmember Panzarella's office asked about cost; presenters stated they can report back with TMS licensing cost comparison.

  • Technology Cooperative Purchasing Agreements (Kevin Barry, Interim CIO; Jed Greenfield, Chief Procurement Officer)

    • Proposal to approve a five-year cooperative purchasing agreement for technology products and services, moving from annual renewals. This routine agreement uses six national cooperatives (DIR, Omnia, SourceWell, etc.) that competitively bid contracts with larger buying power.
    • Benefits: Multi-year pricing flexibility, ability to negotiate down, reduced administrative overhead (one contract vs. five), better compliance monitoring, and continued adherence to OBO policies (purchases over $100,000 go through OBO).
    • Checks and balances remain: All requisitions go through HITS approval, and the same material group monitoring and OBO goals apply.
    • Staff from Councilmember Ramirez's office asked about vendor selection and pricing. Greenfield explained that cooperatives have already competitively awarded contracts; the city chooses among them and can further negotiate based on volume. Councilmember Alcorn noted the six cooperatives listed but not individual contracts; clarified that the whole portfolio is available.
    • Councilmember Ramirez's staff expressed appreciation for bringing such a large contract to committee for transparency.

Key Outcomes

  • No votes or formal actions were taken. All three presentations were informational.
  • The next meeting of the Technology and Innovation Committee is scheduled for September 17, 2026, at 2:00 PM in Council Chambers.
  • Staff from the committee will follow up with Impact Hub Houston on potential collaboration and resourcing for the Office of Innovation.
  • HR and HITS will provide additional details on TMS licensing costs to the committee.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone. The time is 2 01 p.m. I will call to order the August meeting of the Technology and Innovation Committee. My name is Mario Castillo. I represent District H and serve as the chair of this committee. And today I'm joined by colleagues, Councilmember Sally Alcorn, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Amy Peck, along with staff from Councilmember Panzarella's office and Councilmember Ramirez's office. And also Vice Chair, Councilmember Martinez. We have three items on the agenda today, so we'll uh move forward with that. I do just want to thank everyone for being present. This is our third meeting of the committee. Uh we have looked inward at the city, we have looked outward at our uh innovation ecosystem and landscape. And today we'll be doing uh a mix of both. Um but we're gonna start with Impact Hub Houston and catalyzing impact innovation. I would like to welcome Grace Rodriguez, the co-founder and CEO executive director of Impact Hub Houston for our first presentation. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Council and committee members. Um as you heard, I'm Grace Rodriguez, co-founder and executive director of Impact Hub Houston. And I want to share a few things that we're doing to turn Houston's civic innovation and business communities into one coordinated engine for growth in our region. Um I shared a lot of slides with a lot of content for you to refer back to later. Uh but for now I'll move quickly through the slides so we'll have some time for questions at the end. We are trying to get them. Okay, we're good. We got them up. Perfect. And so um, I saw that you had you know some friends and frequent collaborators present last time, um, Lawson, JR, and Taylor, and I saw Taylor provided some background for him, so I figured I'll provide you. Can you go to next, Emmanuel, um, with my logo soup? Um let's see. There you go. So these are some of the organizations I've either served on the board for, uh, been a part of, co-led or co-founded over the years, and my approach and perspective to this work comes from deep practical work in and with the diverse communities that these logos represent. Next. Um, since founding uh to Impact Hub Houston in 2018, we've been inspiring, connecting, and enabling people to build solutions with real world impact. We cultivate community, facilitate ecosystems, empower entrepreneurs, and develop infrastructure to sustain and scale all of that work effectively. And our result results are pretty good. We've connected over 32,000 event attendees, collaborated with over 128 community partners, supported over 2,000 entrepreneurs, and connected over 74 businesses with 56 million plus in capital and contracts in the last two years alone. Next. And we are also part of a global network of over 135 impact hubs across 70 plus countries around the world. Um we are recognized by the United Nations as the world's largest community accelerating solutions for the sustainable development goals. And you can refer back to this again. I think the results speak for themselves. And so next, the first thing I wanted to share with you today is the upcoming Houston hackathon. Next founded in 2013, the Houston Hackathon brings people together to tackle local challenges and collaborate on solutions with potential to improve life in our region. We host it in partnership with the city's Office of Innovation, so Jesse Bounds has been uh an ally um and supporter for um since the beginning. Um anyone can bring an idea or tackle a challenge posted by the city, community groups, or neighbors. So we invite you to submit challenges too. This year's hackathon kicks off on September 25th at the ION. And we'd love to have you submit a challenge. Maybe have you or your staff volunteer. Um donate to the cause, of course. We want to feed everybody, make sure everybody's resources, and then or if at least show up as an observer.

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