San Antonio Community Health Board Meeting - October 22, 2026

The Community Health Board met on October 22, 2026, with a full quorum present. Agenda and minutes were not available in the source material, so this summary is based on the meeting transcript. The meeting opened with public testimony, unanimously approved the previous meeting's minutes, and included presentations on food insecurity, the 2026 poverty report, and the Financial Empowerment Center. The meeting was adjourned at 11:39 a.m.

Consent Calendar

• Members unanimously approved the minutes of the last meeting. No opposition or abstentions were recorded.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Tyler Ferguson, executive director of Blueprint Ministries and a Metro Health partner, described how the Metro Health Equity Network helps organizations collaborate on food and housing security. He said clients are forced into impossible choices, such as repairing a home, buying children's clothes, or taking medication. He encouraged the city to continue supporting equity-network models so public investments go further.
• Gudelia Ramón, director of Family Services, said the equity network helped her agency build relationships and create more resources for San Antonio. She cited produce markets that served 167 ZIP codes over four events, with a grant from Blue Shield supporting a more sustainable model. She called attention to food deserts and the need for affordable, nutritious food.
• Jenny Castro, executive director of Powerhouse, said her organization serves girls and families who must choose between food, rent, and medicine. She expressed support for the health equity network as a way to reduce barriers, connect families to resources, and create collective change.
• Mario Obledo, representing the San Antonio Food Bank, said the food bank is part of a safety net covering 250 counties through 20 food banks in Texas. He noted rising demand, praised city departments and volunteers, and said the food bank responds to both daily poverty and natural disasters.
• Mercedes Briston, executive director of the association for grandparents raising grandchildren, said kinship caregivers are often overlooked. She noted that for every child in foster care, 120 are in informal kinship care, and many families visit multiple food banks weekly to cover meals. She described taking 160 grandparents to the state capital over three legislative sessions and urged continued collaboration instead of working in silos.

Food Insecurity Presentation and Discussion

• Metro Health staff presented the city's coordinated food insecurity strategy. The speaker reported that food insecurity was one of four CHIP priorities at 22.6% in 2024 and that trends are moving in the wrong direction.
• New Feeding America data were cited showing that one in four Texas children, one in seven older Texans, and one in three Black Texans experience food insecurity.
• SNAP participation was approximately 33% and has fallen by more than 20% since September. The speaker noted that the USDA stopped producing national food insecurity reports for 2026, making local data collection more important.
• Bexar County ALICE data show that 44% of residents are living below the threshold needed to cover basic needs. The city's stated goal is to reduce food insecurity by 20 points by 2030.
• The presentation described distribution efforts, including more than 50,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables, over 70 community partners, and work to coordinate referrals, SNAP enrollment, and benefit access.
• Council members asked about rising SNAP delays and the relationship between food insecurity and economic empowerment. Some members called for stronger state and federal advocacy on SNAP processing times and for connecting residents to living-wage jobs.

2026 Poverty Report Discussion

• Laura Serrano, chief demographer of the Department of Human Services, presented the 2026 poverty report. She said the official poverty measure undercounts hardship in San Antonio.
• About 250,000 San Antonio residents live below the federal poverty line. 32% of census tracts within the city have high poverty rates, and most have been persistently poor for three decades.
• San Antonio has the second-highest poverty rate among large Texas cities, after Houston. Dallas was cited as a city that measurably reduced poverty.
• The report used United Way's ALICE framework to show that many families earn above the official poverty line but still cannot cover basic needs. In Bexar County, a family with a young child was said to need about $54,000 to cover basic needs, far above official poverty thresholds.
• Housing costs were cited as a major driver: homebuying costs rose 24.5% from 2019 to 2024 while incomes grew only 0.4%. Half of renters pay more than 30% of income for housing, and one in four pays more than 50%.
• Poverty disproportionately affects children under five, older adults, single-mother families, women, Black residents, and people with no more than a high school diploma. The report noted that 87% of single-parent families are headed by single mothers, women earn about 81 cents for every dollar men earn, 23% of Black residents live in poverty, and 65% of people in poverty have no more than a high school diploma.
• DHS recommendations included strengthening coordination among programs, prioritizing services by vulnerability, using flexible funding, and applying a collective-impact approach to reduce poverty.

Financial Empowerment Center Presentation

• Department of Human Services staff presented the city's Financial Empowerment Center, a national model launched in New York City in 2008 under Mayor Bloomberg and expanded in 2013 to five cities, including San Antonio. The program now operates in 52 communities, with additional sites in Waco, Dallas, and Houston.
• The center provides confidential one-on-one financial counseling in four areas: building credit, reducing debt, accessing safe financial resources, and long-term planning. Counselors are certified, complete 24 hours of practical training, 30 hours of continuing education, and one hour of ethics training, and must pass an exam.
• Since 2013, the center has worked with more than 28,000 clients and helped reduce $45.9 million in debt. Recent 2026 figures included more than $767,000 in debt reduction.
• Planned 2027 outreach focuses on older adults, Head Start families, college students, and partnerships with other city departments and community organizations.
• Council members discussed expanding services to the east and south sides, working proactively with employers and credit unions, and helping residents avoid predatory financial products.

Key Outcomes

• The board unanimously approved the previous meeting's minutes.
• Council members requested that food insecurity and poverty data be brought to a city council "Session B" briefing and asked for ALICE data by council district or neighborhood.
• A council member said she and Councilmember Mesa González plan to partner with a nonprofit to measure the collective impact of city-funded programs and ensure tax dollars are used strategically.
• Officials agreed to explore closer coordination with housing, neighborhood services, and strategy departments on poverty and housing programs.
• The Financial Empowerment Center will continue expanding outreach to vulnerable populations and community partners.