Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia will deliver the keynote address, “The Harris County Jail: The Largest Mental Health Provider in Texas” at 9 a.m., Friday (March 2) at the University of Houston (UH), Rockwell Pavilion, M.D. Anderson Library. Media are welcome to attend the keynote address. A question-and-answer period will follow.
The keynote is part of the 12th Annual Greater Houston Area Social Work Awards Breakfast hosted by the UH Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW). The annual event honors the best and the brightest in the profession and celebrates social workers in the greater Houston area.
“People are very surprised to learn that the Harris County Jail is the largest mental health facility in the state of Texas,” UH GCSW Dean Ira Colby said. “The Harris County Sheriff’s Office and the city of Houston Police Department both recognize that diverting individuals with mental health issues to appropriate agencies serves the city and the county. Those of us in Houston and Harris county are very fortunate to have the leadership in place who recognize the importance of the role that mental health intervention plays in our neighborhood policing efforts.”
Garcia heads the largest sheriff’s office in Texas and the third largest in the United States. He is a native Houstonian and became an officer with the Houston Police Department in 1980. Garcia oversees an operating budget of approximately $420 million and a workforce of about 4,000 law enforcement and civilian employees.
Garcia has developed numerous community outreach and partnership initiatives in Harris County, as well as programs to reduce repeated and habitual relapse into crime within the inmate population.
WHAT |
12th Annual Greater Houston Area Social Work Awards Breakfast Sheriff Adrian Garcia Keynote Address, “The Harris County Jail: The Largest Mental Health Provider in Texas” |
WHEN: |
9 – 9:45 a.m., Friday, March 2. |
WHO: |
Media are invited to attend keynote address from 9 – 9:45 a.m. There will be a question-and-answer period.Sheriff Garcia will be available to the media after the keynote address. |
WHERE: |
Rockwell Pavilion, M.D. Anderson Library, University of Houston http://www.uh.edu/campus_map/buildings/L.phpOff Calhoun Road, Entrance 1 – parking in UH Welcome Center Garage |
For more information or to register for the 12th Annual Greater Houston Area Social Work Awards Breakfast, please visit http://www.uh.edu/socialwork/news/events/02142012-sw-awards-breakfast/index.php
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About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation’s best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation’s fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 38,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country. For more information, please visit http://www.uh.edu/
About the UH Graduate College of Social Work
The UH Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW) is a nationally recognized program, ranked 36 by U.S. News & World Report, educating professionals for social work practice, research and leadership. Offering MSW and PhD degrees, the GCSW is the only social work program in the world to have a Nobel laureate on its faculty. The GCSW advocates for innovative, collaborative, inclusive and humane policies and solutions that promote social, economic and political justice. A commitment to critical thinking that links rigorous scientific inquiry, ethical social work practice and community engagement generates new knowledge to the field of social work and many other disciplines. For more information, please visit http://www.sw.uh.edu/main/home.php