Neighborhoods→Fifth Ward

Neighborhood Compass

FIFTHWARD

A historic African American neighborhood with deep roots in Houston's music and culture.

Neighbors

46,447

Seats

ZIP codes

Districts

29.78°N · 95.33°W

★ Real boundary

Community Asset Atlas · pilot

Fifth Ward — mapped assets & connections

69/100 cohesion · developing102 assets in view111 relationships14% resident-mapped417 live Our Money entities citywideCity-wide atlas →Operator workspace →Live pathway →

Neighborhood cohesion · computed live from 102 assets · 109 ties

69/100developing

How connected is your neighborhood — whether help, trust, and referrals can actually travel from one place to another.

Browse by need

Show me

Advanced7/7 layers · 6/6 capitals

City lens · pathway

ABCD asset classes

Community capitals

Overlays

102 of 102 assets visible

Ask the atlas

What's near me — and who can help with what I need?

What this means for you

Strengthlive

4 levels of government touch Fifth Ward

6 elected offices represent these blocks — 2 at city hall alone — and 7 active policies and programs move money or rules here. Every one is a door: residents asking "who represents me," organizations seeking program dollars, and funders looking for public co-investment all start on this layer.

Gapcomputed

4 of the top 5 brokers are single points of failure

Houston Area Urban League workforce center, Julia C. Hester House, East River development hold the most shortest paths between assets — and 4 of them are cut vertices: remove one and part of Fifth Ward goes dark. Funding a second tie around each broker buys redundancy, not duplication.

Strengthfixture

14 assets only residents knew about

The barbershop roundtable, the walking club, the growers circle — 14 of 102 mapped assets came from residents, not databases. This is the layer institutional asset maps always miss, and it's where trust already lives.

Opportunitycomputed

39 assets are one introduction from the network

Young Men's College Preparatory Academy, McCrane-Kashmere Gardens Neighborhood Library, Wesley Community Center and 36 more hold 0–1 recorded ties (12 hold none at all). Connecting one is the cheapest cohesion gain available — this list is the outreach plan.

Gapcomputed

Introduce Houston City Council — District B and Kinder pedestrian bridge (planned)

No ties connect civic power and connection assets anywhere in Fifth Ward. These two are the best-connected candidates on each side — one working relationship here opens a whole class of referrals.

Gapcomputed

Introduce Houston City Council — District B and Senior storytellers circle

No ties connect civic power and individual assets anywhere in Fifth Ward. These two are the best-connected candidates on each side — one working relationship here opens a whole class of referrals.

Strengthcomputed

74% of ties cross asset classes — rare bridging strength

81 of 109 ties connect different kinds of assets (bridging capital), against 28 within-class bonds. The network's problem is quantity of ties, not kind — new ties of any sort raise cohesion.

Opportunityfixture

34 grassroots groups, 3 economic anchors

Fifth Ward runs on associations and resident circles, but few large employers or investors are wired into that energy. A business that sponsors here doesn't start a network — it plugs into one.

Strengthfixture

A live training → placement → employer pipeline

Phillis Wheatley High School and WorkTexas trade training center and HCC Northeast Campus and Texas Southern University and Fifth Ward solar workforce hub (Vulnerable to Vibrant) train, Houston Area Urban League workforce center places, and 4 employers hire — 9 working hand-offs already mapped. New employers can join a pipeline that's already moving.

Opportunitycomputed

12 civic voice assets aren't talking to each other

Phillis Wheatley High School, Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, Lyons Avenue barbershop roundtable all serve civic voice in Fifth Ward with no recorded relationship between them. One referral agreement turns parallel effort into a pathway.

Strengthfixture

16 funding relationships currently flow through the ward

Capital already moves along mapped channels — façade grants, small-business lending, trail investment. A new funder can co-invest along proven routes instead of building delivery from scratch.

Strengthlive

Making a Living: 417 live entities, 2067 graph connections

Citywide, the Making a Living ecosystem averages 5 connections per entity in the live knowledge graph — a network effect a funder inherits on day one.

Participatory layer

This map grows when neighbors add to it

The barbershop roundtable, the walking club, the lot that should be a garden — the assets institutions miss are the ones residents know best. ABCD mapping is co-produced: demo public assets already merge with the verified inventory, and every contribution makes Fifth Ward more visible to itself.

Who answers for this place

Your 26 seats.

26 offices answer for Fifth Ward — from the corner of your block to the floor of Congress. Hold them to it.

Houston City Hall

Tarsha Jackson

City Council District B

City Council At-Large Position 4

District B 09

Mario Castillo

City Council District H

District H

Harris County

Rodney Ellis

Commissioner, Precinct 1

Harris County Sheriff

Precinct 1 15

Annette Ramirez

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector

Precinct 1 16

Adrian Garcia

Commissioner, Precinct 2

Precinct 2

Texas Legislature

Christina Morales

Texas State Representative, District 145 — Democratic

District 145 18

Carol Alvarado

Texas State Senator, District 6 — Democratic

District 6 19

Penny Morales Shaw

Texas State Representative, District 148 — Democratic

District 148 20

Borris Miles

Texas State Senator, District 13 — Democratic

District 13 21

Ana Hernandez

Texas State Representative, District 143 — Democratic

District 143 22

Harold Dutton

Texas State Representative, District 142 — Democratic

District 142

U.S. Congress

Sylvia R. Garcia

U.S. Representative, Texas District 29 — Democratic

District 29 24

John Cornyn

U.S. Senator from Texas — Republican

District 29 25

Ted Cruz

U.S. Senator from Texas — Republican

District 29 26

Christian D. Menefee

U.S. Representative, Texas District 18 — Democratic

District 18

By the numbers

The numbers behind Fifth Ward.

Census facts, not vibes — what the data says about who lives here and what they carry.

$40,029

Median household income

U.S. Census ACS • 2022

39%

Face food insecurity

Houston Food Bank / Feeding America • 2024

30%

Live below poverty line

U.S. Census ACS • 2022

46%

Own their home

U.S. Census ACS • 2022

$882

Median monthly rent

U.S. Census ACS • 2022

Major floods since 2015

Harris County Flood Control • 2024

Who lives here — 46,447 neighbors

27,247

16,465

7,256

Hispanic / LatinoBlack / African AmericanWhiteAsian

U.S. Census ACS • 2022

Renter-occupied households53.8%

Households without internet23.2%

Households without a vehicle16%

Without health insurance5.1%

What's here for you

Resources, run by neighbors

Mutual aid, services, and programs rooted here — not a hotline in another city.

01Peer Support Groups – the Montrose CenterserviceMontrosecenter 02Houston Habitat's Home Repair Services for SeniorsserviceHouston Habitat for Humanity 03Tom Bass Community Center - Senior Programs and ActivitiesserviceHcp1 04Harris County Commissioner Precinct 4 > Explore > Day TripsserviceCp4 05713-970-7000serviceTheharriscenter 06After the StormserviceCp4 07Aging and Disability Resource CenterserviceHoustonhealth 08Admissions | Celebration CompanyserviceAlexanderjfs 09Youth Diversion & DevelopmentserviceHcjpd 10MHA of Greater HoustonserviceMental Health America 11TSU HCDPR – Advancing Health Disparities & Policy ResearchprogramTexas Southern University 12Mentor2.0 - Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone StarprogramBig Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star

Where it sits

Fifth Ward & its neighbors

Real boundaries — city GIS data

7702077011770097700377026

Next door

Denver Harbor / Port Houston

25,715 neighbors

Need help right now?

211

Services

Food, rent, utilities

Potholes, trash, trees

911

Emergency

Police, fire, ambulance

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