Texas Restaurant Foundation Aims to Educate on Vaccines with Grant Funding

The Texas Restaurant Foundation (TRF) recently accepted three grants totaling more than $394,000 from the Texas Vaccine Outreach and Education Program. The program was launched by the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas A&M University Health Science Center to increase the number of people in Texas who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliate of the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA) with a diverse set of community leaders across the state, the TRF is well-positioned to share scientific information and resources with Texans who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine.

“Restaurants anchor communities, with their owners and operators serving as a trusted voice to audiences who are too often left out of public health discussions,” said Dr. Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the TRF and the TRA. “We’re excited to partner with the state of Texas through this grant program to reach these audiences with authentic community-driven events and communications so that we can help more Texans get vaccinated and finally put this pandemic behind us.”

Using a hub-and-spoke model, the TRF will target its efforts in three counties: Lubbock, Midland and Van Zandt. Within these counties, the TRF will host six community support and vaccine drives in the next nine months. The TRF will also use grant funds to produce targeted multilingual marketing materials and community conversation podcasts.

“This grant funding will help us bring communities together for important conversations like the best science-based practices we can use to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said Dave Hester, director of the TRF. “Restaurants have always been a setting for important conversations, and we’re ready to partner with other community leaders to ensure the Texas Vaccine Outreach and Education Program is a great success.”