For 45 years, the Boys and Girls Country has served at-risk children in the Greater Houston area by providing a nurturing home and raising them to be self-sustaining adults.
Located on 217 acres in Hockley, the organization was established in 1971 by Tom Robinson with an initial donation of 10 acres. It now features 11 cottages that can house eight children each, boys and girls ages 5 and older, Executive Director Lou Palma said.
Palma said the organization’s goal to instill independence in the children is what distinguishes it from other similar groups.
“We make sure everything we do is about relationships, so they trust us and know what we are doing is in their best interest,” he said. “Just like
a parent would do.”
Children live in the cottages with a married couple, and each cottage family takes summer trips and attends a local church. The campus also includes several playgrounds, a working ranch and the Penny Loyd Student Life Center, which includes two gyms, an outdoor pool, a library and rooms for music lessons, art classes, acting classes and tutoring.
Palma said children are not sent to the property as a form of court-mandated punishment. Instead, they are placed by relatives, churches, schools and sometimes hospitals. There is an application process, and all placement information can be found online.
All of the children attend Waller ISD schools. While school is in session, mandatory study times and tutors are available each weeknight. Weekly TV time is limited as well, said 16-year-old Akai Jones, who has lived on the campus for a year and a half.
Jones describes himself as a “special case” because he was excited to move to the property. His mother sought to find a place that could help him with the trouble he was getting into in school.
“I knew anywhere was better than where I was,” he said.
Life on the campus has helped Jones stabilize his education and cope with emotional stress, and he attributes it to his attitude when entering the program. Jones said he also appreciates the advantages to living on the campus: from the weekend trips to financial support offered for high school graduates.
“Life is what you make it here,” he said. “You can have a good time here, or you can have a bad time.”
While many programs aimed at helping children cease services once the child turns 18, Boys and Girls Country offers a college and career program. It consists of a separate campus where young adults can stay between college or trade school semesters until they are ready to join the workforce, Palma said.
“If a kid is in an out-of-home placement, including foster care or being raised by someone who isn’t their relative, the outcomes for those kids are very, very poor,” he said. “They are more likely to go to jail than ever complete college. I think part of the problem is that when a kid turns 18 or finishes their high school [diploma], people shake their hand and say goodbye. I think we know at 18, no one is an adult and ready to handle those challenges.”
