History of ECHOS

Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services (ECHOS) mission is to serve people in need by providing access to the health and social service resources that can improve their lives.

Our vision is a community where all people can have access to resources needed to build healthy and productive lives.

In 2001, in response to the dramatic change in southwest Houston’s demographics the parishioners of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany established Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services (ECHOS). To this day, ECHOS remains a ministry of the church and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

ECHOS became a non-profit corporation in 2001. The doors opened to provide health and social services to the growing population of immigrants and refugees living in the area surrounding the Church.

Need for Our Services

Since 2001, families have been coming to ECHOS to access healthcare and social services.

ECHOS helps families access health care services and benefits coverage. ECHOS’ families encounter similar challenges. These include:

• • unemployment,
  • incomes below poverty level,
  • lack of access to health care,
  • language barriers,
  • limited or no transportation,
  • educational deficits or illiteracy.

The average monthly family income of ECHOS clients is $1,335.

Numbers Served

During the first full year of activity, some 150 client households were reported to have visited the ECHOS campus for services. The primary service received was assistance in applying for State of Texas Medicaid programs and the Harris County Hospital District Gold Card (now Harris Health Systems Financial Assistance Program).

Since then, ECHOS has grown dramatically. In 2023, ECHOS served:

• 13,486 unduplicated individuals for application assistance, housing/utility assistance, and the food pantry
• almost 2,500 benefits applications were submitted, and
• more than 42,000 individuals (duplicated) were fed at our weekly food distributions

Partnerships

ECHOS welcomes other agencies or healthcare providers that provide direct services for the clients that we serve, or who seek to research health care issues in a medically and socially vulnerable community.

Mobile healthcare partners include:

• Texas Children’s Hospital
• The Rose

We work closely with Baylor College of Medicine, Alliance of Community Assistance Ministries (ACAM), Houston Immigration Services Legal Collaborative (HILSC) and others. We partner with 35-plus agencies and non-profit organizations from the Houston area and across the state.

Services

Other forms of assistance such as domestic violence support and healthcare partnerships occur frequently. Medicaid, Harris Health FAP (Gold Card) and SNAP application assistance and follow-up remain our core service, in addition to Financial Stability, Case Management and Food-only gift cards.

Some of ECHOS’ financial services are zip code restricted (77036, 77074, 77081, 77035, 77071, 77099, 77031, 77072, 77096). If you do not live in one of these zip codes, please contact 2-1-1 for assistance.

All ECHOS services are provided free of charge and without restrictions to all who come through the doors of ECHOS, regardless of age, ethnicity, language is spoken, documentation status, or sexual orientation.