Our Work

Driven by the guiding principles of equity, fairness, and justice, the Office of Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis serves the overall needs and interests of our community.

By developing and enacting public policy priorities, acting upon those policies with initiatives that help meet goals and objectives and making community investments, we work to increase the quality of life for Harris County residents.

Through the meticulous and purposeful work of our policy team, the best public policy throughout the nation is researched, studied, and modified to fit the unique needs of Harris County residents. Once complete, those public policies are then recommended to Commissioner Ellis for review and, if in agreement, discussed and possibly voted on at Commissioners Court.

Our overarching public policy categories:

• Affordable Housing
• Community Health
• Criminal Legal System & Public Safety
• Economic Equity
• Environment & Climate Action
• Infrastructure Planning and Investment
• Transportation
• Voting

Reflective on our priorities, the Office of Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis’s initiatives respond to the needs of our community and meet individuals where they are. Whether we are addressing community health by securing access to food, by creating a county department to address economic inequity, or by ensuring fair, free, and safe elections, our initiatives strive to incorporate equity, fairness, and justice into the equation.

Our current initiatives:

• Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Providing access to food insecurity with Healthy Eating programs
• Encouraging Hurricane Preparedness
• Honoring those who fought for justice with our Moving Monuments public art
• Creating an MWBE program to combat economic inequity
• Recognizing the impact that structural and institutionalized racism has had on communities of color with the Racism is a Public Health Crisis campaign
• Facing a history of racial terror with The Remembrance Project
• Offering alternative transportation to under-served communities with the RideONE Bike Initiative
• Designing streets, sidewalks, and roadways to make them safer with Vision Zero

Improvements in our community must incorporate the same principles as the policies that are enacted. Everyone should have access to safe, affordable, and convenient transportation options. However, years of neglect from previous leadership have left many of our vulnerable residents lacking safe and accessible transportation options. Often these unsafe, hazardous conditions can be a barrier to success for those in vulnerable communities. Providing a robust transportation network is a core function of government that can provide a pathway to greater economic opportunity for everyone. Transportation networks should unite, rather than divide, communities and connect people of all ages and abilities to opportunities that help them lead healthy, prosperous, and fulfilling lives. Developed with partners at the Harris County Engineering Department and other local experts, our transportation plan shapes how we plan, design, construct, and maintain our Capital Improvement Projects.

Our current improvement areas:

• Bikeways
• Parks
• Sidewalks
• Streets
• Trails