🏅 178 Hometown Heroes Since 1999, and Nominations Are Open Again

🏛️ Montgomery County’s $537.3M Budget Goes Under the Microscope Tuesday

🎨 Sixty Juried Artists and Designers Land at the Waterway Marriott

🏗️ A Woodlands Company Is Building More Than 1,300 Homes Across Texas

🌤️ Partly cloudy with patchy fog and isolated storms · 96°F / 77°F

Humidity to 94%, wind to 10 mph

Watch for patchy fog early, then it turns hot and sticky by afternoon.

Source: Vaisala Xweather

The best HR advice comes from people who’ve been in the trenches.

That’s what this newsletter delivers.

I Hate it Here is your insider’s guide to surviving and thriving in HR, from someone who’s been there. It’s not about theory or buzzwords — it’s about practical, real-world advice for navigating everything from tricky managers to messy policies.

Every newsletter is written by Hebba Youssef — a Chief People Officer who’s seen it all and is here to share what actually works (and what doesn’t). We’re talking real talk, real strategies, and real support — all with a side of humor to keep you sane.

Because HR shouldn’t feel like a thankless job. And you shouldn’t feel alone in it.

Sign Up Free

Interfaith of The Woodlands has opened nominations for the next slate of Hometown Heroes, the recognition the nonprofit hands out each year at its Celebration of Excellence gala. The 2027 gala is set for next February, and the selectees will be announced in early November.

The award goes back to 1999, when the first Hometown Heroes were recognized as part of The Woodlands 25th anniversary celebration. Since then, 178 individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations have received it.

Nominators are asked to think it through carefully. Is the person a positive role model. Do they have a history of volunteerism. Have they given up personal gain to reach a worthy goal. Do they bring positive recognition to The Woodlands, and do they carry the values the community holds around family, education, the arts and culture, and environmental consciousness. Nominees should also have earned previous recognition for their contributions, shown consistent dedication to worthy causes, be representative of the diversity within the community, and maintained a dedication to public service.

Nominations are reviewed independently by a committee made up of previously awarded Hometown Heroes. The window closes Friday, September 4, 2026 at 12:00 p.m., and the nomination form is at woodlandsinterfaith.org.

Why it matters: that list of 178 grew one nomination at a time, and the next name on it is somebody a neighbor decided to write down.

Source/Credits: Woodlands Online

Commissioners got their first look Aug. 6 at a roughly $537.3 million preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026-27, and the workshops that decide what survives in it begin Tuesday at 9 a.m. Filed July 27, the proposal totals $537,298,232, about $29.2 million above the $508.1 million budget adopted for FY 2025-26.

Budget Officer Amanda Carter said the proposal was built around the county’s current tax rate of $0.3770 per $100 valuation and carries about $6.28 million in unallocated funding commissioners can direct during the workshops. They can leave it untouched and come in below the current rate, use part of it and still stay below, or allocate all of it and land at the rate. Spending past that would require cuts elsewhere or a higher rate. The county’s proposed 2026 tax rate has not been set.

Priorities include employee step increases, continued funding for the detention officer pay program, higher employee health insurance costs, and startup expenses for the new 523rd District Court. Departments requested 103 new positions totaling about $12.8 million, though Carter stressed those requests are not necessarily in the preliminary budget. Law enforcement and corrections account for 44.8% of proposed expenditures.

Workshops run at the Alan B. Sadler Commissioners Court Building at 501 N. Thompson St. in Conroe, continuing as necessary each day through Aug. 14. There is no set daily end time on the agenda, and every workshop day includes an opportunity for public comment.

Why it matters: the 2026 tax rate is on the agenda for those same four days, and so is a chance for anyone to speak.

Source/Credits: Community Impact

Tickets are on sale for The Woodlands Fine Craft, Art & Design Show, running September 26 and 27 at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel. The curated indoor show brings 60 juried artists and designers from across the country into the Town Center North Exhibit Hall at 1601 Lake Robbins Drive.

The work falls into three categories: jewelry and wearable design, art and sculpture, and fine craft and home décor. The complete artist lineup is already posted on The Woodlands Arts Council site. Around the booths there is live music, scheduled booth talks, and specialty vendors, with the artists on hand to talk about their own work.

Two ticket offers are worth knowing about. Buy online by Friday, September 25 and you are automatically entered to win a $250 art credit to spend on work from participating artists during the show. The First Look Experience Bestie Bundle gets you in at 9 a.m. Saturday ahead of the crowd, with complimentary prosecco, coffee and pastries, two weekend admission passes, and two commemorative tote bags. Quantities are limited.

Doors are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 27.

Why it matters: sixty juried artists and designers under one roof means the filtering is already done before anyone walks in.

Source/Credits: Woodlands Online

Signorelli, the real estate development company headquartered in The Woodlands, is accelerating the statewide expansion of its homebuilding division, First America Homes, with 14 new communities and new regional offices in North Texas and Austin. The Aug. 6 announcement targets the Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio regions.

The expansion is expected to deliver more than 1,300 single-family homes, with more communities still in planning. First America Homes currently ranks 75th on the Builder 100 list of top-selling homebuilders.

The map breaks down like this. In the Houston region, the Azalea District at Valley Ranch in northeast Montgomery County, the final single-family neighborhood inside that 1,400-acre mixed-use development, will feature 359 homes with pricing starting in the $300s. Leonard Trails in Anna adds 81 homes, also starting in the $300s. Three more communities are planned in Lockhart, Manor and Kyle. Around San Antonio, nine new communities across Bexar County and surrounding areas will nearly double a portfolio that currently holds 12 active communities.

Danny Signorelli, founder and CEO, tied the push to sustained population growth and what he described as strong market fundamentals across the state. The company has been developing in Texas since 1994.

Why it matters: the company drawing up subdivisions in Anna and Kyle runs the whole operation out of an office here.

Source/Credits: GlobeNewswire

🎓 Registration Is Open for the Children’s Museum Fall Workshops: The Woodlands Children’s Museum is enrolling ages 2 to 9 for a series running August 31 through November 20, adding ballet classes through a new partnership with On Pointe Academy, founded by Woodlands native and former Houston Ballet dancer Madison Morris. Read more in Woodlands Online

🎨 The Wildflower Festival Art Contest Opens August 17: The Woodlands Township accepts entries from August 17 through September 18 for the 38th annual contest, where the winning adult piece becomes the festival’s official poster and the top children’s entry gets printed on the recycled tote bag handed out at Rob Fleming Park on October 17. Read more in Woodlands Online

🤝 Shootout Hunger Comes Back to Blackwood on September 18: Registration is open for the Montgomery County Food Bank’s 72-target sporting clays tournament, where teams of four shoot the course together and every dollar goes toward feeding a county in which more than 120,000 neighbors are food insecure. Read more in Woodlands Online

🗓️ Precision Camera’s Fujifilm X Series Beginner’s Class | Precision Camera | More info

🗓️ Google Docs Class | George & Cynthia Mitchell Library | 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. | Free | More info

🗓️ Meet an Opera Singer with a Houston Grand Opera Teaching Artist | The Woodlands Children’s Museum | 11:00 a.m. | $10 admission | More info

🗓️ Teen: SAT Bootcamp | George & Cynthia Mitchell Library | 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. | Free | More info

🗓️ Girls Night Out Karaoke | The Blue Lion Pub | 7:00 - 11:00 p.m. | More info

🗓️ Train, with Barenaked Ladies and Matt Nathanson | The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion | More info

🗓️ Summer Sillies Circus | The Woodlands Children’s Museum | 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | $10 admission | More info

🗓️ How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Owen Theatre, Conroe | 7:30 p.m. | More info

🗓️ Back-to-School Party | Ale & Ivy | More info

🗓️ The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce 2026 Chairman’s Ball | The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center | More info

🗓️ Two Tones Dueling Piano Bar Family-Friendly Sing-Along Show | More info

Note: Dates and times are as announced online. Organizers may make changes. Always confirm before heading out.

Got an event coming up? Reply to this email with the details (what, when, where) and we'll get it in front of thousands of your neighbors, 100% free.
(Restrictions Apply)

In 1993 the Texas Legislature created the Town Center Improvement District, a local government built specifically for The Woodlands to handle public safety, economic development and capital projects downtown. The state wrote a government for a place that was still mostly trees.

“He’s a corn-fed boy.” Translation: big and sturdy, and clearly nobody skipped a meal raising him.

Nobody ever decides on a favorite mug. It just quietly wins over a period of years.

Why do bees have sticky hair? Because they use a honeycomb.