Things are “on the grow” again at Houston Community College’s Katy campus.

On March 19 college officials, joined by city and county officials and other local dignitaries, held a ribbon cutting ceremony to formally dedicate the Nancy Dillon Itz Greenhouse located behind the college’s main building at 22910 Colonial Parkway.

The greenhouse project is part of what HCC Northwest President Zachary Hodges said is the only urban agriculture program in Harris County.

Hodges said that HCC used to have a very successful agricultural program at the college’s old campus on Fry Road where FFA competitions were hosted and which had a greenhouse that supported the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo with plants for the exhibition area. That program was eventually “sunsetted,” he said, but now HCC has the opportunity to start over, and will once again be working with HLS&R.

In order to restart the program, Hodges said that HCC had to figure out how to fund it – and David Itz and the Itz family stepped forward with the naming rights for the program, naming the program after the family patriarch, Warren Bernard Itz. Then Hodges said that they needed a greenhouse, so that students would have the tools that they needed for horticulture and other programs. David Itz and family also funded that structure, with state-of-the-art technology “that includes everything,” Hodges said. The greenhouse is named for David Itz’s mother, Nancy Dillon Itz, who passed away in 2007. David Itz is the chair of the HCC Foundation.

Hodges said that HCC had also received two grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture worth over $1.5 million. One grant is for workforce development and the other is for a transfer program.

HCC’s new agricultural program is centered around three components, Hodges said. The first is workforce development, offering certifications that created access for people working in the field to get statewide certification in many areas, as well as “to plant the right plants in the right way, put the right pesticides down and respect the water issues and to contribute to the ecology of Harris County as well,” he said. The second is a transfer program which HCC has with Sam Houston State University. HCC has an academy for ag majors, where classes for the first two years are taught at HCC by professors for SHSU. Students can start here, live at home and have lower tuition, and then transfer to SHSU, Hodges said. The third component is the community aspect, Hodges said, with a student club, partnerships with area master gardeners and many other partners working inside and outside the greenhouse.

David Itz listed future projects to be developed at the campus, including outside garden plots, rainwater collection, water conservation, a pollinator garden, installation of native grasses, a hydroponic garden, vegetable gardens and potentially a farmers market, among others.


“We are officially launched,” Hodges said just before the ribbon was cut in an official ceremony. “So stay tuned and be amazed as this program develops. It’s going to be a signature program for the college, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.”