Catching the eye of the community, in March of 2013, Ms. Rania Mankarious was chosen to lead Houston’s leading public safety nonprofit organization, Crime Stoppers of Houston. In her three years at the helm, Mankarious has brought the organization to new heights, making changes that have positively impacted abused children, domestic violence victims, human trafficking victims, homeless animals, entire student bodies, and school campuses, neighborhoods, businesses, and more. Her incredible vision led her to be named one of Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women in 2013.
Mankarious received a Bachelor degree in Psychology, Theology, and Pre-Medicine from Boston College, a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Gordon Conwell, and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence completed at the University of Houston Law Center. Her work led her to projects in Boston, New York and ultimately, her home of Houston, Texas.
Upon arriving in Houston, Mankarious was quickly welcomed at KHOU Channel 11 as a legal analyst and family matters expert for Great Day Houston and KHOU morning news. Her role as an on-air expert grew and she began contributing to KTRK, KPRC, FOX26, and most other main stream Houston media outlets.
Under Mankarious’ leadership, Crime Stoppers has organized some of Houston’s most sweeping public safety and crime fighting efforts doing many things including launching law enforcement “fugitive sweeps” – programs where teams of law enforcement go out and execute warrants against those wanted for crimes against children, family violence and/or animals.
Additionally, at the helm of Crime Stoppers, Mankarious has directed its resources to focus on the prevention of crime and the protection of our society’s most vulnerable citizens. New programs like the Fallen Hero Project focus on the protection of first responders killed or injured in the line of duty. It was this program that was recognized as being the reason the suspects wanted for the shooting of Officer Ann Carrizales in Stafford, Texas were found. The story, made national and international news as an example of the way the Houston community organized citizens, nonprofits, law enforcement and the media to protect law enforcement. Mothers Against Crime is also a creation of Mankarious. This program focuses on crimes against women in the community and involves a series of discussions that bring women and parents from all over the city together with industry experts to discuss crime topics and trends. Additionally, Mankarious has made the school safety a top priority by making sure the Crime Stoppers’ Safe School Program is offered free, to all students pre-k – 12th grade and in all schools. She further extended this program offering classes to parents, teachers and school based law enforcement. Recognizing that school time is valuable, she worked with her Safe School Manager to rewrite the program curriculum so that it would satisfy state mandates for public schools and thereby further encouraging schools to sign up. To date, this program has solved 2,000 criminal school cases and removed almost 200 weapons found on school campuses before they could be used against students.
Mankarious is a wife and mother of three. She loves her family and her city. She is a firm believer that one must invest positively in their surroundings in a pro-active manner.
Rania Mankarious, MA, JD
Executive Director
Crime Stoppers of Houston
3001 Main Street
Houston, TX 77002
713-521-4600
www.crime-stoppers.org
