The challenge of substandard colonias are not unique to the border or even our era, but are actually an age…
Tag: Colonias
Podcast Episode 14: El Sonido del Agua Part I
Season 2 of our podcast is live, and it starts with a deep dive into a multi-year drainage campaign in…
Colonia leaders debut advocacy tutorial video to expand access to public street lighting
For more than a decade, colonia leaders, organizers and Texas Housers have been pushing Hidalgo County to target program funds…
Integration Now: How inclusive communities promote options and opportunity
In episode 2, Demetria McCain of the Inclusive Communities Project talks about integration and people's right to choose where to…
Surprise rain brings expected flooding to Hidalgo County. It’s time drainage and county officials commit to solutions.
(Photo shows flooded yard in La Mesa colonia) Many Rio Grande Valley residents woke up with floodwater filling their homes…
Texas Housers in South Africa: A global conversation on eviction and displacement
Photo: An informal housing settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg, which looks similar to the informal housing settlements or colonias along…
Fair housing assessment in Rio Grande Valley offers chance for residents to fight segregated conditions
Discrimination is not always obvious in the Rio Grande Valley. But now Hidalgo County residents have a chance to weigh in on…
Governor’s cut of colonia oversight program will cost state and endanger residents
This piece originally ran as a column in The Monitor on June 25. For decades the State of Texas looked the…
One hundred years of poison: Why toxic fish still threaten Rio Grande Valley residents
This article originally ran on Neta, a bilingual multimedia platform based in the Rio Grande Valley where I am a…
Rollback of colonia regulations at issue in two bills on border land sales
As the Texas Legislature swings into high gear, we’ll be covering committee hearings and votes on key bills related to housing.…
Sign the petition to demand an end to chronic flooding in Hidalgo County colonias
I have the privilege of working alongside community members and grassroots leaders with A Resource In Serving Equality (ARISE) and La Unión…
At long last, basic public services may be coming to some current and future South Texas colonias
This opinion column originally appeared in the Rio Grande Guardian on March 1, co-authored by IMartha Sanchez of LUPE and Texas…
Video: Texas Housers board member Dr. Shannon Van Zandt on colonia social vulnerability and disaster recovery
Our board member Dr. Shannon Van Zandt, a professor and interim head of Texas A&M University’s Landscape Architecture and Urban…
Grassroots leaders train to stop flooding in border colonias
The Land Use Colonia Housing Action (LUCHA) initiative has made some big strides in the past year. At Texas Housers…
Colonia residents launch drainage campaign in Hidalgo County
Colonia leaders organized with La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) and A Resource In Serving Equality (ARISE), and proudly supported…
Video: 10 ways to invest in the forgotten America and rebuild rural communities post-election
I gave this speech at the Housing Assistance Council Rural Housing Conference in Washington, D.C. on November 30. Watch the full…
After first local Zika transmission, state and local officials must act to protect Rio Grande Valley
The first local transmission of the Zika virus in the state of Texas, and just the second in the country,…
Lack of drainage in Rio Grande Valley colonias creates breeding ground for Zika virus
This piece originally ran as a column in the McAllen newspaper, The Monitor, on September 12, 2016. Pictured above: Lot flooding after a regular…
First-ever colonia disaster recovery conference prepares residents for emergencies
Natural disasters hit low income households the hardest, especially in the colonias of the Rio Grande Valley. Learning to prepare…
EPA summit a chance to highlight environmental injustices in colonias
Environmental problems predominantly affect low income communities of color, especially in Texas. There is a growing movement of community collaboration,…
Hands-on training for colonia leaders emphasizes role of government in solving problems
Cris Rocha, a community organizer with La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), welcomed the group and Norma Aldape, a LUPE member and…
Video: Community discussion on history of inequality and injustice in the Rio Grande Valley
Inequality is stark in the Rio Grande Valley, but for many, its causes remain hidden. In order to overcome the consequences…
A call to confront segregation in colonias: Addressing development and civil rights
[The following remarks were delivered on June 22, 2016 at a conference, Southwest Border Colonias: Housing and Sustainable Development in…
State to hold public hearing on colonia environmental injustice thanks to youth leaders
Youth activists in the Rio Grande Valley have already won increased resources and attention to address the odor nuisance caused…
Years of organizing lead to vital stormwater drainage project for Rio Grande Valley colonias
Inequality is most starkly manifested in the differences between rich and poor neighborhoods. And nowhere is inequality greater than in the…
Colonia youth take charge to protect neighbors from contamination
As discussed in our staff conversation last week, there has been a shameful lack of government oversight around the toxic contamination of…
Listen: Shining a light on environmental injustice in the colonias
TxLIHIS staff members work on a wide range of issues across the state. To highlight some of that work, I’ll…
Street light installation finally begins as colonia residents celebrate victory
Above: Residents of Colonia Goolie Meadows enjoy the illumination provided by their new street lights. Last week marked another milestone in…
Colonia organizations win groundbreaking street lighting victory in Hidalgo County
On November 10, Hidalgo County Commissioners unanimously approved a plan to begin bringing street lights into the colonias. Our partners at…
South Texas colonia conditions mean possible repeat of Katrina level disaster
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Rio Grande Valley in southeast Texas is exactly the kind of…