The Center for Housing and Urban Development’s mission to improve the lives of colonias residents was highlighted in a recent story in the Battalion. The center and it’s Colonias Program are part of Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture.
“We’ve been out in the colonias for 15 years,” Oscar Muñoz, deputy director of CHUD, told The Battalion in the Feb. 26 story. "What we're trying to do is to help them connect with the system, to help them learn how the system works. We help with education, with health, with human services, job training, nutrition for elderly and youth and with housing."
Colonias are impoverished, unincorporated and relatively undeveloped villages near population centers along the U.S. side of the U.S.- Mexico border. Many homes in colonias lack basic necessities such as potable water, electricity and sewer systems.
Through the program, Muñsoz said, "A&M students have helped real people with real problems to get real solutions."
The Battalion story, “Forgotten Americans,” by Alexis Arguello, is available online at
http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/
news/2008/02/26/Aggielife/Forgotten.Americans-3233979.shtml
