(AUSTIN) — The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (“TDHCA”) today announced it has awarded an additional $700,000 to Starr County to continue funding operations of its Colonia Self-Help Center, a local resource promoting homeownership and self-sufficiency for residents in five local colonias.

The contract will provide a wide range of technical and consumer assistance to an estimated 1,746 residents living in the following colonias: Mesquite #1, Treviño’s, Share 52, Venencia, and Victoria.

The Starr County Colonia Self-Help Center, one of seven along the Texas-Mexico border, supports the efforts of local colonia residents to improve their own living standards while making the most of limited housing funds.

“The Department’s Self-Help Centers provide residents the skills and tools to improve their homes and communities through collaborative effort,” said TDHCA Executive Director Tim Irvine in announcing the contract. “Our state has a long history of working to better ourselves while offering a hand up to our neighbors in need. Together with Starr County, we look forward to continuing that tradition.”

County officials anticipate the funding will help rehab 18 homes through self-help activities, operate the Center’s tool library and computer lab, offer 15 computer technology classes, and provide 15 training classes on construction skills in the targeted colonias.

The Colonia Self-Help Centers Program is funded by the federal Community Development Block Grant (“CDBG”) Program through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Texas Department of Agriculture, which receives the state’s CDBG allocation from the federal government, and TDHCA.  

For more information, please contact the Center directly at (956) 488-2395.