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Overview
Over the last decade, the Colonias
Development Council has become increasingly involved in
community-based economic development efforts. These have
fallen into two general categories: 1) Creation of community
enterprises that employ residents and provide professional
development opportunities as well as a needed service or product
to the area; and 2) A Promotora (community-based outreach)
approach to microenterprise, financial literacy, and food
security opportunities.
Under the first category, projects include
- The Columbus Child Development
Center- helping the staff build capacity and improve their early childhood
education program. Although the Center has always struggled with the
challenges of achieving financial viability in a very small rural community,
the Center has provided staff with ample professional development
opportunities while offering quality, family-style care to young children.
- The Chaparral Family Development Center,
which is modeled on the Columbus project. The 20 active members
inaugurated their Center on August 25, 2007. The Center has opened a
child care program with 30 spaces for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years.
In addition, HELP NM is using one classroom to offer Head Start and Pre-K
services. Other members of the Center are using the facility to make
and sell homemade items.
- The Compressed Earth Block
(Adobe) Project, which is
a project to produce a quality building material for public use in housing
and fencing, and for affordable housing development efforts. Currently
blocks are available for sale at $1.10 block, with an extra fee for
transportation. Blocks measure 10" X 14" X 4" and are made with
approximately 3%
Portland cement for stability.
- The Anthony Duplex Project: CDC is working to build a
model compressed earth block structure, using techniques that could be
replicated by land owners to build their own home. The structure will
have two small apartments.
Under the second category:
- CDC was awarded funding in March 2007 from the
Association for Enterprise
Opportunity (AEO) under the New Models for Rural Microenterprise
Development Initiative. This funding will allow CDC to create a
Microenterprise Outreach Coordinator, or Promotor/a to identify small
entrepreneurs in the Anthony/Chaparral areas, assess their needs and
interests, match them to existing technical resources, and provide training
and technical assistance as needed. This project will be carried out
in partnership with the Anthony
Berino Economic Development Corporation.
- Financial literacy education, including workshops on energy efficiency, consumerism
and media literacy. Through collaboration with the University of Texas at
El Paso and the El Paso Collaborative, CDC is able to offer colonia
residents access to a small loan program for purchase of new energy
efficient appliances. This program will continue to be active until
March 2007.
The black and white drawings used on some of
our pages and reports are by
Rini Templeton. "For
20 years an extraordinary artist-activist named Rini Templeton
drew struggles of grassroots people in the United States, Mexico
and Central America. She made thousands of drawings, didn't sign
them and gave them away freely, so her name remains unknown
while her work is widely known, used and loved". |
