Members of the Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice network.
PHARR — A full account of people living in South Texas by the U.S. Census 2010 will be so important because it would make possible for this region to attract more federal resources for health care, education, housing and other services in the area, according to members of La Union del Pueblo Entero, ARISE, Proyecto Azteca and other grass-root organizations active in the Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network.
In a meeting last Saturday, organizers and members discussed the main themes in their agenda in terms of immigration, health care, education, and economy. They also talked about the way a right account of people living here can Deep South Texas by bringing a part of the $300 billion dollars that the federal government distribute to the different regions and counties based in demographic factors.
According to Aaron Peña, a Rio Grande Valley state representative, the region might lose more than 1 billion dollars over the next 10 years if people are not fully accounted.
Lourdes Flores, ARISE’s organizer, said that a quality education is so important in the Valley. “We want our children to complete college, but with the right capacities.” Flores said that then main goal is to reduce the drop-outs and they need to involve the school districts and the parents in this endeavor. “We can’t do it by ourselves; we need your involvement, your support, your desire to be part of something bigger.”
The meeting was to evaluate the work of close to 10 months working in the main items of the social agenda in the Rio Grande Valley. In a meeting sponsored by the coalition Voces del Pueblo, celebrated in March 2009, the people answered the main question: “If you were in front of president Barack Obama, what would you tell him?” After the discussion, people said that jobs, the economy, education, access to health care services and an immigration reform were the main topics of their social agenda.
Each of every organization participating in the Voces del Pueblo’s coalition accepted to work in a specific topic of the agenda and the last Saturday’s meeting was to inform the public about what has been reached over the last 10 months. Among other accomplishments, it was informed that the local organizations were able to attract $7 million dollars to build a community health center, to involve the county Indigent’s Department. In addition to that, the coalition has the plan to build an independent center to protect labor rights and to train workers.
Armando Garza, from Proyecto Azteca, told the audience that the coalition was able to attract one billion dollars for affordable housing in the Rio Grande Valley. He said Proyecto Azteca was trying to get electrical power and water services to colonia South Tower in Alamo. Garza also said that the U.S. Census 2010 and a full account of all the people living in the Rio Grande Valley can bring additional resources to the region in order to build more affordable homes for low income families.
Martha Sánchez, LUPE organizer’s coordinator, said that pro-immigrant organizations in the U.S. were able to support the filing of a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill last year. She said the local organizations decided to be part of Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance (RITA) and Reform Immigration for America (RIFA) to have a state and national impact.
RITA is planning to have an immigration convention in Austin, Texas.
More than 200 active members participated in the meeting.
