BOARD OF COMISSIONERS2015

EDUARDO GONZALEZCHAIRMAN

ARMANDO BARRERAVICE-CHAIRMAN

JOE RODRIGUEZCOMMISSIONER

CRIS TORRESCOMMISSIONER

JUAN GUZMANRESIDENT COMMISSIONER

RODOLFO “RUDY” RAMIREZ

Executive Director

Main Office

Ciro TrevinoAdministration Building

910 S. Sugar Rd. Edinburg, Texas, 78539

Mon.—Thurs.8 a.m.—5:30 p.m.

Friday8 a.m.—12 p.m.

This month, the Edin-burg Housing Authority was featured in an exclu-sive radio interview on KCYP-LP 97.7 FM The City Thurs. April 9. According to Joe L.

Martinez, the station’s president, The City 97.7 FM is a nonprofit radio organization dedicated to promote local bands and encourage kids to get involved in the media arts

Live on 97.7 FM “The City”

ON THE RADIO - EHA gets exclusive live radio inter-view on 97.7 FM.

Photo Credit: Claudia Lemus

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SI SE PUEDE! – Housing students and staff went to listen to America Ferrera.

Photo Credit: Zeeshan Noor

As part of the educational initiatives at the Edinburg Housing Authority, agency staff took a group of 21 housing students to see Emmy Award-winning actress and activist Amer-ica Ferrera speak at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) on Monday, April 13, 2015. Ferrera was the last pre-senter of UTPA’s 11th Dis-tinguished Speaker series. During her speech, she shared her own personal struggles and the story of a DREAMer who made her realize the importance of an immigration reform. According to Gladys Sanchez, a 16-year-old housing resident, it was that particular story that affected her the most.“When she (Ferrera) spoke

of the high school student who had a bright and bril-liant future, but because of his legal status he could never reach his full poten-tial made me reflect on my life and how lucky I am,” Sanchez shared. The students who attended were all mem-bers of the agency’s Youth Leadership Association (YLA), a group that en-courages education and leadership to housing stu-dents through community service.

As a result, having attend-ed the event and listened to America Ferrera speak was life changing for many of the YLA members. According to the 16-year-old, the actress in-spired her to take action in her community and realize the importance of voting. “Before her speech I had my mind set in not getting involved in politics in any shape or form,” Sanchez said. “But she (Ferrera) made a good

Students inspired by actressAmerica Ferrera

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point. If we don’t vote, someone else will make the decisions for us.” The students were able to attend the event thanks to Edinburg Housing Authority’s (EHA) part-nership with UTPA and outreach conducted by staff member, Robert De Leon. De Leon who is also a graduate student in the UTPA Masters of Public Administration pro-gram said he realized the impact the event had on

the students as he helped drive them home. “The conversations they had amongst them-selves after the event…is a night I’ll never forget,” the graduate student said. “It was great to hear them discuss how they could relate to her story or simply how they too now believe that they are able, that they can and that they will succeed.” As a result, Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez, the EHA executive director, was

happy to see the students become inspired by the actress. “Taking our students was part of our efforts to show kids the value of leadership skills,” Ramirez said. “We want to en-courage them to continue their education and make them productive citizens of the community.”

During this month’s Resident Council meeting on April 16, EHA invited guest speaker attorney Oralia de Luna to help inform residents about immigration benefits and the status of President Barack Obama’s executive actions. Attorney de Luna who specializes in immigra-tion and nationality law

at De Luna Law Offices in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley, shared helpful information to residents and answered some of their most press-ing questions. For any residents interested in more im-migration information, she offered to help and can be contacted at 713-589-5269 or via email at

inquiry@delunafirm.com. After the meeting con-cluded, EHA staff, resi-dents and guests enjoyed another healthy lunch cooked by Chef Rafael Zuniga and his students. Having attended class

every Tuesday and Thurs-day from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Marilu Rios, Edith Reyes, Francisca Guzman, Maricruz Maldonado and Consuelo Sanchez were happy to prepare another dish for the group.

Immigration attorney speaks during Resident Council Meeting

ATTORNEY HELPS RESIDENTS - Attorney Oralia De Luna spoke to residents about immigration and offered to help them with questions. Pictured left to right: Attorney Oralia de Luna, Executive Director Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez, Supervi-sor Liz Hernandez.

HEALTHY LIVES - Chef Zuniga and his students Mari-lu Rios, Edith Reyes, Francisca Guzman, Rosa Zuniga and Consuelo Sanchez cooked another delicious meal for the meeting.

through interactive radio classes and on-air experi-ence. Thanks to President Martinez, Executive Director Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez and the Agency

Media Outreach Relations Coordinator Claudia Le-mus were interviewed by Joe Sanchez also known live as “Dr. J.” Through a series of questions, they were able to share the

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agency’s mission and its goals of emphasizing education. As a result, the execu-tive director is thankful for the opportunity to have shared some of EHA’s work live on the ra-dio with the community. “Thank you for allow-ing EHA to participate in this great interview,” said Ramirez. “It was a great experience. Mil gracias!” In addition to giving lo-

cal bands the opportunity to play their music on the radio, EHA learned that 97.7 FM offers incredible opportunities to students. According to President Martinez, the station of-fers free radio broadcast-ing classes at the McAllen Creative Incubator every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. He said that all chil-dren 10 to 17 years of age are welcomed to attend.

With this in mind, Mr. Ramirez plans to en-courage EHA students to participate in the class-es in the near future to help them become better leaders. “We are hoping to take our EHA Youth Lead-ership Association stu-dents to get interviewed,” Ramirez shared. “It will help them develop their leadership skills.”

THE CITY- 97.7 FM is a nonprofit radio station that plays local bands and offers opportunities for students to learn media arts.

MCCOY’S DONATIONS- McCoy’s Building Supply donat-ed dozens of tools to EHA that will be used to improve and maintain the community gardens.

As the fiscal year came to an end, the Edinburg Housing Authority issued PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) checks to the Edinburg Consolidated School District and the City of Edinburg. Because EHA is tax exempt, both checks in the amount of $23,382.92 were given to benefit the community.

GIVING TO EDUCATION- EHA was invited by ECISD to award the pilot check during a ceremony. Pictured left to right: Superintendent Dr. Rene Gutierrez, EHA Chairman Eduardo Gonzalez, Supervisor Liz Hernandez and Presi-dent Robert Peña, Jr.

Giving back to the community

ALL SMILES- Liz Hernan-dez, Victor Galvan and Eric Aranda finish loading the tools to be taken to EHA.

LOAD IT UP- Eric Aranda helped load and transport the tools back to EHA.

SAY CHEESE- Supervisor Liz Hernandez and Youth Leadership Association mem-bers excited for Ferrera.

Our agency received a generous donation of gardening tools from McCoy’s Building Supply thanks to the efforts of Commissioner Cris Tor-res and the store manager Victor Galvan on April 16, 2015. The donated tools—which included hoes, axes, shovels, and blow-ers— will be used to help improve and maintain the community gardens at the Lantana Apartments

and La Posada develop-ments.

Supervisors Liz Hernan-dez and Eric Aranda were able to help transport the donations from the store to the Edinburg Housing Authority. The agency feels grate-ful for the items donated and thanks McCoy’s Building Supply Compa-ny for its generous contri-bution to the community gardens.

McCoy’s Building Supply donates tools for community gardens

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TAX EXEMPT?

State law precludes municipalities from

collecting property tax on housing projects

owned by the federal government or by

local public housing authorities.

Our agency has creat-ed the Youth Leadership Association (YLA) to provide students with an opportunity to become involved in their commu-nity and learn important

leadership skills to help them be successful. Students who join YLA have the chance to learn from educational activ-ities like visiting UTPA and museums and earn

community service hours through volunteer events. EHA welcomes any housing students 13 to 19-years-old to join YLA. If you have a child that would like to be a

part of the Youth Leader-ship Association or learn more, he/she can contact Diego Oros at doros@edinburgha.org or call 956-383-3839.

Join YLA!

Due monthly by the 1st, but EHA gives you until the 5th to pay in full. There is a $15 late fee for late payments.

Rent deadline

Residents 18+ years old who are not em-ployed 30 hours or more a week, must comply with the 8 hour HUD’s community service

IIIIMPORTANT REMINDERS

Interested in finding out what’s happening at EHA or your development? Come find out at our next Res-ident Council Meeting. Meetings are led by the Exec-utive Director Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez and residents. Our next meeting will be:

Resident Council Meeting

May 21, 2015 @10 a.m at El Jardin(Snacks will be provided)

Contact your property managers for the complete schedule of days and locations of our next meetings.

Community service

With more than 65 years of service, the Edinburg Housing Authority takes pride in providing assistance to those who need it most in the Rio Grande Valley. As a result, throughout the years we have focused our agency’s efforts and resources to ensure struggling low-income families with an equal opportunity to obtain safe, decent and affordable pub-lic housing, and thus improve their quality of life. But even though we help hundreds of families in need, we realize that to truly help impov-erished residents rise out of poverty and better themselves our agency has to do much more than providing them with a place to live. As a result, in addition to providing housing for our residents we have now made it our mis-sion to promote self-sufficiency throughout the agency and do everything in our power to help those we serve develop the necessary work skills and education to succeed and ultimately provide for their loved ones on their own. With dedication, integrity and compassion we take pride in helping our residents each and every day. We believe and ardently hope that through every family we help we make a difference in the present and someday future of the city of Edinburg and the Rio Grande Valley.

Serving families since 1949.

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