Improving life in the colonias
Laredo resident Yazmin Ramos relates how the Texas A&M Colonias Program enhances the quality of life for her, her family, and colonias residents.
The Colonias Program operates all along the Texas-Mexico border and in South Texas to increase self-sufficiency and enhance the quality of life in the colonias, which are economically distressed, relatively undeveloped communities located near population centers on the U.S. side of the border. They often lack one or more neighborhood infrastructure elements such as running water, electricity, or paved roads.
Colonias program staff partner with a wide variety of public and private agencies to provide literacy and job training, health education, economic and community development for colonias residents.