DESCRIPTION:

McAllen, Texas-based Texas Enterprise for Housing Development, Inc. (TEHDI) is a housing foundation that provides safe and sanitary housing, food and shelter to low-income families in small cities and colonias in southern Texas. TEHDI also partners with other organizations to assist with transitional housing and build additions to current houses. Other services such as financial assistance and counseling are available to families.

TYPICAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:

UPS managers who participate in the McAllen-based Community Internship Program sessions meet and interact with families living in the impoverished conditions of the colonias. During their month-long stay in McAllen, interns participate in activities including home repair and construction, tutoring children and volunteering at a local food bank. In addition, McAllen interns have the opportunity to counsel children who are recovering from drug addiction.

LOCAL PARTERNING AGENCIES INCLUDE:

• Avance provides family development services including prenatal instruction, parenting classes, after-school educational programs and summer camps.
• Palmer Drug Abuse Program provides support groups and recreational activities to teens and adults recovering from addiction to drugs and alcohol.
• Azteca is a housing program that provides assistance to families in need. Azteca’s services include a community bank that provides affordable home loans and professionals who assist in the building of client’s homes.
• The Comfort House is a hospice that provides housing for terminally ill patients who have less than four months to live. The organization also sponsors an HIV/AIDS prevention and education program.
• The Food Bank of the Rio Grand Valley is a distribution center serving more than 180 agencies. In 2001, the Food Bank distributed more than 18 million pounds of food to needy families.
  

# # #

• Elizabeth Rasberry
  404-828-4866