Everything AltaCair Foundation's Rashmi Chandran said on her recent podcast with the Guardian

Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

MCALLEN, Texas - Rashmi Chandran, executive director of AltaCair Foundation, says her group is going to focus on unserved colonia residents, rather than the underserved.

On a Rio Grande Guardian podcast, Chandran said “very helpful” research conducted by UT-Rio Grande Valley has helped AltaCair identify the colonias that need the most help.

“Living in cities like Edinburg, McAllen, we don't feel like there will be areas (close by) where the houses are made of plywood, but that research actually brought to the surface that there are really bad areas where no one can go in. So, those are the areas where we want to,” Chandran said.

Chandran acknowledged that there has been a lot of good work done in Rio Grande Valley colonias by other nonprofits.

“It just so happens when there is a help center at one place, it is just that ten-mile radius that keeps getting served over, and over again. But there are other areas in the perimeter which do not get touched. So, we want people to expand their services there. So that's why that is our mission to touch the unserved.”

During the podcast, Guardian editor Steve Taylor recalled an AltaCair “cluster meeting” where Eduardo Olivarez, Hidalgo County’s public health director, said the biggest impediment to health was substandard living conditions. Taylor said Olivarez painted this very graphic picture of houses in some colonias where the houses consist of nothing but tarpaulin sheets, pallets and plywood.

“Especially when there is weather turbulence. Like, right now, the preparations that we're doing for Hurricane Beryl. Imagine those places. Like, what are they going to do with one sandbag? Like they live in in such fragile conditions,” Chandran said.

“What are they going to do? They don't even have a vehicle that they can just get into and escape should things get bad. Those roads are so bad that you probably cannot even drive properly on that (road).”

Referring to the proliferation of colonias, Chandra said: “There are just like so many things that are unresolved and that exists right around us, maybe just one or two blocks away. And we're not aware.”
Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian website to read the full story.

Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.