Residents of the Edinburg Hous-ing Authority (EHA) are pursuing higher education and encourage other residents to do the same. In correspondence with EHA and its efforts on emphasizing the im-portance of education, residents are applying to and attending universities in order to receive a college degree. As a result EHA has launched a blog dedicated to the success of its residents. Where their stories and ac-

complishments will be shared with the communities of the Rio Grande Valley in order to highlight their achievements and continue emphasizing the impor-tance of pursuing higher education. Our student residents are studying at different universities throughout Texas pursuing their goals. Ruben Lara at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Rene Tre-vino at Texas Tech University, Dan-iela Granados at The University of Texas, Elva Trevino and Fernando

Sanchez at Texas A&M University, Orlando Trevino and Gerardo Grana-dos at South Texas College, Alvety Tuma and Diego Oros at The Uni-versity of Texas Rio Grande Valley. EHA will continue to rec-ognize the success of our resi-dents and will continue encouraging them to seek greater opportunities. Visit our Achievers Blog at http://mediaha.wix.com/ehablog to read more on the success of our other resi-dent’s and those attending universities.

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EDINBURG HOUSING AUTHORITYEl Reflejo Newsletter

Volume 3 Issue 1

1ST QUARTER 2016

CHAIRMANJOSE RODRIGUEZ

VICE-CHAIRMAN ARMANDO BARRERA

COMMISSIONERELIAS LONGORIA

RESIDENT COMMISSIONER JUAN GUZMAN

COMMISSIONER EDUARDO GONZALEZ

Ciro Treviño Administration Building 910 S. Sugar Rd. Edinburg, Texas, 78539 Main Office

A publication by the Edinburg Housing Authority, 2016.

Journey to Success in Public Housing

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORRODOLFO “RUDY”

RAMIREZ

- All-America City 10 K Run/Walk & Fun Run, Page 2- EHA at the 2016 RGV Livestock Show, Page 3

- EHA welcomes new UTRGV student interns, Page 2- 2015 NAHRO Community Service Award, Page 3

These months’highlights

Edinburg Housing Authority 2016 Board of Commissioners

Regular Office Hours: Mon.- Thurs.: 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Fri.: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

EDUCATION: Public housing residents; (left to right) Alvety Tuma, Rene Trevino, Daniela Granados, Elva Trevino, Liliana Granados, Fernando Sanchez & Gerardo Granados at their respective campuses.

Important Announcement: Effective immediately we will be transitioning to a quarterly newsletter. 1st quar-ter Jan. - Mar. 2nd quarter Apr. - June. 3rd quarter July - Sept. & 4th quarter Oct. - Dec. The English e-news-letter will be sent out no later than the end of the first week of a new quarter and the bilingual print news-letters will be sent out to residents by the second week of a new quarter. If you have any questions or concerns please contact JC Garcia (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.) @ 956-383-3839. Thank you for your cooperation!

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The Edinburg Housing Authority (EHA) proudly participated in the 34th Annual All-America City 10K Run/Walk & Fun Run hosted by the city of Edin-burg on February 6, 2016. Almost 35 volunteers, made up of our staff, youth leadership association, residents and members from the Captivating Chi Beta chapter Sigma Lambda Gamma Nation-al Sorority cheered for and offered water to the runners at our cheering and water stations placed at two different locations. Residents and staff also actively

participated in running the race along with our Executive Director Mr. Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez. Active participation in these kinds of events and activities is EHA’s commitment to the continued promotionof healthy living and being engaged with the community. We were glad to see a

large number of residents and staff mem-bers come out and support EHA and our mission. Once again we would like to thank all the volunteers and residents who came out to help and participate. We are already looking forward to next year’s 10K.

New academic year, new UTRGV interns! In continuation with the Edinburg Housing Authority (EHA) Internship Pro-gram, EHA welcomes the spring 2016 interns from the UTRGV Department of Social Work and Public Affairs Securi-ty Studies: Irene Ramirez (Social Work), Felipe Carillo (Social Work), Erika Ander-

son (Public Affairs), and Larissa M. Barron (Social Work). The interns will work alongside staff in order to help develop, empower and strengthen EHA and its vision by or-ganizing programs, events and activities for our residents.

EHA participates in the 34th Annual All-America City 10K Run/Walk & Fun Run.

The purpose of this boot camp is to bring productive, skillful and resourceful workshops and training ses-sions to the youth of our EHA community. Earlier this year in January our EHA Youth BootCamp 2016 Kickoff took place and it was a huge success. In recent events EHA Youth BootCamp 2016 held its first Healthy-Living Work-shop. This workshop was coordinated by UTRGV Department of Public Affairs intern Erika Anderson and Zeeshan Noor. Our community partners encouraged our residents to adopt healthy eating and living habits by presenting, pro-moting and demonstrating healthy habits we all should adopt in our daily lives. EHA will continue providing opportu-nities like this for our youth to help them be productive, engaging and attentive on a weekend, so that they may gain skills, knowledge and good character as youth. For more information regarding the EHA Youth BootCamp 2016 please contact Diego Oros via-email at doros@edinburgha.org or Zeeshan Noor via-email at znoor@edinburgha.org.

Executive Director Rudy Ramirez initiates EHA Youth BootCamp 2016!

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The Edinburg Housing Author-ity is proud to present the 2015 Texas NAHRO Community Service Award to Dr. Francisco J. Guajardo, Associate Pro-fessor in the College of Education of The

University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Dr. Guajardo was recognized for his ideas and suggestions that sig-nificantly contributed to residents’ lives at the Edinburg Housing Authority.

Edinburg Housing Authority, along with other housing agencies, volunteered at the Housing Association of Valley Em-ployees- South Texas Region (HAVE-STR) booth at the 2016 Rio Grande Val-ley Livestock Show. The show started on March 10 and continued through March

20 in the city of Mercedes. Funds raised through this initiative will be used to award scholarships to high school student res-idents of the member housing agencies. “We try to engage our agency in any activity happening for a good cause. This is our second time participating in

the RGV Livestock Show, which is a good platform to raise funds for the stu-dents belonging to low-income families.” said Mr. Ramirez, Executive Director – Edinburg Housing Authority. We look forward to next year Livestock Show!

EHA at the Livestock Show to fundraise for scholarships! Sets a new sales record!

And the 2015 Texas NAHRO Community Service Award goes to...

Congratulations Dr. Francisco J. Guajardo!

In association with our agency’s mission to work and engage more with the community we have partnered up with the UTRGV Chi Beta Chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority. This year the Captivating Chi Beta Chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc. joined us at our Martin Luther King Jr. Day Trash Bash and in the 34th Annual All-America City 10K Run/Walk & Fun Run. They also met with the members of the Youth Leadership Association (YLA) in order to discuss the importance of pursuing a higher educa-tion and what college is like. However one of our most recent collabo-rations has been the initiative of the Cinderella’s Closet project, which would provide a donated dress to girls from our developments for prom, homecoming, quinceañera, or any other special occasion. In or-der to show how grateful we are for the Captivating Chi Beta Chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority EHA presented them with a certificate of appreciation for all of their dedication and hard work. We hope to continue working together with the UTRGV sorority, in or-der to bring more opportunities to the residents of our developments.

Sorority sisters at Lantana for MLK Day Trash Bash.

Sorority sisters receiving certificate of appreciation presented by EHA.

Sorority sisters at 10k run/walk & fun run in Edinburg.

Sorority sisters dropping off 70+ dresses collect-ed through the Cinderella’s Closet initiative.

EHA partners up with the Chi Beta Chapter of SLG!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

EHA welcomes all housing students 13 to 19-years-old to join the Youth Leadership Association! If you have a child that would like to learn more about or be a part of the Youth Leader-ship Association, he/she can contact Diego Oros at doros@edinburgha.org or call him @ 956-383-3839.

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Rent deadline Due monthly by the 1st, but EHA gives you until the 5th to pay in full. There is a $15 fee for late payments.Community service Residents 18+ years old who are not ex-empt must volunteer 8 hours a month in order to comply with HUD’s Community Service Require-ment.

Resident Meeting Interested in finding out what’s happening at EHA or your development? Come find out at our next Resident Meeting. Meetings are led by the Executive Director Ro-dolfo “Rudy” Ramirez and all residents are invited. Please contact your property manager for next meeting location, date and time. *Please make arrangements to attend to receive one hour of community service.

Stay updated!Visit us todayn

Homework Help Sessions:La Posada, Ramirez and Albores Mondays from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.El Jardin Mondays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.Lantana Tuesdays from 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

* Computers are available for students to use in the designated time slots and books available to check out. Please assure that your son/daughter brings their homework and any other materi-als they may need. If you have any further questions regarding the homework help session, please contact Araceli Porras @ (956) 383-3839.

Become a great leader!

The Homework Help program at Edinburg Housing Authority has been going strong this school year. Execu-tive Director Mr. Rudy Ramirez is an ardent proponent of education, he pro-vides high school and UTRGV home-work helpers at all developments at least once a week. Many EHA students have been taking advantage of the resources provided by Edinburg Housing Authority. EHA has partnered with the UTRGV America Reads America Counts program, an initiative started in 1996 by the Clinton administration to begin a national literacy campaign that would

subsidize university students to work as tutors in their communities. In addition to helping with homework, Homework Helpers provide opportunities for stu-dents to practice reading. Tutors also serve as positive role models and offer residents motivation and encouragement to become lifelong readers and learners. Libraries are now available at all community centers, and we en-courage students and parents to check out books. Please visit with the tutors during Homework Help if you are inter-ested in checking out books from the community center libraries. For Span-

ish-speaking parents, we have many Spanish books available which par-ents can read to their child. Research shows students should read at least 30 minutes daily at home; try to ensure your child always has a book to read. We look forward to see-ing your child at Homework Help!

NOTE: If you are a high school or university student and would like to help with Afterschool Homework Help, please contact your property manager.

Got Homework? Help is here!

If you know any EHA students that are currently attend-ing college or have attended, as well as any residents that are doing or have accomplished outstanding things, please con-tact us so we can feature them in the EHA Achievers blog by calling Juan Garcia at 956-383-3839. To view the EHA Achiev-ers Blog please visit http://mediaha.wix.com/ehablog.

Follow us on Twitter!@EdinburgHousing