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EPA AWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE GRANT FOR SAN ELIZARIO ENERGY-EFFICIENT HOUSING COMMUNITY PROJECT

Release Date: 8/27/1998
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

   As part of its efforts to promote sustainable development, EPA's Region 6 office has awarded a Sustainable Development Challenge Grant for $138,400 to the Organizacion Progresiva de San Elizario (Organizacion), a non-profit community development in San Elizario, a colonia in South Texas.  The San Elizario Energy-Efficient Housing Community Revitalization Project will train and utilize local residents in the building of four passive solar adobe homes and provide at-risk area youth with job skills training.

    Regional Administrator Gregg Cooke stated, "This project encourages community members to learn valuable marketable skills and actually involves them in building affordable, energy-efficient homes that will enhance the historic and cultural features of this region.  The project's emphasis on self-help will help build pride and a sense of community within the colonia."

    Eight unskilled residents will be trained in adobe home construction skills to include electrical, plumbing, and related building trades, and eight at-risk youth will receive on-the-job construction skills training.  Workers will use techniques that take advantage of the area's natural materials and desert vegetation.  When completed, the homes will expand home ownership opportunities for four very low-income, first-time local home buyers, which is expected to increase the community's confidence in communal construction programs.  The project also includes making an assessment of potential economic benefits to the community from adobe home construction materials.  

    In addition to receiving EPA's grant, the Organizacion Progresiva de San Elizario, a non-profit community development organization, will contribute $161,000 in matching funds to cover project costs.   The project has strong local support and three committed partners:  the YWCA-Consumer Credit Counseling Services, the Norwest Bank, and the El Paso Collaborative for Community and Economic Development.  

    San Elizario is a colonia, which is defined as an unincorporated subdivision along the U.S.-Mexico border that lacks infrastructure to provide adequate sewage and water services.  Colonias have gained national attention in recent years because of substandard housing, poverty, and other  conditions that contributed to the residents' health problems.  The San Elizario project is expected to serve as a model for similar efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border and other areas of the Southwest.  

    The Organizacion Progresiva de San Elizario's project was one of 45 projects funded nationwide under the Sustainable Development Challenge Grants program.  The grants, totaling  $5 million, are intended to provide leveraging for other public and private funding in the communities.  The program promotes partnerships and encourages community-based projects that integrate environmental protection and local community and economic goals.  For more information about Sustainable Development Challenge Grants, visit EPA's web site at https://www.epa.gov/ecocommunity.

    "Environmental progress will not be achieved solely by regulation.  There also is the need for communities, businesses, and government to accept responsibility for investing in a sustainable future that links environmental protection, economic prosperity, and community well-being," said Mr. Cooke.