South Texas Colonia Initiative, Inc.

05/22/2024

If you live in an unincorporated area, in a colonia, around any of these areas, please consider participating in this study.

11/13/2023

Colonia residents, no food distribution tomorrow (Nov 14) due to weather. We will post if we are given an alternate date.

10/11/2023

Reminder to EVERYONE: we didn't have food distribution due to weather, so our site distribution will be TOMORROW, Oct 12.

See you there!!!

09/19/2023

Mr & Mrs Lopez we’re featured in Chispa TX’s social media.

Shout out to Juanita & Lionel Lopez! 💐
South Texas Colonia Initiative, Inc. 💚
We couldn't fit everyone, but throughout , we will introduce you to some local superstars whose time and knowledge have been invaluable contributions to the local movement for .

09/17/2023

THIS TUESDAY, September 19th, at 9:30am, the Nueces County Coalition Committee is having a meeting at the Calderon Building at 710 E. Main Ave in Robstown.

09/15/2023

Shout out to Juanita & Lionel Lopez! 💐
South Texas Colonia Initiative, Inc. 💚
We couldn't fit everyone, but throughout , we will introduce you to some local superstars whose time and knowledge have been invaluable contributions to the local movement for .

09/12/2023

Food distribution in Banquete tomorrow.

08/22/2023

Colonia residents, if you are experiencing ANY flooding —and if you can—please post pictures to this thread. We need documentation of the drainage issues. Please, please post below.

08/14/2023

Last week, Lionel Lopez wrote a follow-up email to the President of the United States. Here is the letter:

Dear Mr. President,
It has been nearly eight months since the first time we wrote you about our concerns related to colonia residents in Nueces County, TX. While the EPA did reach out to us and promise us various things—like a list of grants colonia residents can apply for, starting to work on getting fire hydrants at our schools (which have none), a connection to the Civil Rights Office, and a meeting here, none of these things have actually happened. Additionally, the staff from the EPA are no longer responding to our emails or phone calls. We need a meeting with EPA officials, but that meeting must occur here. We do not have the resources to travel; we need officials to come and see conditions with their own eyes and meet with the colonia residents and their advocates.
Recently, the heat index in our community was 123 degrees. We’ve had weeks of temperatures over 100. Colonia residence have dirt roads and poor drainage. So, when it does rain, the roads are unusable, preventing children from going to school and people getting to work. And, because the county only sprays a few colonias, most residents have to contend with hordes of mosquitoes. Colonia residents are among the poorest people in our county. They pay taxes and vote. They are hard-working, proud people and deserve, at the very least, to have these basic services. These are more than a civil rights issues, they are human rights issues.
While our organization, the South Texas Colonia Initiative has been in existence since 2007, we have been doing advocacy work for nearly 50 years. We have been pushing bureaucracies to do the right thing for so long, yet our local officials and staff have been unresponsive for decades.
The federal government is our last hope to get these issues addressed.
We look forward to hearing from you soon,
Lionel Lopez

08/11/2023

07/13/2023

This is a great program.

06/22/2023

June 22, 2023

When we had a meeting with Commissioner Hernandez and his assistant about fire hydrants, we were suppose to meet with him and residents. As it turned out, the meeting was more his assistant and the Bluntzer volunteer fire department.

I did manage to get Commissioner Hernandez to say he would go to the Corpus Christi Fire Department and if 200 psi and 100 psi is enough to fight a fire at a school. I was supposed to go with him. It has been a month now and nothing has been done.

We just had a fire in Tierra Grande this past weekend. The fire truck ran out of water... TWICE!!!! Still the Commissioner has NOT done anything.

Colonial residents deserve better.
--Lionel Lopez