El Reflejo October 2015

EL REFLEJO A publication of the Edinburg Housing Authority.

Volume 1 Issue 7

RODOLFO “RUDY” RAMIREZ Executive Director

October 2015

Rudy Ramirez meets HUD Secretary Julian Castro

BOARD OF COMISSIONERS 2015 EDUARDO GONZALEZ CHAIRMAN

ARMANDO BARRERA VICE-CHAIRMAN

JOE RODRIGUEZ COMMISSIONER

CRIS TORRES COMMISSIONER

JUAN GUZMAN

RESIDENT COMMISSIONER

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UTRGV FORUM - Pictured left to right: Edinburg Housing Authority (EHA) Executive Director, Rudy Ramirez, Julián Castro U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

On Friday Oct. 9, Edinburg Housing Authority (EHA) Executive Director Mr. Rudy Ramirez had the privilege to join the honorable Julián Castro, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), along with Congressman Ruben Hinojosa’s delegates, KRGV Channel 5 news anchor Letty Garza and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) President Dr. Guy Bailey for a forum that was held at UTRGV.

The forum primarily focused on affordable housing issues, education, and prospective economic opportunities relevant to the local community of the * UTRGV Forum, Page 2 * Basketball Game, Page 3

Rio Grande Valley.

Julián Castro was born in San Antonio, Texas on September 16, 1974.

He attended both Stanford University and Harvard Law School.

Castro was the youngest San Antonio City Council member and the first Hispanic ever to deliver the keynote address at a Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in September 2012.

He later became the mayor of San Antonio and today serves as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

As the current exec-

utive director of the EHA, Mr. Rudy Ramirez is empowering the residents by providing them with educational resources and implementing many programs to help and further lead EHA residents to a more successful life.

Dr. Guy Bailey, who was formally appointed May 20, 2014 as the UTRGV President welcomed forum participants to the afternoon session and Letty Garza moderated the forum.

The questions mostly focused on initiatives, accomplishments Please continue on page 2

This month’s highlights * Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, Page 2 * Office 411, Page 4

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and issues Mr. Castro has dealt with in his life as a citizen, mayor and now as HUD Secretary.

Mr. Rudy Ramirez had the opportunity to share about his recent initiatives at EHA. He mentioned the demographics and statistics, which currently make up the EHA population and emphasized the im-

portance of education.

Ramirez also mentioned the partnerships established with different UTRGV colleges and departments.

Dr. Guy Bailey closed the afternoon, offering remarks about UTRGV and the changes that will be occurring because of the new medical school and future programs they

will be offering.

He showed much appreciation for the attendees and distinguished guests, and thanked Congressman Hinojosa for making the forum possible and inviting U.S. HUD Julián Castro to UTRGV.

UTRGV FORUM - Pictured left to right: UTRGV President Dr. Guy Bailey, KRGV Channel 5 news anchor Letty Garza, U.S. HUD Secretary Julián Castro and EHA Executive Director, Rudy Ramirez.

Breast Cancer Awareness Walk

On Oct. 14. as a part of Edinburg Housing Authority’s (EHA) commitment to raise awareness for Breast Cancer, EHA organized its 2nd Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk that took place at La Posada Apartments in Edinburg, TX.

The walk started at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 10:30 a.m., with an attendance of close to 100 people who amongst them were residents, staff, agencies and other attendee’s filled La Posada walk/jog trail in pink in order to show their support for breast cancer awareness.

As well 13 health related agencies participated in the event in order to inform, provide and educate the attendees on different health related topics.

With great efforts from our social work interns this event was a huge success.

Rosalinda Gonzalez one of our interns had the opportunity to speak about the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk with Entravision one of the news station who covered the event.

“It was nice seeing so many residents and agencies participate in this event to create cancer awareness” said Maria Lopez one of our interns who is excited to be graduating in December.

Along with receiving give2

aways and information by the agecies residents also had the opportunity to sign up with them so that they may receive further information in the future regarding any questions, concerns or thoughts they may have.

We would like to thank Family Endeavors, Superior Health Plan, Woman’s Clinic of South Texas, Woman’s Renaissance Cancer Center, Behavior Health Solution of South Texas, Maximus Health & Human services programs, Texas A&M Working on Wellness, Dynamic Children’s Therapy, Rodeo Dental, Food Bank of the RGV, Easter Seals Project HOPE Program, Hidalgo County Health Department, and the American Cancer Society for their participation but most importantly for educating our residents, staff and attendees on different health issues.

EHA is proud to support such a great cause and will always do what it takes to continue to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.

Youth Leadership visits the Vipers

MASCOT - Youth Leadership Association members along with other game attendee’s taking a picture with the Houston Rocket Mascot.

Around 27 EHA community youth along with Mr. Ramirez and staff attended the Houston Rockets vs. Orlando Magic basketball game on Oct. 11.

The Youth Leadership Association under Mr. Ramirez’s direct supervision led the group.

Some staff members of EHA also assisted in organizing the event and helped supervise the youth while at the game. EHA provided transportation to all kids. All staff members who wanted to attend the game had to arrange their own means of transportation.

The youth and staff loved the game. They cheered for the Houston Rockets and afterwards got to take pictures with the famous Rockets mascot.

We would like to give special thanks to Mr. Garcia for his generous donation of tickets to the agency. From the YLA youth and Mr. Rudy Ramirez thank you Mr. Garcia for giving us the opportunity to experience the thrill of a basketball game.

Visit riograndevalley. dleague.nba.com for season information and tickets!

Resident Meeting

On Oct. 15 EHA had its monthly resident meeting at El Jardin Tito Galvan Community Center.

At this month’s meeting our six new social work interns were introduced to the residents and we had a representative from Valley Care Clinic (VCC) come and speak about the services they offer through their VCC On-the-Go mobile and on menopause.

The services the VCC On-the-Go mobile offers are fairly inexpensive compared to an on site clinic visits: Checkups, wellness screenings, immunizations, physicals, preventive medical care and urgent care are among the services they offer.

The VCC On-the-Go mobile is always at different locations throughout the valley offering their services to the communities of the RGV. If you would like to find out where the VCC On-the-Go mobile will be next call 1-855-822-2778.

If you would like to get more information or have any question regarding the mobile VCC or menopause please feel free to visit http://www.valleycareclinics.com or contact them @ 956-388-2007.

National Boss Day “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impacts last in your absence.” - Sheryl Sandberg On Oct. 16 in honor of National Boss Day EHA staff and interns came together in order to take a picture to show Mr. Ramirez that he truly is the best boss ever and that we truly appreciate his efforts to develop, strengthen, and empower EHA and its vision. We greatly appreciate your sincerity and passion for the staff and residents of EHA.

EHA goes pink On Oct. 14 in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month all EHA staff wore pink. We at EHA are proud to support such a great cause to encourage women and men to care for their health. If you would like more information regarding screenings or have questions about breast cancer please visit the American Cancer Society website cancer.org or contact our local American Cancer Society office at (956) 682-8320.

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HOMEWORK HELP IS HERE! EHA is glad to announce its fall 2015 homework help session, which started Sept. 28 and continues throughout the academic year. The session is from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Mondays at La Posada, Ramirez and Albores; Tuesdays at Lantana ; and Mondays and Thursdays at El Jardin. All students from EHA are welcome to attend the session and get help with their homework. If you have any further questions regarding the homework help session, please contact Araceli Porras @ 383-3839.

EHA welcomes any 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 Leadership Association, he/ she can contact Diego Oros at doros@edinburgha.org or call him @ 956-383-3839.

Do you know an Achiever?

Along with redesigning our website, we have created the EHA Achievers Blog to highlight the outstanding efforts of students pursuing a higher education, outstanding residents and interns that come gain valuable work experience at our agency. To view the EHA Achievers Blog please visit www.ehaachievers.blogspot.com.

If you know any EHA students that are currently attending college or have attended, as well as any residents that are doing or have accomplished outstanding things, please contact us so we can feature them in the EHA Achievers blog by calling Juan Garcia at 956-383-3839.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS Resident Meeting

Rent deadline

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 Rodolfo “Rudy” Ramirez and all residents are invited. Our next meeting will be:

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

Nov. 17, 2015 @10 a.m at Albores

Residents 18+ years old who are not exempt must volunteer 8 hours a month in order to comply with HUD’s Community Service Requirement.

Please make arrangements to attend and receive one hour of community service.

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