Congressman Cuellar hosts Promise Zone HUD workshop in Laredo

Posted: Thu 10:15 AM, Sep 04, 2014

By: Matt McGovern Email

Congressman Henry Cuellar hosts a workshop with local leaders Wednesday at TAMIU to discuss a revitalization plan for Laredo in order compete for a Promise Zones designation that will open the door to federal funding for our community.

LAREDO, TEXAS (Office of Henry Cuellar) –The Office of Congressman Henry Cuellar hosted a Promise Zone workshop Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU).

The Promise Zones initiative is a competitive community revitalization program which aims to help communities establish and implement a revitalization plan to create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities and improve public safety.

The program is extremely competitive – only five communities from the United States were chosen to be part of the first round of this initiative, one of which was San Antonio, Texas.

The Administration will be selecting only 15 more communities in the next three years to become Promise Zones and local leaders, including Congressman Cuellar, very much want Laredo to be one of them.

“This designation would be of great benefit to Laredo and could possibly result in millions of additional federal dollars coming into our community over the next 10 years,” said Congressman Cuellar. “This is why I personally invited Mr. Richard Lopez from HUD, to explain and discuss the Promise Zone Application Process with our local leaders so that we can build a comprehensive revitalization plan for our community.”

Richard Lopez, field office director for HUD in San Antonio, oversees 57 counties in Texas and spoke with representatives from the City of Laredo, Webb County, TAMIU, Laredo Community College, Laredo Independent School District and United Independent School District at the workshop.

The revitalization plan being built focuses on providing decent housing, access to healthcare, good public transportation to school and work, expanding educational opportunities and creating jobs in impoverished areas in our community.