Member Advisory - September 22, 2008

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities applauds the award of $5.9 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to 11 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs).

The competitive grants were awarded to HSIs in California, New Mexico, New York, Puerto Rico, Texas and Washington to help rehabilitate low-income neighborhoods and offer new educational and community development opportunities through HUD’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) Program.

Projects funded by HSIAC include: purchasing local property for community development purposes; clearance and demolition; rehabilitating neighborhood housing for low- and moderate-income people; homeownership assistance for low- and moderate-income residents; assistance to community-based development organizations (CBDOs) to carry out neighborhood revitalization, community economic development, or energy conservation projects; public service activities that can help to stabilize a neighborhood and contribute to sustainable redevelopment of the area; lead-based paint hazard reduction; economic development assistance; developing public facilities such as day care centers and career counseling.

The 2008 HSIAC grant recipients are:

• Imperial Valley College - California ($600,000)
• Southwestern College - California ($600,000)
• University of New Mexico-Taos - New Mexico ($600,000)
• Lehman College, City University of New York - New York ($600,000)
• University of Puerto Rico at Carolina - Puerto Rico ($599,895)
• St. Mary’s University - Texas ($596,794)
• Texas A&M University-Kingsville - Texas ($600,000)
• University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College - Texas ($598,401)
• University of Texas-Pan American - Texas ($599,990)
• Yakima Valley Community College - Washington ($600,000)

HACU is calling for substantial new funding increases for HUD’s HSIAC program for the FY 2009 funding cycle.

Additional information about HUD's Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities program, administered through HUD's Office of University Partnerships, can be obtained at http://www.oup.org/programs/aboutHSIAC.asp.

 HACU Member Advisories are a service of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities