news archive 2001

To News Archive 2000

november 2, 2001

FUTURO Annual Corporate Meeting

FUTURO Communities, Inc. held its annual corporate meeting on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 at the Adult Activity Center in Uvalde. Persons in attendance included the FUTURO Board of Directors, FUTURO staff, elected officials from the FUTURO five county region of Dimmit, LaSalle, Zavala, Maverick & Uvalde, and various community organizations.

The agenda included action items regarding FUTURO Bylaws, and the FUTURO Financial Statement; Special Recognition of Partners; and FUTURO Board Elections.

september 19, 2001

Town Hall Meetings Scheduled

The last week of Town Hall meetings is upon us. This is the last chance you have as a resident to be a participant in shaping the future of your community. These meetings differ from the last three sets of meetings in that we need all residents of the region to each meeting to discuss different aspects of the strategic planning process. We have scheduled each meeting in a different city, but at times of the day we feel will be most convenient for the majority of people. The schedule is as follows:

Community Strategies: Uvalde (Uvalde County) - Senior Citizens Activity Center @ 250 East Main Street - September 19th, 6:00 p.m.
Community Action: Crystal City (Zavala County) - Zavala County Nutrition Center @ 1210 North 7th Avenue - September 20th, 6:00 p.m.
Community Partnership: Eagle Pass (Maverick County) - South Texas National Bank Community Room @ 1011 North Bibb - September 21st, 9:00 a.m.
Community Resources/Community Horizons: Big Wells/Carrizo Springs (Dimmit County) - Location TBA - September 22nd, Time TBA
Commitment Celebration: Location TBA - September 24th, Time TBA

Please join with us to help you get an Empowerment Zone and a Renewal Community designation - your future and your children's future depends upon it!

Transportation will be arranged upon request. Call the FUTURO office for assistance.

september 11, 2001

An American Tragedy

Today the World Trade Center towers in New York City were completely destroyed by the impact of two hijacked airliners, the resulting collisions causing the superstructures of the 28-year-old buildings to collapse fifteen minutes after impact; the top floors exerting incredible stress on the lower floors until both structures fell. An estimated 10,000 people are dead. Many of the people killed were emergence personnel attempting to rescue those trapped in the upper floors.

Concurrently in Washington, D.C., another hijacked airliner crashed into the outer ring of the Pentagon Building killing an estimated 34 people. A last airliner crashed in rural Pennsylvania killing all aboard, apparently after the hijacking was thwarted by passengers.

Though these acts of terrorism may not directly concern FUTURO Communities or the residents of the Middle Rio Grande region, we deeply regret the loss of life and send our best to the families of the victims.

september 4, 2001

Town Hall Meetings Continue

FUTURO continues its series of town hall meetings in pursuit of an Empowerment Zone (EZ) designation. The application process absolutely requires that we have community participation, business buy-in and a plan for innovative uses of the resulting tax incentives. Please visit the HUD Round III EZ web page for more details about the initiative, and the FUTURO Round III EZ page for more information about the process involved. For FUTURO's part of the process, they have been holding town hall meetings throughout the region, and though the turn-out for one has been fabulous and very encouraging, the other four communities still lack the enthusiasm necessary for a successful designation. FUTURO wishes to emphasize that the EZ status is not for FUTURO's benefit, but for the benefit of the entire region. The tax incentives made possible through the EZ designation are numerous and will, in even a short time, mean an economic boost for the entire region. For small businesses who hire employees who live in the EZ areas there are Welfare to Work (WtW) Credits, Work Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC), Empowerment Zone Employment Credits (EZ Wage Credit), Increased Section 179 Deductions, as well as many more (see our Benefits Page for a complete list).

What FUTURO requests from the communities it serves is participation. Not necessarily cooperation, not complete agreement, but simple participation in the process. FUTURO has been working diligently to get the work out about the meetings, about what the EZ designation will mean to the economies of our communities, and how the subsequent incentives will help each individual within each community.

The next town hall meetings will occur between September 10 and September 13:

Uvalde (Uvalde County) - Middle Rio Grande Workforce Center - 216 West Main Street, Uvalde - September 10th, 5:30 p.m.
Big Wells (Dimmit County) - St. Michael's Church Parish Hall - September 11th, 7:00 p.m.
Eagle Pass (Maverick County) - CC Winn High School Cafeteria - 265 Foster Maldonado Boulevard, Eagle Pass - September 12th, 6:00 p.m.
Cotulla (La Salle County) - Middle Rio Grande Workforce Center - 707 Buckley, Cotulla - September 13th, 5:30 p.m.
Crystal City (Zavala County) - Zavala County Adult Nutrition Center - 1210 North 7th Avenue, Crystal City - September 13th, 7:00 p.m.

Attendance at these meetings is mandatory for all residents of the appropriate county. Though this is an unrealistic goal, FUTURO is trying its best to get as many people as possible to participate. To entice people to come, we are offering FREE FOOD and DRINKS at each meeting. For those residents for whom English is not their primary language, an interpreter will be available to explain the more technical aspects of the process.

The final meetings will take place between September 19th and 24th, though times and locations have not been finalized. These meetings differ in that they will require all the residents from throughout the region to travel to each meeting, one in each of our communities, each covering a different aspect of the strategic planning process necessary for a successful application.

august 13, 2001

More Town Hall Meetings

FUTURO continues its series of town hall meetings throughout the month of August to prepare for the upcoming Round III Empowerment Zone and Renewal Communities competitions hosted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The meetings are critical to the application process and will be used to update the strategic plan concerning community needs and goals, and also to add an economic development component that has been lacking up to this time. The EZ or the RC designation will not include funding, but will give FUTURO and the region the tax incentives critical to attracting new businesses and creating new jobs. More information about the EZ process is available on the HUD web site.

The schedule for the Second Round of meetings is during the week of August 13-16:

Monday: Uvalde / 5:30 p.m. / FUTURO Offices (100 West South Steet)
Tuesday: Cotulla / 5:30 p.m. / County Courthouse (101 Courthouse Square)
Tuesday: Big Wells / 6:00 p.m. / City Hall (Multi-Purpose Building)
Wednesday: Eagle Pass / 6:00 p.m. / Multi-Purpose Building (480 S. Adams)
Thursday: Crystal City / 7:00 p.m. / Zavala Nutrition Center (1210 N. Seventh Avenue)

august 6, 2001

FUTURO Begins Town Hall Meetings for EZ Competition

FUTURO is hosting a series of town hall meetings throughout the month of August to prepare for the upcoming Round III EZ competition hosted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The meetings are critical to the application process and will be used to update the strategic plan concerning community needs and goals, and also to add an economic development component that has been lacking up to this time. The EZ or the RC designation will not include funding, but will give FUTURO and the region the tax incentives critical to attracting new businesses and creating new jobs. More information about the EZ process is available on the HUD web site.

The schedule for the First Round of meetings is during the week of August 6-9:

Monday: Uvalde / 5:30 p.m. / FUTURO Offices (100 West South Steet)
Tuesday: Cotulla / 5:30 p.m. / County Courthouse (101 Courthouse Square)
Tuesday: Big Wells / 6:00 p.m. / City Hall (Multi-Purpose Building)
Wednesday: Eagle Pass / 6:00 p.m. / Multi-Purpose Building (480 S. Adams)
Thursday: Crystal City / 7:00 p.m. / Zavala Nutrition Center (1210 N. Seventh Avenue)

july 18, 2001

Uvalde Library Granted Funding

FUTURO today awarded $5,676.43 out of a total of $18,000 to the El Progress Library in Uvalde for the West main Library Project. The money was part of funds that FUTURO set aside for the use of community organizations in Uvalde to pursue the goals of the Uvalde local strategic plan. FUTURO set aside funds for all five of its counties, but because the funds had gone untapped for a long period of time, FUTURO felt it was in the best interests of the communities to offer it through an RFP process. All those who applied for funding were awarded, though not all the organizations have collected their award. In order to meet the requirements of reporting and proper use, the funds have been awarded on a reimbursement basis. As the awarded organization spends money on the project intended by their proposal, FUTURO reimburses them.

june 11, 2001

Annual USDA Conference a Success

The FUTURO staff returned from the 5th Annual US Department of Agriculture's Office of Community Development “New Beginnings For Community Development” conference today. This three day event featured speakers from the OCD staff as well as professionals in various fields relating to every aspect of empowerment., and was designed for both members of Enterprise Community and Empowerment Zone staff as well as staff involved with EZs, ECs and REAP (Rural Economic Area Partnerships) Zones from state OCD field offices. The purpose of this years conference was to build upon the community development skills needed to build the capacity of the communities within the EZ/EC zones, to sustain economic and community revitalization. The training included topics such as securing financial resources, community organization, program management, making programs successful, business development and workshops in successful benchmarking. Some of the keynote speakers included Missouri Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson (8th-MO), Dr. J. Norman Reid the Acting Deputy Administrator for the OCD, Chuck Fluharty the Director of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), Dr. Rick Wetherill the Director of the Empowerment Programs Division in the Office of Community Development within USDA's Rural Development Program, and Dr. John Kretzman the Co-Director of the ABCD Institute for Policy Research.

FUTURO welcomes its newest staff member, Jeanette Martinez who is the part-time grant writer for Zavala County. She will be working closely with the Zavala LAC to develop plans and write grants to support local projects in pursuit of the Zavala and Regional Strategic Plan. Most of the work she will be doing will support the efforts at community development that Zavala County has recognized as its primary goal for the next year. Some of their projects include downtown beautification, youth development, education, historical research, tourism, and parks and recreation upgrades. Jeanette has worked for the Railroad Commission of Texas as an Administrative Technician managing pipeline permits for the state for eight years, Sul Ross State University in Uvalde as a secretary during which time she earned her bachelor's in business Administration continuing on for another six years, and then Sacred Heart School where she has worked for the last three years. She will continue to work for Sacred Heart on a part-time basis. Her grant writing experience includes three grants written for Sacred Heart, one of which was funded, and a complete course of grant writing and creating a foundation with Dr. Udell of the Udell Foundation.

may 15, 2001

FUTURO held its bimonthly board meeting today in Cotulla. A report from the finance committee discussed the present state of the budgets of the three programs administered by FUTURO: the FUTURO program itself, the Community Technology Center program, and the Regional Business Service Center. The Dimmit Local Advisory Committee proxy chairman, Tracey Hild, discussed at length the new stumbling blocks to using FUTURO USDA funds to finance a local project. This particular project, simple on the surface, has been continuing for two years and has yet to see any sort of resolution due one constraint or another. The Maverick LAC chairman discussed meeting with FUTURO to discuss the hiring of a grant writer for their county. The Uvalde LAC has already approved the hiring of a grant writing to pursue funding for projects in their county. The Zavala LAC chairman introduced the possibility of sharing a grant writer between two counties, which Tammye Carpinteyro, CEO of FUTURO, agreed was feasible if such sharing did not result in the grant writer's time being usurped by one of those counties to the detriment of the other. La Salle's LAC chairman explained that a 5% sales tax was approved to hire a grant writer/community developer to assist in county projects, if FUTURO funds 50% of that person's salary.

The Youth Committee mentioned that they had developed a few ideas about the direction the committee should take. A resource directory was discussed. They also discussed the Live Oak project that involved a large structure donated to Dimmit County for use as a youth recreational facility.

Tammye Carpinteyro expressed the opinion that the best possible person to lead the newly formed Economic Development Committee would be the Economic Developer hired by La Salle county.

Also discussed were the results of the recently board training held in San Antonio and facilitated by Bonnie Gonzalez of the Rio Grande Empowerment Zone and Victor Vazquez, an independent contractor skilled in leadership development, and the introduction of Audrey Garza (see may 14 story) as the new Administrative Assistant to FUTURO. Tammye urged members of the board to attend the upcoming Round III EZ/EC Workshop in Fort Worth for June 19-20. She feels it is critical that as many members of the board as possible attend the workshop to fully comprehend the steps necessary for application for this new designation. She also mentioned two other important training sessions/workshops taking place in June to which FUTURO staff need to attend: the 5th Annual Rural Community Development National Training Conference for the Office of Community Development (USDA) in St. Louis for June 5-7, and the CTCNet conference in San Diego for June 15-17.

may 14, 2001

Audrey Garza joined the FUTURO Communities staff today. She is the new Administrative Assistant to Tammye Carpinteyro, CEO, President and Executive Director of FUTURO. Audrey comes to us from the Hill County MHMR where she has spent the last eight years as a Vocational Coordinator. She graduated from Southwest Texas Junior College with an Associate of Arts Degree, with Phi Theta Kappa Honors, in May of 1998. She started with Hill County MHMR as a Residential Therapist Technician providing care for six adults, moved to Uvalde in November 1994, switched to Accounting Clerk in February of 1995, and was made Vocational Coordinator and Assistant Area Director of the MHMR in May of 1996 wherein she was responsible for the supervision of eight employees, and coordinating vocational, educational & life skills training to client. Audrey has a great deal of office experience, as well as human services experience, she volunteers with the Texas Interagency Council on Early Childhood Intervention Advisory Committee and is a Local Area Parent Training Coordinator. We welcome her on board and wish her a great deal of success with our organization.

march 20, 2001

The FUTURO bimonthly board meeting was held today in Big Wells and topics discussed included reports from the five Local Advisory Committees and the finance committee. The Dimmit County LAC is working on a plan to install sidewalks and bike trails on Farm Road 1867; La Salle's LAC is still pursuing an Immigration and Naturalization Service detention facility; Maverick County's LAC discussed current benchmarks; Uvalde's LAC announced new members to its committee, that youth concerns have become a priority to the county, and that money was approved for the Families and Students Together (FAST) program; and Zavala's LAC reported its grassroots movement to improve its community and the amount of support they have received from residents.

Two action items were approved at the board meeting: approval of a Certification of Consistency for the Crystal City Housing Authority to pursue a Building Trades Apprenticeship Program grant, and acceptance of the resignation of Pedro Vargas as Chairperson and Community Based Organization Representative to the board.

Following this last item, a call for election of a new chairperson was in order and Charles D. Johnson was summarily elected to replace Mr. Vargas.

march 1, 2001

A planning meeting for the upcoming Southwest Border Initiative Pilot Community - Youth Opportunity Initiative program application submission to the Department of Housing and Urban Development was held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Middle Rio Grande Development Center in Uvalde today. Discussed at the meeting was the purpose that FUTURO serves as an Enterprise Community, the importance of youth initiatives to the entire region, and suggestions for programs and services that can best serve our youth. In attendance were representatives of HUD, the Department of Agriculture Rural Development, and representatives of housing authorities, cities, and boys and girls clubs. A committee was formed to discuss future services that can be implemented with a grant from HUD for this project and any potential sources of information.

february 26, 2001

FUTURO Communities updates its web site! Big news! The first web site was really more of a trial run, but needed some improvement if for nothing else than to improve its user friendliness. There are also a lot more pages to choose from that better explains who FUTURO is and what our mission is as an organization. There are pages dedicated to the programs that we are currently running (or hope to manage soon), a site map to make navigation easier, and a list of partners who have contributed greatly to our various programs and to our day-to-day administrative obligations. More will be added as the need is realized. As with any developing web site, this one will have its growing pains, but we hope to make it as painless as possible for our visitors to use.

Any comments are most appreciated.. We'll take any suggestions and criticisms, as well. We welcome helpful advice. Also, we would appreciate if our residents can review the pages appropriate to their communities (counties). Those pages can be found under the overview section under Region.

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