Community Enrichment Providers

MERCED HOUSING TEXAS

Merced Housing Texas, a nonprofit corporate ministry, is sponsored by nine congregations of Catholic women religious as a concrete, organized response to concerns for housing justice for the economically poor.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to create and strengthen healthy communities through the provision of quality, affordable, service-enriched housing for individuals and families who are economically poor.

Merced Housing Texas holds as its core values:

•           Respect - a basic perspective and behavior which is attentive, considerate, and shows special regard for the inherent dignity of persons and the soundness of creation

•           Justice - the fair and impartial treatment of others

•           Mercy - the ability to see need and respond to that need with compassion

We believe that every person has the right to decent, safe housing in a nurturing atmosphere that promotes personal growth and family stability.

We believe that no one should pay an excessive proportion of income for housing.

We believe that residents, staff, board and all who collaborate with us contribute to modeling co-responsibility and building healthy communities.

Merced owns or has developed 1,818 units of quality, affordable multifamily housing in San Antonio, Somerset, Conroe, and Corpus Christi, Texas.
 
Through our multifamily, single-family and Emergency Repairs programs, Merced serves more than 1,988 households.  When developments currently in the pipeline are complete, Merced will serve more than 2,100 households in Bexar, Montgomery, Nueces, and Goliad counties in Texas.

At Merced, we believe in providing more than simple shelter. In keeping with our mission, we provide services at our multifamily properties that support residents’ efforts to raise healthy families and become self-sufficient, fully participating members of society.

Merced’s Single-Family Program revitalizes inner-city neighborhoods and provides homeownership opportunities for low-income families. Merced acquires dilapidated eyesores and completely rehabilitates them or constructs new infill homes and sells them to qualifying low-income families.

Through the Serve Our Seniors (SOS) Emergency Repair Program, Merced helps extremely low-income senior and disabled homeowners who cannot afford to keep their homes safe, sanitary, or structurally sound. Merced makes emergency health and safety related repairs at no cost to the homeowners. The SOS Program enables very low-income senior and disabled persons to stay in the homes they own and love. We also have found that receiving SOS assistance often restores faith and hope to seniors whose existence has become bleak because of their limited means.

At Merced Housing Texas, we believe that everyone has the right to safe, decent, affordable housing. Through our multifamily program, Merced provides quality, affordable, service-enriched multifamily housing to more than 1,800 families in south Texas. Hundreds more families with low incomes will be able to live in the affordable apartments Merced has under construction and under development.

Service–Enriched housing is housing that seeks to connect socially and economically isolated residents to each other and to those who can support their empowerment and well-being. At Merced, we believe that a home is central to the way people live and how they feel about themselves. Our resident services program makes social services and supportive programs available to residents either on-site or through a referral system in an effort to improve residents’ quality of life and build healthy communities. Through our resident services component, we seek to promote personal growth and family stability. Additional goals of the program are to increase educational opportunities and develop leadership skills of residents. Another goal is to create a sense of community at our properties so that residents can help each other.

At each property, the services component may be different because we design our programs based on the interests and needs of our residents. Merced collaborates with local service providers and other non-profit organizations in order to bring resources to our residents.

TEXAS INTER-FAITH

To conduct and carry on the work of the corporation not for profit but exclusively for public, charitable, religious, social and educational purposes, including, but not limited to, the development of low-cost housing and the provision of social, educational and mutual aid programs which will provide a better quality of life for the residents who we serve.

	Texas Inter-Faith is dedicated to insuring all economically disadvantaged people can be housed in dignity. We strive to create and preserve decent and affordable housing in the state of Texas. Over the course of 39 years, Texas Inter-faith has built a strong management and development team in pursuit of this goal. If we can further assist you in any way, please contact us during business hours.
Texas Inter-Faith, doing business as the Good Neighbor Program, provides supportive services to qualified low-income apartment communities. While all communities have similar needs, the development stages of a community will vary; therefore, supportive services are customized and timed to provide the advancement, improvement and social needs of each community as these opportunities arise. These services have been developed to meet the specific needs of the distinct groups of residents we serve - Seniors, Youth and Families. Our services focus on empowering residents, thus enabling them to claim and maintain their self-sufficiency and work towards building pride in the community and creating a 'true' neighborhood. On an individual basis, the long-term goal is to prepare residents for eventual home ownership.
Support services are provided in association with social service agencies, churches/synagogues and non-profit organizations. TIF works to assure that the right combination of services is offered to meet the myriad of needs within an apartment community. Services offered include but are not limited to personal growth opportunities, family skills development, education & referral services, fun & freedom activities and neighborhood advancement programs.
TIF's Supportive Services program has succeeded in becoming a statewide model and is well recognized by
	the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). At present, we have over 499 children in our afternoon/after-school activities and our programs are offered to over 4,000 individuals. Our Service Coordinators are trained and encouraged to bring new and innovative ideas and teaching methods into the program. We view our Coordinators as the catalyst for our residents to connect with the services they need. Additionally, various forms of electronic media allow for face-to-face links between our on-site communities and thus provide connection for our entire combined-community. In addition, this technology continues to foster local community development. For more information about our supportive services programs, please contact us.
Supportive Services Partners
B.H. Goodman Bus Capital Baylor College of Medicine Bexar County Fire Department Bexar County Sheriff’s Department Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston City Parks and Recreation Department - Houston and San Antonio COACH - USA Conroe Fire Department Covenant Community Capital Corp. Cy-Fair Fire Department Half-Priced Bookstore Harris County Sheriff’s Department Hollywood Video Houston Food Bank Houston Mayor's Anti-Gang Task Force Houston Police Department Imani Clinic Interfaith Charities, Inc. Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston La Rosa Laura Smith Recovery Center Neighborhood Centers Party Animals Quail Valley Youth Group of Georgetown Sweeney Fire Department Target - Start Something Program Technology for All Texas Agricultural Extension Service Texas Job Source Tinseltown United Way University of Houston YMCA of South Montgomery County       MEXICAN AMERICAN UNITY COUNCIL The Mexican American Unity Council, Inc. (MAUC) provides guidance, services, and resources within Bexar County in areas of education, housing, health, community and economic development. MAUC will be a beacon of hope recognized throughout Bexar County for helping people improve their lives and their community. MAUC was incorporated in 1967 as a means to diligently organize for economic and political empowerment of the Mexican American population in San Antonio. MAUC’s purpose at that time was ‘to provide gratuitously, counseling and educational programs to Mexican American volunteer groups and leaders, interested in the social, economic and educational problems of Mexican Americans throughout the State of Texas.’ It’s founding board of directors included, Dr. Charles Cotrell (St. Mary’s University), Dr. Richard Caldwell (Kelly AFB), Judge Albert A. Peña, Jr. (Bexar County Commissioner), and community activists Mario Compeán, William C. Velásquez, and Juán J. Patlán. MAUC, the first local affiliate of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR-formerly known as the Southwest Council of La Raza), soon established itself as a leader in advocating community problems. Like a finely woven tapestry or a detailed piece of art, with rich and vibrant colors and textures, MAUC has experienced the gamut in issues affecting our constituencies. At the crux of MAUC’s inception was the right to speak Spanish on school grounds at a local school district. Another was the inclusion of courses portraying the positive contributions made to society by Mexican Americans – something that was not taught in schools at the time. Voter education and registration was another effort – especially dear to the heart of then MAUC Executive Director Willie Velásquez. His work at MAUC laid the groundwork for his later endeavor, the Southwest Voter Education and Registration Project (SVREP). In the last thirty-seven years, MAUC’s activities have expanded and now encompass the program areas of:   Education Economic Development Housing Community   MAUC is always looking for opportunities to build capacity. What is capacity building? Very simple: it is the development of an organization’s core skills and capabilities such as Leadership Management Finance & Fundraising Programs & Evaluation… in order to build the organization’s effectiveness and sustainability. It is the process of assisting an individual or group to identify and address issues and gain insights, knowledge and experience needed to solve problems and implement change.