Category: Community

Cosmetology students offer services for community When it comes to planning his future, one Miller High School student is a cut above his peers. Rico Cano, a dual credit cosmetology student, said he will graduate from Del Mar College before finishing high school and hopes to one day work for himself. “I want to go to barber school, get my barber license and then open up my own salon,” Cano said while highlighting a client’s hair. Cano is one of 18 students in instructor Lissa Gonzalez’s summer class. Students in the class perform haircuts and coloring options. Students as well…

Unsanitary conditions lead to safety, health concerns Located down county roads is a collection of homes in what seems like overgrown pastures that form an unseen and underserved community. Daily life for residents of these communities, known as colonias, can be tough. Colonias, defined as small unincorporated pieces of land lacking basic services such as potable water, proper drainage, waste management and electricity, can often be unsafe and unsanitary. Lionel and Juanita Lopez have worked with these communities for more than 30 years. The Lopezes are advocates of the South Texas Colonia Initiative, which began in 2004. Fighting for the…

Couple dedicate lives to helping colonia residents Lionel Lopez remembers the night in 1974 that would put him on a course that would occupy the next 40 years of his and his wife’s lives. On a cold, raining night in 1974 during his days as a firefighter, Lionel Lopez responded to a call for an elderly woman suffering from a heart attack in one of the Nueces County colonias. He was made aware of the freezing interior of the unkempt home and the unstable surroundings she was living in. “She was an elderly lady and we got her out, and…

Residents often deal with bad water, frequent flooding Rosemary Jimenez has lived in the Cindy Park Colonia for more than three decades, but according to her, “this isn’t a life I would recommend to anyone.” Sitting in her small trailer home on nearly two acres of land, Jimenez, 56, lists the illnesses that plague her: ”I am handicapped. Since 2009 I’ve had multiple strokes. I have seizures and heart problems. I was healthy before I came here.” She isn’t alone. Jimenez says that “in the last three years, six people have died of cancer on my street alone.” Since moving…