Colonias Development Council

Colonias Development Council is a community organizing agency which provides community support to colonia residents in southern New Mexico. The main areas of work include: community development, environmental health and justice, farm worker issues, education, economic development, and civil rights.

Mission Statement: The mission of the Colonias Development Council (CDC) is to improve the quality of life through the promotion, development and preservation of decent and affordable housing in colonia communities in southern New Mexico while creating the space for social, economic, and environmental justice initiatives.

• The Colonias Development Council (CDC) is a private, non-profit, grassroots community organization that was established in 1994. The CDC uses a community organizing approach to help colonia residents devise self-help, community-based strategies to address common needs in the Colonias of southern New Mexico. Our work is characterized by a long-term commitment to facilitating the processes for community organizing and leadership development in order to achieve social change.
  
  
• Have recently started an immigration and education program. The immigration and education programs work together to prepare clients for their citizenship interview by teaching both ESL and U.S. history/civics simultaneously. The immigration office also works closely with our classes to prepare clients applications and accompany them through their nationalization processes. We currently have classes in Hatch, Las Cruces, Anthony and Chaparral and are looking at expanding.

What we do:

The CDC promotes leadership development by engaging communities in civic processes. We strive to build effective grassroots organizations, nurture infrastructure, and promote community and economic development. Civic engagement activities offer opportunities for colonia residents to learn about the decision-making processes that affect their lives, providing hands-on experience through negotiation, advocacy, research, and organizing. We are a learning organization seeking to understand the dynamics of social change given established inequities in the communities where we work. In addition to building community capacity to address ongoing environmental hazards in Colonias through mobilization, organizing, and advocacy, we also build programs that create spaces for increased justice and equity.