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Although reports about the quality of life in colonias across the Rio Grande Valley have piled up over the years, for Ana Carolina “Caly” Fernandez, these communities are more than just data.

“The community has become the infrastructure,” said Fernandez. “They’ve built up resources, they’ve built up ways to help each other, they have Whatsapp groups and they’re constantly in communication.

“It’s just been a wonderful thing to watch.”

Through her work with The House of Love and Justice, an organization founded in 2021, Caly has worked to not just provide additional support for colonia residents but she has also made an effort to build relationships with the members of these communities.

Fernandez explained that there are currently about 950 unincorporated communities or colonias in Hidalgo County alone.

Of that number, she works in five colonias including three in North Edinburg and two in Donna, which is considered an extreme poverty area.

With state agencies and programs that have provided services for Texas colonias experiencing funding cuts over the years, Fernandez explained the colonias have lost much of the vital support they once had.

Despite the loss however, colonia residents have proven to be resilient.

With the help of two Promotores de Salud, who she referred to as Diana and Maria, they discuss the concerns of the community and ways to help address those needs.

As executive director of the organization, Fernandez organizes events such as food distributions, disaster relief as well as public health education events in partnership with universities including Schreiner University School of Nursing and Public Health and Texas A&M School of Public Health.

Fernandez explained that with the help of university students they will teach colonia residents different methods to purify their water, trash repurpose and reuse as well as help with community clean up events.

The organization also recently partnered with Solidarity Engineering, a group formed by three female engineers, who donated Life Straw water purification systems for colonia families.

Other partners include the Methodist Healthcare Ministries and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship who help fund disaster relief efforts during hurricane season.

Twice a month the organization will host a food distribution event in partnership with Border Missions who help collect fresh produce and canned goods for residents.

Fernandez also uses this as an opportunity to distribute other necessities such as diapers, wipes and other necessities.

“I take as much as I can,” Fernandez said. “ I also do home visits and find out what’s the big need in that colonia.”

However, with recent immigration efforts and ICE agents roaming around, Fernandez explained it has created a lot of fear among colonia residents.

She added that she had to stop placing the addresses of where the food distribution events were taking place because there was an instance where ICE agents were waiting for people to show up.

“They (ICE agents) were just driving through the colonia at a high rated speed. There’s four SUV’s with heavily tinted windows that you couldn’t see inside at all and then they were followed by a pick-up truck,” Fernandez said, adding that she notified residents to stay home. “When I left the colonia they followed me.”

Despite their presence, Fernandez wants to continue distributing food as it’s the only access people in the colonias have to healthy fresh foods.

She added that residents often don’t have access to a proper grocery store and are left with the nearest store being Dollar General and other similar markets.

Due to this, diabetes and obesity are among the most common health concerns in colonias, according to Fernandez.

In previous years, colonia residents had access to medical care through Operation Border Health, which provided no-cost medical care including physician check-ups, immunizations, dental services, eye exams and other health care necessities.

However, last year the event was cancelled due to federal funding cuts leaving residents without care.

“That really hurt the communities because they really relied on that every year,” Fernandez said, adding that many residents waited for the annual event to receive care.

In an effort to address those health needs, the organization, in partnership with Schreiner University, are hoping to host their own health fair early next year in Edinburg and potentially in Alamo.

With the help of physician assistants, nursing students and potentially medical students, the organization will help residents get the assessments they need.

As of right now, the health fair is scheduled for Jan. 4 through Jan. 9.

The team is now also turning their focus to addressing mental health through their program Strengthening Families, a course funded by the Lilly Endowment Center, which helps bring mental health services, parenting and spiritual formation classes to the colonias.

In an area where anxiety and depression are among the most common mental health issues, the goal of the initiative is to help colonia residents manage their stress and trauma, build stronger emotional bonds and integrate spiritual practices.

“Women loved it because it gave them a space where they could share their concerns,” Fernandez said. “They weren’t afraid to talk.”

She added that the organization is already working on launching the second phase of the initiative which will include counseling services at no cost.

Fernandez couldn’t help but beam as she spoke of the initiative and the changes she saw in colonia residents.

She described the change within the community as incredible and has seen them become more tight knit, with many of the families rallying together to support one another.

“They need relationships,” Caly said. “They don’t want people to think of them as they’re in survival mode. They go ‘We are surviving. We’re taking care of each other. We know how to take care of our people.’”