Since its inception in 1986, Neighborhood Housing Services of Dimmit County (NHSDC) has served as the Middle Rio Grande region’s most active and visible community and economic development agency and has a strong record in business and housing lending, and a reputation for innovation in and attention to local agriculture industries. NHSDC serves eleven rural border counties in Southwest Texas. Characterized by substandard housing, high unemployment, low educational attainment, and poverty, ten of these counties have also been designated by USDA, wholly or in part, as food deserts. As the principal economic and community development agent in a vast and sparsely populated region of Texas, participation in the Healthy Food Financing Initiative is a natural fit with NHSDC’s efforts to enhance local quality of life through financing businesses that bring life-changing resources to our communities.
 
NHSDC is using HFFI financing to support loans to healthy food retailers in ten Texas counties in the Middle Rio Grande Valley that lack access to healthy food. The Middle Rio Grande Valley is characterized by substandard housing, high unemployment, low educational attainment, and poverty. HFFI financing will benefit two Empowerment Zone counties (Dimmit and Zavala) and one Native American community (Kikapoo Tribe) in Maverick County.
 
Projected Impacts

• Loans to community and economic development projects in rural, underserved Texas counties
• Support for sustainable farming practices such as olive groves, farming coops, hydroponics, and home-based greenhouse gardens

 
Source of money: HFFI CDFI-Financial Assistance Program; Fiscal year(s): 2012