| The goal of the University of Texas at San Antonio's (UTSA) Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) program is to foster family self-sufficiency and provide information that will increase homeownership and improve housing options. The UTSA program will develop the Westside Community Resource Center and construct a child development center on the campus of the blighted Navarro School in partnership with the San Antonio Independent School District and Principe de Paz Inner City Outreach Ministries. The services of the community resource center will be available to residents from the low-income target Westside area of San Antonio, which will serve as a base for UTSA students' involvement in service learning projects. The UTSA Downtown Campus is located at the east end of the target area. The Navarro school is located in the target area and is two blocks from the UTSA campus.
The Westside target area is designated a HUD Empowerment Zone. The target area has the largest concentration of low-income residents in San Antonio, with more than 1,500 public housing units located in a half dozen different projects within its boundaries. In 1995, according to the Avenida Guadalupe 2020 Master Plan, the Near Westside area of San Antonio ranked as the 11th poorest neighborhood in the country in terms of per capita income. Almost one in four households received some form of housing assistance in 1998, mostly in the form of public housing. Nearly 51 percent of the residents in the target area who are 18 years and older have less than a 9th grade education; 2002 data from county health records indicates that Lanier High School in the Near Westside Area has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the county.
UTSA and the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) have entered into a partnership to develop The Advanced Academic and Special Interest Center Initiative-Vision 2005. The HUD grant will allow inclusion of the community resource and child development center in this initiative. The community resource center will serve as an adult learning center and dissemination site by providing opportunities for residents throughout the target community and the broader San Antonio community in the areas of early childhood education, homeownership, and starting and managing a small business. Enrollment in the child development center will be open to children from the targeted area as well as to the children of low- and moderate-income UTSA students from this community. The child development center will provide quality childcare for children from the target area so their parents can pursue higher education, skill enhancement training, or employment opportunities. In partnership with the SAM Ministries Shelter, the child development center will actively recruit homeless children.
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