Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Annotated Bibliography:

Colonias Poverty at UTEP

Ulysses Cano

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

October 28, 2018

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

Research Questions

1. What are possible outcomes to the lack of economic resources in the colonia

regions?

2. Who does this affect?

3. Who is trying to solve the problem?

4. How does colonias poverty affect UTEP?

5. How does UTEP contribute to solving this problem?

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 3

Annotated Bibliography

Barton, J., Ryder Perlmeter, E., Sobel-Blum, E., & Marquez, R. (2015). Las colonias in the 21st

century: progress along the Texas-Mexico border. Retrieved

from http://www.dallasfed.org/assets/documents/cd/pubs/lascolonias.pdf

Barton (2015) claimed the economy in the colonias has improved since the early 2000’s.

He made this claim because the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 forced the wait

time to cross into the United States to change from thirty minutes to around three and a

half hours. Before the terrorist attack, many manufacturing companies had their plants in

Mexico. After 9/11 and the extended wait time to cross into the United States, many

companies moved their plants into the United States where some of these colonias people

could be employed. Along with these jobs, these people have also been working in the

informal economy were government has very few regulations, but they make small profit

in this economy.

Bratt, R. G. (2007). Homeownership for low-income households: A comparison of the section

235, nehemiah, and habitat for humanity programs. In W. M. Rohe, & H. L. Watson

(Eds.), Chasing the american dream (pp. 41-65) Cornell University Press.

Programs were implemented to help the low-income households become first time

homeowners, but the programs did have some unfortunate outcomes. Bratt (2007) argues

that the Section 235 Program, a program to reduce the interest rate for privately

originated home mortgages, caused many serious problems (p. 45). Many credit scores

were not review before the home buyer bought the home. This caused problems in the

lack of payment in some of the purchases. Another problems that the Section 235

Program cause was bad location of choosing where houses were built. Many of the
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 4

purchases of houses were built in declining communities where people could not recover

their investments.

Carter, N., & Ortolano, L. (2004). Implementing government assistance programmes for water

and sewer systems in texas colonias. International Journal of Water Resources

Development, 20(4), 553-564.

People of the colonias have suffered greatly in years prior to 1989 because the lack of

water and wastewater treatment for them. According to Carter and Ortolano (2004),

changes in incentives and management capabilities helped create more focus on colonias

from outside sources (p. 563). Colonias were largely ignored because cities nearby would

need to provide for them and the low income of colonias would pay small amounts of

taxes. Cities would often be repelled by the large amounts of money being put in the

colonia projects that would produce much less income. In 1989, the government started

to take action on the situation by attempting to control the growth of the colonias along

the Texas-Mexico border.

Chahin, J., Caradenas, B., Estrada, J., Galan, H., Chapa, J., Madrid, A., …, Salinas, C.

(1999). Children of the colonias. Southwest Texas State University: Southwest Texas

State University.

Colonias are said to be unincorporated areas with lack of infrastructure that inhabit

residents with very low incomes. Chahin (1999) argues that the colonias face many

serious problems (p. 1). In twenty-three percent of homes in the colonia area, there is a

lack of treated water. Many of these households also suffer poor living conditions. In the

colonias, it has become common to see people with water related problems. The people

living in these areas have little access to health care, unsanitary living conditions, and
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environmental hazards. The children living in the colonias have suffered through health

problems ranging from asthma to dysentery due to the environmental hazards.

English, C. (2013). For hispanics, border wage gap reflects education, english divide.

1 Retrieved

from https://www.dallasfed.org/careers/Student%20and%20Graduates/~/media/document

s/research/swe/2013/swe1303g.pdf

Hispanics along the United States and Mexico border suffer through low income that has

an effect on their education. According to Christina English (2013), Hispanic residents

are at a disadvantage compared to non-Hispanics (p. 16). Hispanics have a tougher time

in the United States because of their history along with their customs. Some Hispanics

were able to get into the United States illegally causing them to only be able to obtain

lowers paying jobs. Another reason Hispanics can only get lower paying jobs is because

Hispanics pass non-Hispanics in only having their high school diploma, but non-

Hispanics completely outrank Hispanics in having a college degree by 22 percent. This

information could be linked to the amount of English communication skills that these

Hispanics have. On an English proficiency scale, the average Hispanic border resident is

30 percent lower than the average non-Hispanic resident.

Esparza, A. X., & Donelson, A. J. (2008). Colonias in Arizona and New Mexico. Tucson: The

University of Arizona Press.

All colonias have their own distinct features such as the size, location, history and

regional setting that help in the identifying process. According to Esparza and Donelson

(2008), over fifty percent of colonias have a population of two thousand people in New

Mexico and Arizona (p. 58). Only a small portion of the colonias in the New Mexico and
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Arizona are large incorporated cities. Most of the time, the people in the colonias need to

travel long distances on the road to the place of employment. Regardless of some of the

better qualities of each of these colonias, a large number problems still live in the colonia

communities.

Marín, G., Burhansstipanov, L., Connell, C. M., Gielen, A. C., Helitzer-Allen, D., Lorig,

K., Morisky, D., Tenney, M., Thomas, S. (1995). A research agenda for health education

among underserved populations. Health Education Quarterly, 22(3), 346-363.

The underserved people of the United States of America have greater health risks.

According to Martin (1995), the average Hispanic man is highly more likely to die from

injuries, stroke, and cirrhosis compared to the average White man (p. 349). Because the

underserved people have less resources than the average Whites, they have become more

likely to die earlier. The lack of accessible health care for the underserved people creates

a larger problem for illnesses than they should be. These people also lack some

knowledge on heath issues such as sanitary health practices. The underserved people are

handicap to the system by living in unhealthy environment.

Martinez, O. J. (2016). The U.S.-mexico border economy. In A. J. Donelson, & A. X.

Esparza, The colonias reader: Economy, housing and public health in US-mexico border

colonias (pp. 15-25). Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Retrieved

from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RMRADQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=

PR7&dq=The+colonias+reader:+Economy,+housing+and+public+health+in+U.S.-

Mexico+border+colonias&ots=u8g1pGgOmQ&sig=okKF8shqgAYe1ZMagGrnzDB4Eu

Y#v=onepage&q&f=true
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Colonias along the border have a rich history of how they came to exist in the economic

shape that they are. According to Donelson and Esparaza (2016), trade between the

United States and Mexico was based on low paying jobs for Mexican or Mexican

American workers to have the American companies make more of a profit (p. 20).

Maquiladoras, cheap labor factories, were established to increase production for the

companies. The workers of these companies were focused on their labor ability rather

than using the time to educate themselves. For this reason, the people in these jobs stay in

low income jobs with little or no education.

Parcher, J. W., & Humberson, D. G. (2009). Using GIS to assess priorities of infrastructure and

health needs of" colonias" along the united states-mexico border. Journal of Latin

American Geography, , 129-148.

Colonias have been viewed and improved over many years. According to Parcher (2009),

the Texas Secretary of State created a change that would help keep track and improve

colonias in Texas (p. 134). The Texas Secretary of State passed the Senate Bill 827 which

would mandate the creation of a colonia identification system along with the tracking of

progress made by state funded colonia improvement projects. To review the effectiveness

of the programs, the Senate Bill 827 required the Office of the Texas Secretary of State to

submit a report on the colonias every two years. The consisted of the population growth

and areas in with the colonia can improve.

Ramshaw, E. (2011). Major health problems, many linked to poverty, plague residents of

colonias. The New York Times Retrieved from http://0-

link.galegroup.com.lib.utep.edu/apps/doc/A261008339/OVIC?u=txshracd2603&sid=OVI

C&xid=b3578b5c
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The condition in which the residents of a colonia live in are poor compared to urban

areas. According to Ramshaw (2011), half a million people living in approximately two

thousand three hundred colonias exist along the Texas-Mexico border (paragraph 4). In

colonias, it is not rare to find dirt floors shacks that is part broken down motor home, part

splintered wood. Some residents say colonias are so bad that they would go to Mexico if

they knew that their children had a better future. The people of colonias often face

problems concerning the availability of water causing some residents to wash clothes in

the same sink as they wash their dinner food in. This can cause many future health

problems in the residents.

Roman, M. (2018, ). One project at a time: UTEP's engineers for a sustainable world awarded for

rainwater harvesting. The Prospector, pp. 1. Retrieved

from https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1317&context=prospe

ctor

UTEP’s Engineers for a Sustainable World chapter provided change for the people living

in Las Pampas by installing a water harvesting system. According to Roman (2018), the

engineers of UTEP were able to provide a beneficial service to the residents of Las

Pampas (paragraph 5). The engineers of UTEP with help from outside sources created a

system that collected water for the residents. The water collected would save the residents

by reducing the amount of times they need to haul in large amounts of water. Hauling in

the water could cause strain on the elderly living in colonia homes. The water collected

could be used for gardening, landscaping and livestock use saving the residents fifteen to

twenty dollars per month.

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Romero, M. (1991). My view: Guest column. The Prospector, pp. 3. Retrieved

from https://theprospector.newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-prospector/1991-11-07/page-3/

In 1991, Proposition 12 was passed with fifty-five percent of voters agreeing caused

major changes to life in the colonias. According to Romero (1991), Proposition 12 is an

amendment in the constitution that allows Texas to spend one hundred and fifty million

dollars on projects in the colonias (paragraph 3). In March of 1991, the University of

Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College hosted a conference discussion on the

quality of life. Evidence that explains the poor quality of life in the colonias was brought

forward. Water pumps and cesspools were only twenty-one feet apart. Because

Proposition 12 was passed, water and sewage project were able to be funded.