MCALLEN, Texas - The Prosperity Task Force that was set up by Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez to fight poverty in the RGV met privately with U.S. Rep. Monica de la Cruz.
The meeting took place in the boardroom of Vantage Bank in McAllen on Aug. 26.
Judge Cortez said: "We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Rep. Monica de la Cruz for joining us today for an important roundtable discussion with county departments and community organizations.
"This meeting was a vital opportunity to present the key challenges our organizations are facing from housing and food security to workforce development, early childhood education and more. Many of these essential programs could face budget cuts in 2026, making our advocacy and collaboration more crucial than ever.
"We appreciate Rep. De La Cruz’s willingness to listen and engage in meaningful dialogue. It is through partnerships like this that we can work toward securing the vital funding our community needs to continue delivering services that improve lives across Hidalgo County and beyond."
As previously reported by the Rio Grande Guardian, many members of the task force have voiced concerns about funding cuts by the federal government, particularly to programs that help the poor and disadvantaged.
After the meeting had concluded, the Guardian secured interviews with three of the stakeholders and Congresswoman Monica De la Cruz.
Chief Executive Officer and President of AltaCair Foundation, Dr. Rashmi Chandran, discussed her concerns.
"There is a lot of need for pharmacy, dialysis and services of that sort for managing chronic conditions,” Dr. Chandran said. “These are only going to build up if any of the cuts go through because all of those factors, the food, the transportation, the childcare, everything affects the wholesome health of a person.”
Here is our interview with Dr. Chandran:
The Guardian also interviewed Felida Villarreal, president and chief executive officer of Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement.
“If these budget cuts do become implemented, then that will directly impact our capacity, our resources, our staff and the number of participants that we serve,” Villarreal said.
Here is our interview with Villarreal:
Felipe Salinas, member of Bread for the World, also attended the meeting. He told the Guardian: “From our perspective, as advocates on regard in dealing with hunger and food insecurity, our role as volunteer members of this organization is to pay attention to these things and then begin preparing ourselves to advocate for the cuts that we think may be coming or the funding needs that we see we would like to advocate for.”
Here is our interview with Salinas:
Rep. De La Cruz spoke about the concerns of members of the task force.
“I was thankful for the conversations so we could talk about their specific areas of concern and how we might be able to work together when we are looking at appropriations and upcoming budgets,” De La Cruz told the Guardian.
Here is our interview with De La Cruz:
