Photos: Alina Simone

Hispanic Housing and Education Corporation

HHEC was founded in 1991 on the principal that a “child without an education, is like a roof without a foundation.” By combining affordable housing with easy access to quality education, HHEC creates stable, family-oriented communities that offer residents lifelong benefits. A unique partnership with Houston Independant School District enables HHEC to provide children Pre-K through 2nd grade public schooling at “extension schools” located at HHEC’s Las Americas and East End Apartments properties.

A child without an education, is like a roof without a foundation.

Thanks to a wide network of social service partnerships, HHEC offers its residents a seemingly endless array of programs designed to meet their social, economic and health needs. These include adult education, job placement, down-payment assistance, on-site child immunization, and scores of programs for children from swimming lessons to juvenile anti-crime counseling.

Carmen Franco, her husband, and their three children have lived at Las Americas for 5 years. Carmen’s oldest daughter is a student at Las Americas Extension school. “We have many things that are not offered to residents in other apartments. There is a school for the girls. It’s very convenient for mothers like me who do not have a car. Now I volunteer at my children’s school; they can see I am taking an interest in their schooling and not just leaving all the responsibility to the teacher. This way I can be with my children and grow with them.”