FY23 Community Project Requests
Community Project Funding Requests
Congressman Joaquin Castro has submitted funding requests for important community projects in Texas’ 20th Congressional District to the House Appropriations Committee.
Under guidelines issued by the Appropriations Committee, each Representative may request funding for up to 15 projects in their community for fiscal year 2023 – although only a handful may actually be funded. Projects are restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and eligible non-profit entities are permitted to receive funding. Additional information on the reforms governing Community Project Funding is available here.
In compliance with House Rules and Committee requirements, Congressman Castro has certified that he, his spouse, and his immediate family have no financial interest in any of the projects he has requested.
Project Name: Chicano Arts Curriculum for K-12 Students
Proposed Recipient: Centro Cultural Aztlan, Inc.
Address: 1800 Fredericksburg Rd #103, San Antonio, TX 78201
Amount of Request: $95,000
Explanation of Request: Through this curriculum development project, Centro Cultural Aztlan will work with artists, educators, historians, and cultural experts to develop a series of lesson plans with audio-visual resources and age-appropriate arts activities to engage K-12 students in learning about Chicano art, culture, and history.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Guadalupe Latino Bookstore Education Outreach and Literacy Program
Proposed Recipient: Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
Address: 1301 Guadalupe St, San Antonio, TX 78207
Amount of Request: $102,250
Explanation of Request: The Guadalupe Latino Bookstore is a valuable new resource in the San Antonio community which provides an excellent space and new opportunities to offer expanded expert-designed, culturally relevant, and locally situated bilingual programs to underscore literacy as a social practice and to support the educational advancement of local children and other Texas constituents.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Guardian House – Triple P Positive Parenting Program Expansion
Proposed Recipient: Guardian House
Address: 1818 San Pedro Ave, San Antonio, TX 78212
Amount of Request: $483,963
Explanation of Request: The Triple P Positive Parenting Program is an evidence-based, scalable, and adaptable parenting and family support system. Currently, this program is provided at no cost to the San Antonio community by the City of San Antonio Metro Health and its community partners as part of Metro Health’s ongoing goal of preventing child abuse and breaking generational cycles of family violence.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: HUB Government Contracting Academy
Proposed Recipient: University of Texas San Antonio
Address: 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249
Amount of Request: $576,000
Explanation of Request: The HUB Government Contracting Academy offers business development, work history reviews and guidance, on-going and consistent advising, access to Capital education and collaboration as solutions for HUBs to successfully win and complete government contracts.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: SA West Small Business Support Program
Proposed Recipient: LiftFund Inc.
Address: 2007 W Martin St, San Antonio, TX 78207
Amount of Request: $1,000,000
Explanation of Request: This project would include a $920,000 grant fund to provide LiftFund with capital to either make grants directly to small businesses to revitalize their business building infrastructure and for LiftFund to use in identifying structures to be purchased for curating small business to the Westside of San Antonio. There would be administrative costs of $80,000 to administer the fund, review and evaluate applications for funding, process application packages and award grant funding to approved recipients.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Casa Bella Project
Proposed Recipient: City of San Antonio Westside Development Corporation DBA Prosper West
Address: 630 SW 41st St, San Antonio, TX 78237
Amount of Request: $1,000,000
Explanation of Request: The program proposes to acquire Westside homes that are chronically vacant, abandoned, or otherwise in a dilapidated condition, and rehab them to modern standards of construction quality and sustainability while also improving their aesthetic contribution to the neighborhood. After a home has been rehabbed, Casa Bella will sell it to a household that earns 80% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI), thus presenting an opportunity for homeownership that would normally be out of reach for many on the Westside.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: The High Impact Housing Project (HIPP)
Proposed Recipient: Our Casas Resident Council, Inc.
Address: 2300 W Commerce St #302, San Antonio, TX 78207
Amount of Request: $1,057,257
Explanation of Request: This project seeks to repair the homes of low-income homeowners around the neighborhood. Our Casas will build the Zarzamora Affordable Homes Project, which will be the new construction of five single-family homes for sale to families earning 80% or less of the area's average median income.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: The Autism Mobile Assessment Bus and Learning Environment (AMABLE)
Proposed Recipient: A&M University San Antonio
Address: One University Way, San Antonio, TX 78224
Amount of Request: $300,000
Explanation of Request: AMABLE will serve Edgewood ISD and other partner schools in South San Antonio. The mobile unit will assess and develop recommendations for school-based autism services and educational supports; provide training for teachers and parents; and raise awareness of autism-related issues. The AMABLE motorcoach will be a mobile assessment clinic that provides autism assessment services, parent training, community support services, and Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) training to the community.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Evaluation and Research Coordinating Center for the Multi-assistance Center (MAC) at Morgan’s Wonderland
Proposed Recipient: University of Texas San Antonio
Address: 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249
Amount of Request: $492,370
Explanation of Request: The goal of this proposal is to seed the Evaluation and Research Coordinating Center (ERCC) – an evaluation and research center, led by the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), at the MAC at Morgan’s Wonderland. The ERCC will collaboratively establish a comprehensive research program to provide timely data and improve patient outcomes for people living with disabilities and their caregivers in the San Antonio area.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Support Center for Miracles capacity to care for victims of child abuse and neglect
Proposed Recipient: CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health Care Corporation Center for Miracles
Address: 315 N Saba Ste 201, San Antonio, TX 78207
Amount of Request: $472,699
Explanation of Request: Funding for this project enables the Center for Miracles to provide training and education to members of the South Texas community on identifying and handling possible child abuse cases. This funding will help train future counselors, social workers, medical staff and first responders to identify, assess, diagnose, and treat child abuse and neglect.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Electric Shuttle Bus (eBus) Program at the Airport
Proposed Recipient: San Antonio International Airport
Address: 9800 Airport Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78216
Amount of Request: $1,500,000
Explanation of Request: This project will allow for the purchase of three (3) electronic passenger buses (eBus), associated chargers, and design and installation of chargers at the San Antonio International Airport’s Consolidated Rental Car Facility (CONRAC).
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: FQHC Renovation: CentroMed South Park Medical Clinic
Proposed Recipient: El Centro del Barrio dba CentroMed
Address: 123 Ascot Avenue, San Antonio, Texas 78224
Amount of Request: $1,946,250
Explanation of Request: As part of ongoing efforts to increase and enhance access to comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary care services and improve health-related outcomes for underserved, vulnerable populations, CentroMed requests funding consideration to support renovation costs for the CentroMed South Park Medical Clinic.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Renovation of the UT Health San Antonio and UTSA shared school for the University of Texas School of Public Health at San Antonio
Proposed Recipient: University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio
Address: 7411 John Smith Dr #1100, San Antonio, TX 78229
Amount of Request: $6,000,000
Explanation of Request: San Antonio has established a strong positive identity for public health leadership, and this project will create a shared school between UT Health San Antonio and University of Texas San Antonio. This new school will create extensive opportunities to expand educational outreach and public health access to communities most in need. This funding seeks to renovate an existing building for the new school.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Construction and Equipment for the Innovation Center at St. Mary's University
Proposed Recipient: St. Mary’s University
Address: One Camino Santa Maria, San Antonio, TX 78228
Amount of Request: $6,110,199
Explanation of Request: Requested funds will support the construction of a new facility called the Innovation Center and to equip seven laboratories related to advanced manufacturing including Robotics and Smart Manufacturing; Measurement and Instrumentation; Human Factors; Additive Manufacturing and Reverse Engineering; Data Science and Machine Learning; Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Supply Chain; and an Engineering Design Studio.
Certification Letter: Here
Project Name: Center for Innovative Drug Discovery in Hepatic Steatosis (CIDD-HS)
Proposed Recipient: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Address: 7703 Floyd Curl Dr, San Antonio, TX 78229
Amount of Request: $1,945,000
Explanation of Request: A project to provide laboratory equipment and instrumentation for the CIDD-HS to discover novel treatments for hepatic steatosis. By focusing on new treatments for hepatic steatosis, the CIDD-HS will also help prevent liver failure and liver cancer that arise from hepatic steatosis.
Certification Letter: Here