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CDCB calls DreamBuild a “grow home” model, where modular homes start at around 600 square feet with one bedroom and one bathroom. Then families can add extra rooms — bathrooms, bedrooms, offices — to the homes, around 300 square feet at a time. Paint, fixtures, porches and more are all customizable, in order to meet the needs of the homeowners.

Come Dream, Come Build (CDCB), officially launched its DreamBuild modular housing program last week, an effort more than five years in the making. The program’s concept is simple: give families who need affordable housing a choice in how their homes are built and the option to expand their home if they need more space.

After renting for years, a Brownsville woman is proud to be a homeowner.

"I didn't want to pay rent, I want a home that's mine," Olga Valdez said.

Last year, Valdez said she moved into a two bedroom, two-bath house that she calls a "perfect fit."

It’s something that would not have been possible without the help of the Brownsville non-profit organization, Come Dream, Come Build.

The Biden administration issued new minimum energy standards for homes built with federal dollars, a move that the government says will result in millions in annual cost savings for renters and homeowners.

Dozens of people gathered under the high roof of the 8,000-square-feet open air steel building that anchors “The Farm,” the site on Old Alice Road where the energy efficient homes are manufactured before being transported to a site of the buyer’s choosing

Ayudar a las familias a tener una vivienda a bajo costo es el objetivo de una organización local en el Valle.

Después de alquilar durante años una mujer de Brownsville, se enorgullece de ser propietaria de una casa

Rural America is teeming with innovation, opportunity, and solutions to many flawed economic policies. And it always has been. Counter to the common narrative of the decline of all things rural, both history and experience tell a different story.

he fading, two-tone “Every Step Counts” mural on the southeastern-facing exterior wall of the CDCB building at 901 E. Levee St. downtown wasn’t hideous by any means, but it wasn’t particularly eye-catching either.

Rapidly rising insurance premiums are forcing affordable housing developers to cut back on programming, lay off staff, and even sell. To add insult to injury, some insurers also seem to be adding penalties or withdrawing coverage for housing voucher holders.

El mural es un homenaje a la ayuda brindada por el CDCB a cientos de familias para que puedan obtener su casa propia.

'Come Dream Come Build', una organización sin fines de lucro, busca ayudar a los propietarios de viviendas en el Valle a informarse sobre las excepciones de pago de impuesto a la propiedad a las que podrían calificar.

Young men and women in Cameron County are learning what it takes to build a home.

The students are part of Youth Build, a program with the Brownsville-based non-profit organization Come Dream Come Build.

En el Condado Cameron, la organización de desarrollo de viviendas comunitarias sin fines de lucro CDCB anunció sobre la apertura de nuevas oportunidades hipotecarias.

En respuesta a la creciente demanda de vivienda en el condado Cameron, la organización sin fines de lucro CDCB ha anunciado la apertura de nuevas oportunidades hipotecarias.

First built in 1925, the historic Samano Building in Brownsville is being revitalized by a local non-profit.

A guest column from the Nick Mitchell-Bennett, CEO of cdcb, that served as the prepared remarks Mitchell-Bennett delivered at a recent public hearing hosted by the City of Brownsville.

The plan is to impose a one-time charge on developers as they begin new projects. The fees raised would go towards roadway improvements.

Homestead exemptions can help lower property taxes, but homeowners have to apply for it.

'Come Dream Come Build', una organización sin fines de lucro, busca ayudar a los propietarios de viviendas en el Valle a informarse sobre las excepciones de pago de impuesto a la propiedad a las que podrían calificar.

A grant from the U.S. Department of Labor will provide job training and education for Brownsville students.

The grant was awarded to CDCB YouthBuild, a program that will support 60 students from the Brownsville area and seven high-need zip codes throughout Cameron County.

Rural America is far more diverse than how it is portrayed in media and popular culture. This article concludes the series

There was a disturbance in the force for Texas cities and counties this legislative session.

A bill dubbed the Death Star Bill — after the moon-sized technological terrors of Star Wars fame — passed both houses and is likely to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. 

Opponents say House Bill 2127 is a continuing erosion of local control by GOP state lawmakers.

The majority of Cameron County’s lowest income homeowners are paying more than their share of property taxes because they’re not claiming the Texas Homestead Tax Exemption they’re entitled to.

CDCB, formerly the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville, announced April 11 that the Texas Homeowner Assistance program still has federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to help homeowners left in a financial bind by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Una organización sin fines de lucro del Condado de Cameron, bajo el nombre de Come Dream, Come Build, está presionando para construir más viviendas asequibles al Valle.

Están pidiendo a los legisladores en Austin que inviertan algunos de los miles de millones de dólares que tiene el estado del Plan de Rescate Estadounidense para construir más hogares asequibles en el Valle.

The Brownsville non-profit organization, Come Dream Come Build, is pushing to bring more affordable housing to the Rio Grande Valley.

With the current state legislative session underway, they plan to bring the issue to the attention of lawmakers.

The Esparza family has been living along West Washington in Brownsville for 14 years. Space in their two-bedroom apartment is tight for the family of five.

The housing/lending program uses modular housing built off site in Los Fresnos, at a production facility CDCB has dubbed “The Farm.” The modules are then transported to the homesite and assembled, explained CDCB Executive Director Nick Mitchell-Bennett.

“It’s a factory technically … but we like to call it The Farm because it’s where we grow homes,” he said.

A Brownsville couple is wrapping up their first weekend in their new home.

The Palacios family was able to purchase their home with the help of the Mi Casita program through the non-profit Come Dream, Come Build.

Spurred by an idea from a Brownsville nonprofit focusing on housing, Come Dream, Come Build, or CDCB, multiple agencies representing varied interests in housing rallied together as part of Affordable Housing Day at the capitol.

Martha Alicia López hablo con la familia quien hoy hizo su sueño realidad.

Evictions are on the rise in Cameron County, and a local organization that has helped keep people in their home has run out of funding.

Now, Come Dream, Come Build is turning to the state in hopes of continuing to help others.

Officials here approved a partnership with the Community Loan Center, a Brownsville-based organization that offers short-term loans which city employees can repay via payroll deduction.

Hablamos con la organización en Brownsville que ayuda a quienes esten buscando dar este paso, aquí te decimos que necesitas para asistir.

Making money flow faster after a disaster is the point of SB 289, which authorizes local governments to pre-plan for a catastrophe to the extent possible with the aim of expediting federal assistance from HUD and FEMA.

Innovators are invited to apply for grants of up to $3 million to scale solutions to housing challenges.

The Wells Fargo Foundation is expanding its commitment to housing affordability through another $20 million competition with Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) to find housing solutions.

Making money flow faster after a disaster is the point of SB 289, which authorizes local governments to pre-plan for a catastrophe to the extent possible with the aim of expediting federal assistance from HUD and FEMA.

Linear Park was bustling Saturday morning starting at 9 a.m. as Brownsville-area residents came out to officially start The Challenge-RGV 2023 with the official weigh-in for competitors.

emperature changes can alter how air collects, holds, and releases water. That’s why, as our planet continues to overheat and the air gets hotter, many extreme weather events — like hurricanes and floods — can get more intense or happen more often. 

The National Building Museum’s (NBM) new exhibition on affordable housing, "A Better Way Home," highlights six winning proposals of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, a $20 million grant competition started by Wells Fargo and Enterprise Community Partners in 2019. 

Cameron Park, the largest U.S. colonia, sits inside Brownsville’s city limits, and yet, it maintains an unincorporated status. Over the years, its population has grown from a few hundred residents to now about 7,000.

In Texas’s Rio Grande Valley (RGV), housing instability is something of a hidden problem. When Come Dream, Come Build (CDCB), a local private, nonprofit community development organization, set out to research the scope of the issue with funding from a Wells Fargo grant, their policy team felt that sticking to fact sheets and webinars limited the reach of their inquiry.

The shortage of affordable housing is an ongoing challenge in the United States. About 20 million households in the U.S. are paying more than a third of their income on rent, and there’s a shortfall of about seven million homes for people with very low incomes.

The Community Loan Center, which provides low-interest, low-fee, small-dollar personal through employers loans as an alternative to predatory payday and auto-title lenders, last month issued its 100,000th loan since the program’s inception in 2011.

The Community Loan Center, which provides low-interest, low-fee, small-dollar personal through employers loans as an alternative to predatory payday and auto-title lenders, last month issued its 100,000th loan since the program's inception in 2011.

Residents behind on their mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance, utility bills or homeowner/condominium association fees can now receive in-person help to apply for up to $65,000 in state funds.

Two Texas-based nonprofits are developing disaster-resilient affordable homes in the Rio Grande Valley for low-income communities of color.

JPMorgan Chase announced five organizations will receive philanthropic commitments of $3 million each to scale innovative climate-resilient affordable housing models.

JPMorgan Chase announced five organizations will receive philanthropic commitments of $3 million each to scale innovative climate-resilient affordable housing models.

JPMorgan Chase announced five organizations will receive philanthropic commitments of $3 million each to scale innovative climate-resilient affordable housing models.

Come Dream Come Build, formerly the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville, is one of just five organizations nationwide selected by JPMorgan Chase to receive grants of $3 million each for the purpose of scaling up innovative, climate-resilient, affordable housing models.

Come Dream. Come Build., an organization in Brownsville, is hoping to help meet the demand of the housing market. The organization has extended its Mi Casita program, which helps people find sustainable home options in the Valley. 

"My house is very deteriorated, deteriorated, yes," Brownsville resident Alma Medrano said. "My house is a bit big, but in the end, I am just one person living there."

ome Dream Come Build (CDCB) reopened its doors this week after taking two weeks to restructure and regroup, according to the organization’s program manager, Crystal Losoya.

Innovation, by definition, is the introduction of something new. While it might seem like a multi-industry buzzword nowadays, innovation is essential.

An organization in Brownsville that files rental assistant applications is closing its doors for the next two weeks.

The organization, CDCB Come Dream. Come Build., said their backlog was too much.

“We have a huge demand for housing, especially level entry housing and we have very little supply,” said Norma Hinojosa, broker and owner of RE/MAX Elite.

The cost of housing in Cameron County rose by 61 percent last year and solutions for providing affordable housing for low- to moderate-income homebuyers are getting scarcer, though CDCB thinks it has an answer with something called MiCASiTA.

Rural America grows a majority of this country’s food. Paradoxically, these communities experience overwhelming levels of food insecurity and hunger. They are called food insecure, meaning they cannot consistently depend on affordable and nutritious foods to be available.

The cost of housing in Cameron County rose by 61 percent last year and solutions for providing affordable housing for low- to moderate-income homebuyers are getting scarcer, though CDCB thinks it has an answer with something called MiCASiTA.

Financial education and financial literacy are two of the lesser discussed keys to financial independence mentioned in the industry. Understanding concepts of saving, investing, and debt typically leads to an overall sense of financial security and self-assuredness, not to mention healthier livelihoods.

Come Dream Come Build, a Cameron County organization dedicated to affordable housing, is preparing to launch its next affordable housing concept, MiCasita.

The benefits of homeownership are well documented. Homeowners’ children are likelier to graduate and enroll in college than renters’ children, and homeowners across the income spectrum exhibit higher rates of civic engagement through voting than non-homeowners.

In a world where money + power = respect, the Partners for Rural Transformation are changing the equation. Capital + consistency = Change.

When people in the finance world talk about “credit invisibles,” Ron Molina-Brantley says he knows exactly who they mean.

One non-profit in Brownsville has renovated 100-year-old homes into affordable housing options for the community.

Innovation, by definition, is the introduction of something new. While it might seem like a multi-industry buzzword nowadays, innovation is essential.

Varias casa en la calle Jackson, en Brownsville fueron rehabilitadas para alquilarlas a personas de bajos recursos.

If you need help paying rent and utility bills, The ERA program provides assistance to renters in Cameron County who have been financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to pay current and past due rent and utility bills. 

Guided by a vision of a nation where persistent poverty no longer exists, six regional Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) located in and serving regions with a high prevalence of persistent poverty came together to form the Partners for Rural Transformation.

A group has partnered with the city of Brownsville to repair and renovate the Historic Jackson Street Cottages.

Funding for the $1 million project came from the federal government and local businesses. 

Come Dream Come Build (cdcb) in Brownsville is returning to in-person homeownership information sessions for low to moderate-income homebuyers.

Brownsville has seen significant economic growth during the pandemic, but some experts say as more businesses and jobs hit the city, residents are faced with a lack of affordable housing. 

The Cameron County Emergency Rental Assistance program is available for renters, and Come Dream Come Build (CDCB) is still accepting applications for those in need.

The city of Brownsville's mission of boosting the well-being of residents is pressing forward in the city's Southmost neighborhood.

 The UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville received a $20,000 grant from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to improve access to nature trails and programming in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health Brownsville has been awarded a $20,000 grant from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy or RTC.

On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, a social safety net that aims to support the needs of the middle class.

Thirteen years after a grass-roots group of West Brownsville residents assembled themselves to oppose a proposed toll road along what would become former Union Pacific railroad right of way, on Friday a ceremonial groundbreaking was held to mark their victory.

It’s been a long time coming, but Brownsville’s West Rail Trail project is about to become a reality.

The city of Brownsville will soon break ground on a new project that will provide more access to hike and bike trails across the city.

Housing experts said home prices continue to soar while the median pay wage stays the same.

The demand for affordable housing in the Rio Grande Valley is growing, and local organizations are requesting federal funding to help families.

Housing experts across the board said it is hard to find affordable housing in Brownsville, but one organization is focused on developing more low-cost housing units in the area.

BCIC Taking applicants for grant funding from Elon Musk Foundation

Analice las diversas opciones de ayuda para evitar ser desalojado.

Esta ayuda es especificamente para el Condado Cameron y puediera apoyar tanto a inquilinos como a propietarios.

Con la extensión por un mes más de la orden que prohíbe los desalojos de arrendatarios

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended the federal government's pandemic-related eviction moratorium to July 31.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the eviction moratorium by another month, but local housing experts say that affordable housing will not be available for those who need it.

The nearly century-old Samano Building at 1158 E. Elizabeth St. in downtown Brownsville is being brought back to life thanks to a $12 million restoration/renovation project scheduled to begin in October.

Candidates from each of Brownsville's runoff races for city commission seats made their pitch to voters as they prepare for the final stretch of their campaigns.

A lot of money is going to get left on the table in the form of federal emergency rental assistance if those running the program in Cameron County aren’t able to get more landlords to sign up.

Two weeks ago, Elon Musk, said he would donate $30 million to Cameron County schools and Brownsville’s historic downtown

Come Dream Come Build en Brownsville ha apoyado a residentes del condado Cameron con pagos de la renta o bien utilidades durante la pandemia.

Despite the eviction moratorium put in place early on in the pandemic, eviction filings have continued.

An emergency order from the Texas Supreme Court requiring enforcement of a federal eviction moratorium expired on March 31

The city of Brownsville is awaiting approval of a request made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to reallocate $500,000 of federal funds.

Even while the Federal Aviation Administration is taking a second look at SpaceX’s Boca Chica rocket building.

Realtors say that Elon Musk’s tweet from last week caused a wave of interest in the housing market.

Las dificultades que siguen enfrentando muchas personas en la región para pagar la renta por razones relacionadas a la pandemia son todavía muy grandes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended the eviction moratorium put in place to prevent the eviction of tenants who are unable to make rent during the pandemic.  

The county is partnering with CDCB to get nearly $12.7 million in the hands of qualifying Cameron County residents needing assistance.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., and CDCB Executive Director Nick Mitchell-Bennett hosted a press conference regarding Emergency Rental Assistance Monday morning.

Más de 12 millones de dólares están disponibles para ayudar a pagar renta atrasada o servicios públicos

Cameron County residents can now take advantage of $12.7 million made available to renters.

Come Dream Come Build wants Cameron County residents to know help is available for those having trouble paying rent and utilities due to the pandemic.

Hay apoyo disponible para residentes del  condado Cameron que están pasando por una dificultad.

Construction of an innovative mixed-income residential project adjacent to the Brownsville Sports Park is on again after a delay of about a year and a half

Help is available for qualifying Cameron County residents.

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Redevelopment activity in Brownsville’s historic downtown continues to grow.

More than 600 homes will be built in the next few years at the Palo Alto Groves Community in Brownsville.

In September, the CDC ordered a stop to residential evictions until Dec. 31

CAMERON COUNTY, Texas (KVEO) – The Come Dream Come Build (CDCB) housing assistance 

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — The city of Brownsville in partnership with the national nonprofit organization

HARLINGEN — Thanksgiving meals packed into styrofoam boxes

Harlingen, Texas (KVEO)–Renters across the Rio Grande Valley are struggling to make rent throughout the COVID-19 

Offering Immediate and Long-Term Health and Economic Boons For Cameron County

A Brownsville non-profit organization will be able to keep helping people who are struggling financially struggling during pandemic .