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2016 The David Teeuwen Student Journalism Award, Large Newsroom finalist

Bordering on the American Dream

About the Project

This semester-long project examined Texas’ colonias, which are impoverished areas that lack at least one significant type of infrastructure such as running water, wastewater, or paved roads. About 500,000 people live in Texas’ colonias, which are located along the state’s 1,200-mile border with Mexico. They are outside the city limits and there are few regulations governing them. In February 2016 these 6 TCU student journalists visited colonias in El Paso County, Texas to tell the stories of the people who live there. Colonias are little-known outside the border and the stories there are under-reported, which is a major reason the students chose them for this project.