A Message from the Executive Director

Hello and Welcome,

First let me start off by thanking you for visiting our website and taking the time to learn more about us and the organization known as Comite De Bien Estar Inc. Comite De Bien Estar is a multifaceted community development organization that strives to both improve and serve our community of San Luis Arizona and its surrounding areas. Comité works to empower residents to help them overcome the many barriers they face, including very low wages, little access to conventional mortgage financing and to overcome environmental limitations that impact their quality of life. Founded mostly by farm workers in 1979 and incorporated in 1981, Comité is a membership driven non-profit that focuses on helping members build assets and strengthen the community through programs that fill needs in the community such as: Nutrition program, Self Help Housing, Construction, Low Income Tax Credit Based Apartment Housing Management and Development, Small consumer & entrepreneurial loans and many more needed services.

Comité is located in San Luis, Arizona. San Luis is a town of about 30,000 people in Yuma County in the southwestern corner of the state where agriculture is the major industry. The city is just across the river from California and borders with San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora Mexico, population 250,000, many of its residents work in multinational maquiladoras or agriculture. During the height of the Yuma harvesting season, 30,000 to 40,000 farm workers cross the border each morning to go to work making the San Luis US Border Crossing one of the busiest in the country.

The public schools that its land development makes possible; the training it provides for young people and adults; the work ethic it cultivates; the skills it imparts to entire families building self-help housing and the self-help culture Comite promotes makes me feel it will improve the life of its members and community. As an example, Comite’s nutrition program supports more than 360 daycare providers to provide nutritious meals for approximately 2160 children each month. The Nutrition program is the 4th largest program of its kind in the State of Arizona.

As an organization we have grown and expanded over the last 37 years but have always kept our promises and our culture of improving and strengthening our community together. We are working to improve ourselves along with our communities while looking forward to a better future.

Thank You,

Marco A (Tony) Reyes
Executive Director