In the 20 years that David R. Rodriguez and Polo Ruiz have known each other, they both knew they wanted to serve the community at large and bring a fresh, but knowledgeable perspective to the business community. After leaving successful careers with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, the two would bring together their expertise and establish Affinity Community Services in January 2010.
Affinity Community Services (ACS) is a local agency based in Edinburg and serves the Rio Grande Valley Region (even extending into Nueces and Webb Counties) by providing health and human program services. Some of their broader services offered include parenting classes, monitoring child exchanges, supervising visits and youth monitoring.
“Simply, Affinity Community Services seeks to advocate and advance the role of families; thereby, strengthening communities,” said David Rodriguez, Program Director. “We believe in building collaborative partnerships with other community based agencies, public institutions, schools and faith-based organizations to foster and enhance healthy family relationships.”
In sharing the company’s history, David recounted, “I was familiar with the contracting process through my work and decided I wanted to own my own business. In fact, I had a contract with the state for a program serving children and pregnant women in 2003. With PTAC’s help, I was able to get a Small Business Administration Loan, and move that business forward. I appreciated the services PTAC provided.”
When the opportunity presented itself to form a new company, this time with partner and current Regional Administrator, Polo Ruiz, PTAC’s free and confidential business counseling services were sought. “We wanted to leverage our experience, and worked with PTAC in the past—that’s how I knew to involve them early in our process,” said David.
“We provided general business advice, such as forming an S-Corporation, but they knew where they wanted their business to go,” recounted Hector Landez, Program Director for UTRGV Rio South Texas PTAC.
Rey Soto, Business Advisor for UTRGV RSTR PTAC, picks up the story, “David and Polo were concerned how they would be able to start contracting their services to federal, state and local agencies. I told them that PTAC would be able to help them navigate through the maze.”
Polo Ruiz, for ACS, continues, “From the moment we met with Rey Soto and Hector Landez, they helped make us make strategic decisions that have helped position us even now.”
Through a step-by-step approach provided by Rey at the UTRGV RSTR PTAC, David and Polo filed the proper paperwork, constantly and strategically reviewed their position which led to correct federal registrations and recognition from procurement entities and became State of Texas HUB (Historically Underutilized Business) certified.
“Being State HUB certified provided us with many opportunities, not only locally, but throughout the state to seek contracts for the services we provide,” Polo Ruiz shared. “We started small, with only four employees, and were awarded most of the contracts we sought. We continued to build a strong and successful foundation by attending the trainings UTRGV RSTR PTAC provides such as SAM, getting our State HUB certification, the individual counseling and learning about other federal opportunities.”
With this preparation, Affinity Community Services has had a successful history in contracting.
In 2011, they applied for a contract for reunification family efforts with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department—and were awarded the contract. In 2012, they applied for Kinship/Social Studies with the Texas Department of Child Protective Services—and were awarded the contract worth. In September 2012 they applied to provide supervised visitation services in Region 11 and were not offered the contract. It was a minor setback; however, in September of 2013, they applied again to provide supervised visitation services in various counties—and were awarded the contract. Most recently, in March 2014, ACS expanded to provide Supervised Visitation services in Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties.
Also, in May 2014, the U S Department of Homeland Security contracted with ACS to provide youth monitoring services for the Brownsville juvenile processing centers.
“Having obtained these last few contracts have pushed us into becoming a million dollar plus business,” David continued, “Now, our team of professionals now includes over 70 employees including licensed child placement management staff, counselors, nurses and social workers.
“We are looking longer term, and seeking our federal 8(a) HUB certification and obtaining long term federal contracts,” he finished. “We will be working with PTAC to make this possible and continue to grow and solidify our place in the business community.”
~~
Affinity Community Services is located at 3523 W. Alberta Road in Edinburg. You can call 956 577-1562 (Polo Ruiz) or 956-929-1209 (David R. Rodriguez) or visit www.affinitycommunityservicesrgv.com for more information on their services.
The UTRGV RSTR PTAC which offers free and confidential comprehensive business development services to area businesses. For more information on UTRGV Rio South Texas Regional Procurement Technical Assistance Center, please contact 956-665-8931. Other information is available at www.utrgv.edu/ptac or facebook.com/utrgvptac.
Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made, if requested at least two weeks in advance. Assistance for the hearing impaired can be attained by calling the TDD at (956) 665-5071.