Walk through the hallways of the Robert “Bobby” Calvillo HomeOwnership Center at Affordable Homes of South Texas, and you will see portraits – not just of leaders and board members who have worked there, but of families and individuals, holding keys to a new home.
The center, first created in 2012, is about the path to homeownership. And t
he late Calvillo, past president & CEO of Affordable Homes of South Texas Inc., spent his life trying to create that path for people in his community up until his unexpected death in May 2025. On July 8 of this year, staff, family, friends, city representatives and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce officially dedicated the center in his honor.
“We chose today very deliberately because July 8 is the anniversary of the day that Bobby Calvillo first walked through the doors of this organization,” explained Myra Martinez, Calvillo’s right-hand person for years and AHSTI’s current president & CEO. “The HomeOwnership Center was one of Bobby’s dreams and 
he worked hard to make it happen. There’s something very fitting about dedicating this building on the same day his journey began with us.”
Calvillo, she told those gathered for the event, didn’t just work in affordable housing. “He believed in it, down to his bones. He understood a home isn’t just four walls and a roof. It’s stability. It’s dignity. It’s the foundation a family stands on to build everything else.”
The Robert “Bobby” Calvillo Homeownership Center, she said, will carry Bobby’s name to every counseling session, every mortgage loan, every first-time homebuyer class and “every family that walks in nervous and walks out with a plan and a key in their future.”
Marietta Rodriguez, president & CEO of NeighborWorks® America, spoke during the dedication. AHSTI, celebrating its 50th anniversary, has been a NeighborWorks organization since 2010.
“The HomeOwnership Center here in McAllen is one of the most productive and effective ones we have across the country, and that’s a testament to everyone in this room today,” Rodriguez said. It is especially a testament to Calvillo. “This dedication is about honoring a life that was dedicated to serving others,” she said. “It’s about celebrating a leader whose vision transformed an organization, strengthened a community, and created opportunities for thousands of families throughout South Texas.”
Rodriguez said her team at NeighborWorks often talks about the importance of building strong, thriving communities. “That’s something, fundamentally, that Bobby understood.”
Over his three decades with AHSTI, the organization went from building a few dozen homes each year into one of NeighborWorks’ most accomplished organizations. “Bobby was never satisfied by saying, ‘Well, that’s what we’ve always done,’” she recalled. “Instead, he asked, ‘What else can we do to help families succeed?’ Whether it meant creating new businesses or expanding services or finding innovative ways to strengthen the organization’s financial future, Bobby challenged those around him to think bigger while always keeping families at the center of every decision.”
The greatest tribute we can offer, she said, is not simply remembering his life, “but continuing the work that he cared so deeply about.”
Joey Cavillo, Bobby’s brother, spoke for the family. He said Bobby understood that not everyone got the same breaks or the same financial education, and that his work on the homeownership center helped "fill the gaps." Through the Homeownership Center, people will learn how to do things the right way, he said. “The one thing [Bobby] would tell you is this: ‘Continuing doing what I did. Go to people. Treat them right. Create partnerships for this organization that’s helping people.”
Janie Vela, director of Homebuyer Development, led the invocation, expressing gratitude for “50 years of opening doors, strengthening families and building communities through the mission of Affordable Homes of South Texas.”
Though Calvillo is no longer with us, she said, “his impact lives on in every family served and every set of keys handed to a new homeowner.”
She asked that the building remain a testament, “not only to Bobby’s life, but to the lives that will be changed within these walls for years to come.”
Calvillo would have wanted the ceremony to remain short and sweet, and that’s the way Martinez kept it. He hated the spotlight, she said. And he might not have been a fan of his face on the wall of the office conference room, dedicated to his beloved San Antonio Spurs.
But the dedication to this work and to the people trying to forge a better path not just for themselves, but for the generations to follow? Everyone agreed: That’s something Bobby Cavillo would have loved.
