RGV Recompete Coalition gets its application for Recompete Pilot Program funding in on time

Rio Grande Guardian
BY STEVE TAYLOR, COLONIAS 
OCTOBER 12, 2023

EDINBURG, Texas – The RGV Recompete Coalition got its application in with the U.S. Department of Commerce in time for funding under the much-anticipated Recompete Pilot Program.

As first revealed in the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service earlier this week, the four counties of the Rio Grande Valley are applying for an $85 million grant from the US Department of Commerce.

The four counties, working with various educational institutions and other stakeholders, are calling themselves the RGV Recompete Coalition.

According to the Department of Commerce, the Recompete Pilot Program will invest $200 million toward projects that spur economic activity in geographically diverse and persistently distressed communities across the country. 

Specifically, the program targets areas where prime-age (25-54 years) employment significantly trails the national average. The program aims to close this gap through by utilizing EDA’s place-based approach and delivering large, highly flexible grants based on community-driven strategies to address unique workforce and economic development needs of individual communities or regions.”

Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez said the numerous Valley organizations that have come together to apply for the Recompete grant are hoping to secure $85 million. He said the entity taking the lead on the grant application is UT-Rio Grande Valley and specifically its associate vice president for workforce and economic development, Ron Garza.

Here is the first part of the RGV Recompete Coalition’s executive summary:

Executive Summary

The Rio Grande Valley of Texas, a region of persistent economic distress comprised of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties, has been deemed fully eligible as Local Labor Markets for EDA’s Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program, having a collective prime-age employment gap (PAEG) of 8.63% and an average median annual household income of $40,115. 

In response to this transformational program, the RGV Recompete Coalition, led by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) has been established by assembling the region’s  local governments, institutions of higher education, economic development organizations, workforce development agencies, equity-centered non-profit organizations, and other regional stakeholders to align collaboration, accessibility, and collective impact. 

In Phase 2, the RGV Recompete Coalition is requesting $85 million, matched by over $20 million in programmatic, policy, and resource commitments to implement RGVWorX, a comprehensive, targeted action plan designed to be fully inclusive of all RGV communities while addressing the root causes of PAEG and other distress indicators ulizing three crical intervention strategies: 

1. Workforce Development – provide wrap-around services to fill local, high-wage jobs
2. Business & Entrepreneur Development – build resilience & accelerate local businesses
3. New Industry Recruitment – Unify strategies to attract new job opportunities

Texas Rio Grande Valley Region 

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is located on the southernmost tip of Texas and is comprised of four counties: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy. The region is situated along the U.S. – Mexico Border as well as the Gulf of Mexico creating a unique geographic region that should be a national focal point of trade, commerce, manufacturing reshoring, and emerging technology. However, due to a complex and distinctive set of real and perceived circumstances, the RGV has far from realized its potential as a thriving metropolitan region.

The RGV consists of approximately 43,000 square miles across four (4) counties and forty-seven (47) municipalities. According to the 2022 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, the RGV has a population of 1,399,882 of which 91.65% are Hispanic. This collective population ranks the RGV as the fifth largest metropolitan area in the State of Texas; however, unlike most other metro regions in the nation, a challenging characteristic includes the lack of an “anchor” city.

Of the 47 RGV cities, only nine (9) municipalities have more than 25,000 residents with only three of those above 100,000 in population. Since there is not one lone jurisdiction which serves as the urban anchor, this has created a long-standing struggle for authority, standalone planning, and incompatible ordinances. Not only has this dynamic suppressed regional collaboration, but it also impacts emergency management, marketing, logistics, industry recruitment, and resource allocation. Since each city is predominantly accountable for its individual residents, resources, and economic growth, the RGV has a long-standing history of underutilizing assets for collective prosperity.

The RGV is also among the most persistently distressed regions in the country with high poverty rates, low-income levels, health disparities, and an uninspiring level of educational attainment which has impacted the region for decades. In 2019, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance named three RGV cities (Brownsville, Harlingen, & Pharr) among the five least-connected cities in the country. Also, immigration and border issues plague the perception of the Valley as a region overrun with violence, crime, and general low quality of life.

Regional Assets & Opportunities

Though distinctly challenged, the RGV has the potential and collective assets to thrive. These assets begin with the region’s diverse culture, bilingualism, young median age, low cost of living, ecotourism opportunities, and demographics that embody the future of Texas.

The area’s International Trade and Ports of Entry serve as anchor assets with 13 land crossings into Mexico, 4 maritime ports (including the Port of Brownsville – the only deepwater port located on the U.S.-Mexico Border), 3 commercial international airports, and an emerging spaceport.

The RGV economy was built on agriculture and now consists primarily of service-based industries, with food services and retail making up a large percentage of employment in the area. Though the region has limited major employers, several emerging companies are paving the way for technology and advanced manufacturing. Most notably SpaceX, located outside of Brownsville, now employs over 1,600 direct employees with over $400 million in direct investment. Recently, NextDecade Corporation announced plans to construct the largest greenfield energy project financed in U.S. history ($18Billion) highlighting upcoming possibilities. The region’s ability to effectively train and place the required workforce, however, will truly determine the impact potential.

The region’s five institutions of higher education (IHE) enroll more than 70,000 students and serve as vital assets in educational workforce development, offering a comprehensive range of academic programs and credentials. While there is a history of some collaboration, the newly formed Coalition has aligned the “5-IHE” with a common goal of implementing RGVWorX to increase student credential completion and provide placement into local, high-wage jobs.

RGV Collaboration

The RGV may have geographical dynamics which have historically hindered collaboration; however, the region has had concrete successes which are significant. Most notably, the creation of UTRGV in 2013, a consolidation of assets of UT-Pan American in Edinburg and UT-Brownsville paved the way for a new level of regional partnership. This transformative initiative greatly expanded educational and research assets, including the opening of a new School of Medicine and the first School of Podiatric Medicine in the State of Texas. Additionally, in 2019, the RGV’s 3 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) merged to form the RGVMPO, resulting in a substantial increase to infrastructure funding for roads and drainage improvements.

More recently, local initiatives have spearheaded immense strides in regional collaboration. The creation of the Hidalgo County Prosperity Taskforce in 2020 by County Judge Richard Cortez laid the foundation for assembling the RGV Recompete Coalition. This county-wide, targeted initiative has gathered hundreds of community leaders to systematically address poverty through collective resource collaboration. On May 24, 2023, the mayors of the six largest cities in the RGV joined the mayor of San Antonio to form the South Texas Alliance of Cities, vowing cooperation towards mutual issues and opportunities. On August 17, 2023, over 40 mayors and other elected officials banded together in support of RGV Partnership’s “One Region, One Voice” outreach campaign to work collaboratively to promote the collective assets of the region.

The RGV Recompete Coalition has had extensive planning sessions, engaging key stakeholders to strategize, shape, and refine our proposed strategies. As displayed in the attached coalition member roster, the composition is broad and diversified, ensuring equity and commitment to reducing the PAEG across our historically underserved region. Each coalition member has pledged unwavering support, operational resources, leverage of existing services, and commitment to modifying policies and practices for sustainable impact. The “5-IHE” commits to utilize the RGVWorX pilot strategies to develop the internal infrastructure to permanently institutionalize targeted student support services which would support a higher level of student persistence and local job placement. Private industry partners have also engaged in our proposed strategies and stand ready to support the project, eager to benefit from a more robust, locally available trained workforce.