Timothy Chapman
Timothy Chapman / Vaquero Radio
An $85-million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce would assist the counties of Starr, Willacy, Hidalgo and Cameron address poverty and unemployment in the Rio Grande Valley.
UTRGV is taking the lead on the grant application. Associate Vice President for Workforce and Economic Development Ron Garza is the forefront of the endeavor.
Garza said the plan is called “RGVWorX” and although it is unlikely to receive the full $85 million, the project is hoping to get from anywhere between $30 million to $50 million if approved, which will take months from now to find out.
Even so, it would still be unlike any other sum of money given to the Valley Garza said.
He said a lot of people do not realize colleges and universities do not have an extended capacity to do job placement, oftentimes leaving students desperately looking for jobs on their own.
“Generally, when a student graduates, you’re handed your diploma and then you’re provided resources,” Garza said. “But technically, you have to find your own job. That’s just the way it works. What this [grant] does, it helps close that gap and actually gets more actively involved in assisting our local graduates to find local jobs.”
He said there are a lot of barriers many students experience throughout their academic careers, one of them being the cost of tuition causing them to never finish their degrees.
“Sometimes there’s other barriers and that could be tutoring support, transportation, child care,” Garza said. “I mean, the list goes on and on. What this grant would also do is make sure that we have a better process so that if students have a barrier that’s going to prevent them from delaying graduation or maybe sometimes not continuing, we want to intervene before there’s an issue to make sure they graduate.”
To address the poverty issue in Hidalgo County, Judge Richard Cortez began the Prosperity Task Force, which is being led by Mario Reyna.
Reyna explained how the money from the grant would be divided if it is approved.
“Sixty percent of the money will be dedicated [to helping the unemployed],” Reyna said. “Twenty percent for the creation of a database and then 20% to set up systems in place to identify the jobs that are out there and also to identify the individuals that might work in those jobs.”
He said the Prosperity Task Force’s goal with this grant is to develop sustainable policies and practices.
“We want to make sure that all the cities, the counties and everywhere else that we have policies that encourage entrepreneurship,” Reyna said. “Policies that will facilitate the businesses that we have so they can prosper.”
Garza and Reyna said they are confident the Rio Grande Valley will receive the grant, but in the event that it does not happen, there are other plans to help achieve the goals.
This is Timothy Chapman for Vaquero Radio.
