Alvarez: Great things happening in San Benito, Texas

SAN BENITO, Texas - It is hard to celebrate the anniversary of a key facility for a community in the age of COVID.However, the City of San Benito and its economic development corporation did so digitally. The first anniversary of the opening of the San Benito Business & Economic Development Center was featured on Facebook with EDC Executive Director Rebeca Castillo explaining how the project came about.“We reactivated a vacant funeral home into the San Benito Business & Economic Development Center. It now houses the San Benito EDC offices and is also a resource center for the business community,” Castillo said. “We are very proud to have created an entrepreneurial and starter-up ecosystem that leads our businesses to success.” The San Benito Business and Economic Resource Center is located at 701 N. Bowie Street, San Benito. Castillo said the 3,000 square feet facility will serve as an ecosystem that will provide incubation space for up four business start-ups. The start-ups could be housed there for a period of 18 to 24 months and be provided with low cost rent. The idea, Castillo said, is to provide resources for the start-ups in the hope that they can successfully graduate into their own storefront. Julian Rios, president of San Benito EDC said he believed the working space will prove integral to boosting economic growth in San Benito.“We are building around the concept of customer service and being hands on. We assist business prospects by finding the ideal property/location, by helping them prepare a business plan, by programming trainings and workshops that are of most demand and so much more,” Rios said.For the celebration, state Sen. Eddie Lucio sent a video message of support. VIPs that attended a live event included San Benito Mayor Benjamin ‘Ben’ Gomez, Julian Alvarez, the labor representative on the Texas Workforce Commission, Pat Hobbs, executive director of Workforce Solutions Cameron, and Alex Meade, a senior vice president for Texas Regional Bank.Castillo said she and her economic development team can be contacted via phone at (956) 626-1350 or via email at [email protected]’s Note: Here is a link to the celebration on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanBenitoEDC/ Editor’s Note: The attached podcast features the remarks of Julian Alvarez, labor representative on the Texas Workforce Commission.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.