An interview with Thomas Ray Garcia, Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force's lead coordinator

EDINBURG, Texas - Thomas Ray Garcia, lead coordinator for the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force, has provided more information on the RGV Recompete Coalition.The Coalition, consisting of the four counties of the RGV, along with various higher education institutions, has made an application to the US Department of Commerce to secure an $85 million grant under the Recompete Pilot Project. 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.”“The idea is to get residents out of poverty through a systemic process of getting them educated, getting them trained, getting them counseled and mentored, and then getting them gainful employment,” Garcia said. “That also means working at the back end and trying to systemically ensure that the jobs are there. So what we’ve tried to do at the Prosperity Task Force is both match job seekers to jobs, plus get new jobs here in Hidalgo County.”Garcia added: “That's a big part of what this Recompete grant would help us do. We are still in the process of putting together the framework of doing the things that we set out to do in the Recompete grant, even in the case we don't get it. But, the Recompete grant would make reality a lot of what we're aiming to do by eradicating poverty in Hidalgo County, and by working collaboratively across all of our different sectors, and in this case, a regional effort. What helps Hidalgo County we hope will also help Starr County, Cameron County, Willacy County to make sure we're not competing, but we are indeed one region, one voice.”Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.