MISSION, Texas - UT-Rio Grande Valley Vice President Veronica Gonzales spoke about the highly-anticipated Recompete Grant during a panel discussion at the recent Western Governors University conference.
The WGU event was titled “Accelerator 2023 RGV Health Equity Conference.” It was held at Mission Event Center.
Gonzales was on a panel whose topic was “Workforce and Community Resources: Practical Orientation to How we Solve Local Health Problems.” Her fellow panelists were Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, Texas A&M University Vice President Manny Vela, and Kimberly Kelly-Cortez, senior associate dean and director of programs at WGU's Leavitt School of Health.
Referencing the Recompete Grant, Gonzales said: “I’m also very proud that we all got together, many, many in the community, to partner on what we're calling the Recompete Grant. It’s a federal grant that could even bring us as much as over $80 million.”
Gonzales pointed out that UTRGV has taken the lead on the Recompete Grant.
“Texas A&M is our partner on this, along with South Texas College, TSTC and TSC, plus the four counties (Hidalgo, Cameron Starr, and Willacy).”
Gonzales then explained what the Recompete Grant is all about.
“What we're trying to do with that grant is to identify the jobs that are already out there and make sure we give people the credentials they need to get in those jobs. Also, to identify the jobs that we need to get our EDCs and others involved in, so that we create those jobs and then bring the types of industry here that are going to place our students in (those Jobs) so that we don't lose the best and the brightest in the area, what we call the brain drain. And that we make sure that people are able to take care of their families and take care of them with good paying jobs.”
The Recompete Pilot Program has been put together by the US Department of Commerce. The agency plans to 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 Economic Development Administration’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,” according to a Department of Commerce press release.
