When Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez spoke about “showing the rest of the country, and world, what untapped potential lies in our region,” I wanted to applaud and shout, “right on!”
When local governments “unite for good” with the private sector, the education sector, job training sector, civil society, and faith-based organizations, we can tap into our own power – our agency - to manifest our region’s potential by implementing joint strategic actions that align our goals and leverage our resources.
Rotary International and its system of local Rotary clubs offers programs that link our communities to the rest of the world. In South Texas, Rotary District 5930 is part of a network of 1.2 million Rotarians who volunteer “to create lasting change.”
The Rotary Foundation funds local and global grants for Rotary Clubs to implement projects in partnership with local organizations and that lead to impactful and sustainable change.
Rotary offers exchange programs – both in-person and virtual – with Rotarians in other parts of the world.
Our Youth Exchange Program targets young people, ages 15-19, who want to spend a summer or school year abroad, learning a new language and sharing our own American culture overseas. We have “outbound” exchange students who leave the United States and live with families in other parts of the world, gaining real-life experience and discovering new aspects of themselves that lay dormant until they wake up abroad. They return to their Valley home “transformed,” having acquired a new language and a better understanding of a different culture.
Rotary also has “inbound” exchange students who stay with families in our country, and who share their own culture with our high school students. These inbound students return home with a love for, and appreciation of, our way of life. Years later, when they develop their own businesses, they may become future investors or influence others to consider investing in our Rio Grande Valley.
Rotary also supports Vocational Technical Teams (VTT) who travel overseas to apply their professional skills in a specialized setting, and who meet other professionals from similar fields from that host country, and who return with the team, staying for a short visit in the Rio Grande Valley. This VTT program is ideal for a university to become engaged with international partners.
We also offer Friendship Exchanges between Rotary Clubs and Rotary Districts that include travel to another country for personal enrichment, hosted by Rotarians in another country, and then we return the hospitality by inviting them back to visit our Rio Grande Valley.
When foreigners come to our region and see firsthand the diversity of our culture and the opportunities for investing here, they become potential influencers and, perhaps, investors themselves.
The Rotary theme of “Unite for Good” represents a key strategy for developing our special part of the world, our RioPlex.
Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Dr. Elaine Hernandez, Rotary District Governor D5930. She can be reached via: ehernandez2125@gmail.com.
