Last month I wrote to you from Chicago. It was a privilege to share the story of RGV Startup Week at InBIA's 40th International Conference on Business Innovation alongside Linda Ufland from UTRGV's Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center and Nathan Burkhart from the Brownsville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
But the best part of any trip is coming home, and April gave us a lot to come home to.
The month began with a ribbon-cutting for upgrades at Joe and Tony Oliveira Park that families in the area will feel every time they visit. Through a funding partnership between BCIC and the City of Brownsville's Parks and Recreation Department, the park now features a fully accessible playground, shaded bleachers, resurfaced tennis and basketball courts, and an upgraded concession stand. A splash pad is on the way in time for summer.
On April 21, the Brownsville City Commission issued a proclamation recognizing Celebrate Trails Day. BCIC co-organized Rails, Trails, and Roots, a guided community bike ride as part of RGV Startup Week programming, connecting residents to the city's growing trail network and highlighting what alternative transportation and outdoor recreation look like in Brownsville.
On April 25, the Challenge-RGV wrapped up its 17th year. BCIC is proud to serve as the title sponsor of this free community health initiative, led by UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. Over three months, participants across the Valley had free access to gyms, fitness classes, health screenings, and cooking classes. The program has helped 84% of past participants lose weight, with an average loss of 8.5 pounds, and we are proud to be part of it.
And then came the week we had been preparing for all year.
RGV Startup Week 2026 launched on April 24 and ran nine days through May 2 across five cities: Brownsville, Edinburg, Pharr, Weslaco, and Harlingen. Over 100 hours of programming, 75 sessions, and more than 135 speakers, all free and open to the public. 1,814 people registered, an 11% increase over last year and more than double our first year in 2024. 82% were first-time attendees, and over 650 different businesses and organizations were represented in the audience.
Last year, we welcomed former Mexican President Vicente Fox as our keynote speaker, and honestly, we were not sure how we would follow that. But watching Ramón Soler Mallet, Commercial Director of Dr. Simi USA, take the stage at The Livery on April 27 to a packed venue, it was clear we did not need to worry. And Supply Pay, a company that found momentum at the eBridge Center, stepped up as this year's title sponsor. The event attracted visitors from San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth, along with attendees from Monterrey, Mexico City, and as far as the UK, Austria, and Pakistan. To me, that says everything about where our ecosystem is headed.
And during Startup Week itself, we made another announcement. On April 27, BCIC welcomed Daniel Silva as Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Daniel brings more than two decades of economic development leadership across the Rio Grande Valley, including time as CEO of the Mission Economic Development Corporation and President and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. In his new role, he will lead BCIC's work with Startup Texas, the eBridge Center, and the early-stage funding pathway we are scaling under our 2025-2029 Strategic Plan. We are excited to have him on the team.
RGV Startup Week is now the longest startup event in Texas at nine days, and the only explicitly bilingual one. On a per-capita basis, it reaches a higher percentage of its local market than startup weeks in Dallas, Austin, or San Antonio. Roughly 70% of sponsorship funds were reinvested directly in Brownsville small businesses and vendors. The typical person in the room was a first-generation business owner, median age 28, who stayed an average of three hours and 16 minutes per visit. This is who the event was designed for, and they are the ones who keep coming back.
We closed the month on April 30 at the Brownsville Tennis Center, where the City of Brownsville unveiled a new Musco Lighting System and freshly resurfaced courts, funded through BCIC's Quality of Life investment. Two ribbon cuttings in one month, both representing dollars that went into the ground and came back as something a neighborhood can use.
In April, Brownsville welcomed 410,700 out-of-market visitors, a 5% increase year-over-year, generating 1.7 million non-resident visits, up 5.5% from the same period last year. That is now several months in a row of year-over-year growth across the board.
A lot of what we have been working toward for years came together in April. We opened two Quality of Life projects that will directly benefit Brownsville families, entrepreneurs filled rooms across five cities during Startup Week, and Supply Pay returned as title sponsor of the same ecosystem that helped support its growth. That kind of full-circle momentum says a great deal about where Brownsville is headed. There is still more ahead, and we are looking forward to it.
Thank you for everything you do to strengthen this community. On behalf of our Board and staff, we appreciate your continued partnership.
Editor’s Note: The above commentary was penned by Cori Peña, president and CEO of Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation. The commentary first appeared as her monthly Letter From the President for BCIC’s April, 2026 e-newsletter.
