Not a day goes by without hearing about new companies, such as data centers, refineries, Valeo, and LNG plants, coming to the RioPlex region. We also have SpaceX expanding its operations, and lately the construction and building trades workforce has grown scarce, which is both a problem and an opportunity. This is extremely good news for the region because these new and expanding companies will bring greater prosperity for everyone who meets the qualifications to work there. Furthermore, the construction and building trades workforce is stretched thin, so this new opportunity creates new demand for skills.
However, alongside these great stories, we should also be concerned about those who will not meet the qualifications to work there. We have an estimated 250,000 adults in our region who do not have a high school education. Every new industry coming to the region requires unique skills that we must prepare our people for, and those who are least prepared represent an opportunity to expand our economy even further. Imagine you are looking for gold, and it's right in front of you; all you have to do is prepare it for the future.
Once prepared, this population will give our region enormous potential, because outside corporations looking to invest will see that we are ready for more opportunities. What can we do to prepare them for a greater opportunity? We need to educate and train our workforce, and the following systems are already in place and simply need to scale up.
Our public schools can tackle this opportunity through high school dropout recovery programs. This model is designed to educate the public, so we should use it as a template. Texas passed laws that provide funding to schools that bring individuals under 26 back into the system, with new accountability rules so those schools don't have to worry about low ratings. Public schools are the best place to prepare our population because they were designed with this in mind. With many schools closing campuses due to low enrollment, having such a large pool of adults to recruit from is like a match made in heaven. Imagine what will happen when more schools participate in this program — more students educated and prepared for the opportunities coming our way, more jobs created in public schools, and some closed campuses brought back to life.
Charter schools like The PossAble Dream are also in play, because they can provide students up to age 50 with a high school diploma and industry credentials. Our community needs to know about this opportunity for everyone in the region.
I recently attended a ceremony that was extremely emotional as the students recounted their life stories. Some students' first reaction to receiving a message from The PossAble Dream was that it must be a scam. Still, they went to their appointment, completed their education, and are now part of the workforce, earning a livelihood they didn't have before. Programs like The PossAble Dream need to scale up through referrals. This shouldn't be hard — we should refer anyone we know who hasn't finished high school to an institution that can help them get there.
GED. This is a three-letter acronym we don't see every day, but it stands for something really powerful. I didn't finish high school, but I attended the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) at Pan American University in 1973, finished it in four weeks, and enrolled at PAU in the spring
of 1974. This program prepared us for the General Educational Development test, and we traveled to Brownsville to take it — and the rest is history. I share this personal story not to brag, but to show that you can help someone reach their full potential. The HEP program was funded by a federal agency, so it required public investment, and I'm confident I've repaid whatever amount was spent on me many times over.
GED programs are available all over the Rio Grande Valley — you'll find them at Region One, South Texas College, Workforce Solutions, and many public schools. We need to encourage our friends and neighbors to find out how they can enroll and finish their high school education on the way to greater prosperity.
Greater prosperity is coming to our region, and the only way for all our residents to enjoy it is to finish their high school education. Do your part — suggest to someone who hasn't finished their education that they find the program that works best for them. Be a mentor, and remove the barriers they may face simply because they're unfamiliar with what's happening in the education space. The greatest gift we can give someone is the opportunity to get an education, so show someone where they can go to transform their life.
Editor’s Note: The above commentary was penned by Mario Reyna, executive director of the Prosperity Task Force. The commentary appears in the RGG Business Journal with the permission of the author.
