center for education & economic development

MISSION, TEXAS - In an effort to provide more of its programs away from its two main campuses, UT-Rio Grande Valley has opened satellite centers across the region.

One of those is in Mission, where full-time program specialist Omar Rodriguez assists local businesses from the Center for Education and Economic Development (CEED).


Bringing UTRGV to Mission was one of the issues Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza campaigned on when running for office.

Ron Garza, associate vice president for workforce and economic development at the university, explained the concept.

“A few months back we established a relationship with the Mission EDC (economic development corporation) and created our hub office here,” Garza said. “That is six different centers and departments dedicated for small business development, workforce programs, and just economic development in general.”

Garza said Rodriguez works to “generate leads and activities and then does a “very soft handoff to generate all this activity.”

From January the Mission center will offer a Kaufman cohort training program, Garza said, as part of Mission EDC’s Ruby Red Ventures program.

“So, really, it is the footprint, the front door of UTRGV here in the city of Mission, here at CEED, which is perfect environment to do that.”

Here is an audio recording of an interview with Garza and Rodriguez. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MISSION, Texas - It was Tesla Time Saturday at the Center for Education and Economic Development in Mission, Texas.

Eighteen Tesla cars were on show at a tech expo hosted by Mission Economic Development Corporation. Some of the owners of the Tesla vehicles took some of the car show attendees out for a spin.

Teclo Garcia, CEO of Mission EDC explained: “We decided a few months ago that we wanted to put on something in the summer, an event that was kind of new to the market and something that no one had done before. There are plenty of car shows out there but we decided to do a Tesla-focused show. And one of the primary reasons we did it is, we want to be associated with that brand.”

Garcia said having Tesla at the CEED building was good fit. He said that ever since the facility was launched by Alex Meade and Daniel Silva it has been technology-based.

“We've had a lot of CompTIA and IT classes here. We've done all kinds of technology programs. And so as we got back, after COVID, and now we've got our (EDC) team in place, we wanted to start that back up. And so it was a natural for us to reach out to Tesla and say, hey, you haven't done a car show in South Texas that we know of. Would you be interested in they were absolutely interested.”

Garcia pointed out that Tesla does not consider themselves an auto manufacturer but rather a technology company. He said the three Rio Grande Valley zip codes with the most Tesla owners are 78504 in north McAllen, 78539, in south Edinburg, and 78572 in Mission.

“And so we thought, well, we’ve got plenty of (Tesla) owners, let's try to get something together. So it's our first try at it and we're very happy. We're also made it sort of a Tesla slash Tech Expo. We've got STC (South Texas College) here and other other tech programs. We’ve got some folks doing VR (virtual reality) as well and we've got the Trek Bicycle store here in Mission that has all their e-bike models.”

Garcia added: “This is just kind of a fun thing to do.”

In the attached audio interview, Garcia discusses the Tesla event, the presence of UT-Rio Grande Valley at the CEED building, and building broadband in Mission. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MISSION, RGV - Congressmen Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez were asked at a news conference if Mexican drug cartels should be classified as terrorist organizations. 

President Trump recently made this suggestion after a Mormon family from the U.S. was gunned down in Chihuahua, Mexico. 

The congressmen were also asked about asylum seekers living in tents in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

The news conference was called by UT-Rio Grande Valley to discuss federal funds that the two congressmen had secured for the university. It was held at the Center for Education & Economic Development in Mission. 

The above podcast focuses on questions asked about U.S. immigration policy, security in Mexico and USMCA.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.