hidalgo county prosperity task force

MCALLEN, Texas - The president and founder of Commodities Integrated Logistics says the cities and economic development organizations in the Rio Grande Valley should pool their resources to market the region.

Joaquin Spamer was one of the panelists at the “CEOs Unite – Let’s Get Uncomfortable” summit. The event was hosted by Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force and Futuro RGV.

In his remarks, Spamer said the Valley needed to be marketed, not individual cities. He said it was superfluous for different economic development corporations to be going on trade missions to Mexico. 

Instead, he said, the various EDCs should specialize on different parts of the world. For example, he said if San Benito EDC does not have a bit marketing budget, let that group focus on Houston on behalf of the entire RGV. He noted that the Port of Brownsville is strong in Northern Europe, so let it focus on that. McAllen EDC has good ties in the Far East, so let it focus on that. 

“You have all these different organizations taking care of different areas of the world and doing something we need to do, that is to be selling exactly the same concept: the RGV. That is my personal opinion,” Spamer said.

“We won’t accomplish anything… I'm going to say something that my sound wrong, but we're not going to accomplish nothing, anything, if we keep on gathering together, coming out very nicely in all the pictures in the Rio Grande Guardian and and different media here. It doesn't work. We are talking to each other. We're preaching to the choir.”

Spamer, who went on a trade mission to China a few months back, said he was pleased to learn Adam Gonzalez, CEO of the Council for South Texas Economic Progress, is going to India next year.

“That's what we need to do. We need to get out of the Valley. We need to get organized. We need to work together and go out and bring business to the RGV. “

Like other speakers at the summit, Spamer also spoke about the bad press the Valley gets.

“We have very bad press. That’s true. One bad press is equivalent to 20 good ones. So, we need to go out there and start talking good about the Valley in order to offset that we have as a region,” Spamer said.

“We need to get all the stakeholders organized. The EDOs, the cities, the developers, the realtors, the bankers. And we need change the mindset.”

Spamer said he wanted to end on this point:

“Whenever they ask me, where are you from, I am not from McAllen. I am not from Mission. I am from the RGV. We need to say that from now on. We are from the RGV.”

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

MCALLEN, Texas - Businesswoman Val LaMantia was one of the panelists at the “CEOs Unite - Let’s Get Uncomfortable” summit.

The event was hosted by Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force and Futuro RGV.

LaMantia is one of the directors of L&F Distributors, which is a major wholesaler for beer giant Anheuser-Busch.

In her remarks, LaMantia said L&F had to overcome a huge loss in sales that was out of the company’s control.

“About a year ago, we had kind of a little bit of a snafu in the Bud Light debacle. I don't know how many of you remember that or not but it was something that we had nothing to do with. But, because we were affiliated with a national organization, Anheuser Busch…,” LaMantia explained.

“It was one post, one time, and it affected our sales, our Bud Light sales, which was our number one brand. It went from our number one brand down to almost non existent for a little bit. And that kind of threw us through a loop. You know, no matter what you sell, at any point in time in your business you can just drop. For no reason… you did not do anything other than you just sold that product.”

LaMantia was referring to the backlash Anheuser Busch received when it partnered with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney. Many consumers stopped buying Bud Light and other Anheuser Busch beers. Some conservative celebrities pushed for a boycott of the company’s products.

LaMantia said L&F is still recovering.

“Over the months and over this last year, we've kind of come back somewhat but it made it all of us ponder a little bit that, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you are in the community, no matter how hard you work in the community, sometimes things just happen and under your control or not your control things will just… your business will just, you know, suddenly cease,” LaMantia said.

“And so we've come back from that, but I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned in that and a preparedness that everybody needs to take when they are out there trying to sell, whatever they're trying to sell, that you need to be prepared and you need to understand that when things like that happen, you have to have a plan.”

LaMantia said she did not think Anheuser Busch had a plan on how to respond. 

“It's just not put your head in the sand but it’s, get out there and explain your reasonings and explain who you are as a company, which we tried to do and I think we've we've done a pretty good job of it since. But it's just one of those many lessons that you learn… if you've been around as long as we have.

LaMantia said she and her family are probably most proud of the scholarships L&F has given out over the years.

“We had started, about 20 years ago, with my father starting this… it was a Stars Scholarship Fund that kind of brought along… as we grew with L&F we asked the community to help us. It was a grassroots organization that provided scholarships for people that came from the area in which we served,” LaMantia explained.

“And so today, we have given out over $38.9 million worth of scholarships to about 19,000 students.” 

There was applause in the audience. 

“Thank you."


Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service to read the full story.

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

MCALLEN, Texas - Businessman and developer James W. Collins was one of the panelists at the “CEOs Unite - Let’s Get Uncomfortable” summit.

The event was hosted by Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force and Futuro RGV.

Collins, who moved to the Rio Grande Valley from Amarillo in 1980, is chairman of Rioco Partners, Ltd., a real estate investor-developer and private equity investment company. He is also associated with Mayfair Private Trust Company and their family investment office. And he is current chairman of Vantage Bank.

According to its website, Rioco is “dedicated to the development of South Texas.”

The website states: “Rioco prides itself on selecting, acquiring, and developing the prime real estate sites that best fit the needs of clients in one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas of the country. Combining an understanding of the region’s unique economics, close proximity to the U.S./Mexico border, and long-established ties to the Mexico business community, Rioco is able to provide services to local, regional and national clients looking to invest in Texas while tapping into the tremendous potential of the Mexico market.”

In his remarks at the summit, Collins spoke a lot about the retail market in the Valley.

“I want to tell a story about retail a little bit. We develop a number of shopping centers in the Valley. We’d go to International Council of Chopping Centers’ meetings and we tried to talk to the directors of real estate at various companies. But… we didn't get very far as an individual company trying to push our one shopping center. 

“What really made the difference was the director of real estate for Walmart left Walmart and went to Target. And he he knew these sales that Walmart was creating (in the RGV). And so Target came in with a little bit different (of a) flavor, a little bit higher target market for their customer, and they've succeeded.

“I'm not trying to say that will appeal to the highest per capita people are the highest income earners. But we sure do hit…I think our retailers here know their market, they are discounters, they masters at their art, Ross, the Burlingtons. The discounters are really hitting the market and they really are very successful here. 

“I never thought Donna, Texas, would have as many cars in the parking lot in front of Burlington and Ross and DD’s, it's amazing. It's very successful. And that's been repeated up and down, throughout the Valley. So, I think we just need to get the message out of the success. I'm taking one industry, the retail industry. Well, it took word of mouth between real estate directors to really get that where everybody understood. 

“I was a doubter of Starbucks. I thought our region was so hot in the summer that who would want to drink coffee in the afternoons. Well look at how many Starbucks… I can tell you that one of the stores I have, they're doing over two and a half million dollars. I mean, it's phenomenal. 

“Luby's, I mean time and time, many of the stores, their top stores are along the border.”

Collins also said the Valley deserves better public relations.

“I just want to end on saying we all have to change our public relations, our publicity for the Valley. We need to… for every drug cartel news story, or fentanyl death, or immigration issue, we need to at least have a positive economic fact getting out about how great the Rio Grande Valley is.”

Collins added: “the foundation has been laid and the hard work has been done bringing in the educational institutions.”


Here are the remarks Collins made at the summit.

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

MCALLEN, Texas - Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force is likely to recommend the establishment of a rapid transit authority, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez has confirmed.

The subject came up at a summit the task force hosted jointly with Futuro RGV at South Texas College’s Pecan Campus last Friday. The summit was titled, “CEOs Unite: Let’s Get Uncomfortable.”

Interviewed later, Cortez told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service: 

“One of the barriers and obstacles that we have is moving people from areas, from where they live to where they work. And, as you know, a lot of households only have one vehicle. So, when the husband works and the wife works and what do you do when you only have one vehicle or the husband is gone and the wife needs to go shopping or go to the doctor or whatever is,” Cortez said.

“Transportation is very important. In larger communities such as Austin, Houston, San Antonio, they have a transit authority, that's basically a taxing body to provide for transportation. I think that we're at the size already in Hidalgo County that we need to start looking into that and see if that fits our needs. And everything takes a long time. So we better start looking at it now and start to prepare for it.”

Cortez said he is also concerned about the traffic count in his county.

“We have a lot of people out there on the roads. If we can reduce some of those cars from being on the roads because they have another form of transportation that helps us there also.”

Asked if a rapid transit authority could be part of the final recommendations of the task force, Cortez said:

“Absolutely. No, we're already looking into it. The Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council already has done some work. We just took it off the shelf and started looking at it again.”


Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of the Guardian’s interview with Judge Cortez, as well as the analysis of Thomas Ray Garcia, one of the lead coordinators of the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force. 

Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website to read the full story.

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

MCALLEN, Texas – The Rio Grande Valley is going to hear a lot more about a new technology platform designed to help nonprofits and governmental agencies collaborate to help vulnerable members of society.

This is the prediction of Mario Reyna, one of the leaders of the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force. The task force was set up by Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez to help reduce poverty.

Reyna said the new technology platform is called Unite Us. He said it was designed to help navigate health and social services options.

“So we have 14 subgroups within the Prosperity Task and I just happened to be listening to the medical services group,” Reyna said. “They were talking about something called Unite Us. And the conversation was all about how this platform could help people with what’s called the social determinants of health. So, we asked more and more questions. And we come to find out we can use this thing all over the place.”

According to Unite Us’ website, the platform “brings sectors together through technology to ensure people’s needs are met. We drive the collaboration to identify, deliver, and pay for services that impact whole-person health.”

The “About Us” page on the website states: 

“Unite Us was founded with a single purpose: to improve people’s health and well-being by connecting communities to our technology. We’ve built a team of good humans, collaborators, and big thinkers building solutions meant to last.

“In 2013, co-founders Dan Brillman and Taylor Justice set out to serve the people they served with. Seeking to alleviate the problems veterans and their families experienced during the transition back to civilian life, Dan and Taylor designed a solution to eliminate the barriers and inefficiencies in trying to navigate health and social services.”

Reyna said he expects great things from Unite Us. 

“Unite Us is a platform that’s going to help the nonprofits, government entities, any kind of institution that wants to help our community. They will be able to use this platform to help with whatever they need help with. And then, if they need additional help, they will send this information to the next agency, the next nonprofit, to help these individuals, whatever the situation may be.”

Editor's Note: Click here to read the full story.

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

EDINBURG, Texas - Thomas Ray Garcia, lead coordinator for the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force, has provided more information on the RGV Recompete Coalition.

The Coalition, consisting of the four counties of the RGV, along with various higher education institutions, has made an application to the US Department of Commerce to secure an $85 million grant under the Recompete Pilot Project. 

According to the Department of Commerce, the Recompete Pilot Program will 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 EDA’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.”

“The idea is to get residents out of poverty through a systemic process of getting them educated, getting them trained, getting them counseled and mentored, and then getting them gainful employment,” Garcia said. 

“That also means working at the back end and trying to systemically ensure that the jobs are there. So what we’ve tried to do at the Prosperity Task Force is both match job seekers to jobs, plus get new jobs here in Hidalgo County.”

Garcia added: “That's a big part of what this Recompete grant would help us do. We are still in the process of putting together the framework of doing the things that we set out to do in the Recompete grant, even in the case we don't get it. But, the Recompete grant would make reality a lot of what we're aiming to do by eradicating poverty in Hidalgo County, and by working collaboratively across all of our different sectors, and in this case, a regional effort. What helps Hidalgo County we hope will also help Starr County, Cameron County, Willacy County to make sure we're not competing, but we are indeed one region, one voice.”

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

EDINBURG, Texas - The four counties of the Rio Grande Valley have come together to apply for what could be the biggest federal grant ever awarded to the region - $85 million.

Brief details of the $200 million Recompete Pilot Program were referenced by Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez during a press conference held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance on Monday, Oct. 9. 

And in a later interview with the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service, Cortez said the Valley entities that have come together to apply for the Recompete grant are hoping to secure $85 million. He said the entity taking the lead on the grant application is UT-Rio Grande Valley and specifically its associate vice president for workforce and economic development, Ron Garza.

The Guardian learned about the Valley’s application for the Recompete grant after reporter had asked Cornyn if he could help Cortez with one of the top issues identified by the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force - improving public transportation in the Valley’s colonias. The task force is addressing the high level of poverty in the county. 

Cornyn appeared to misunderstand the question and started to talk about immigration. The reporter pointed out that the question was not about immigration but rather infrastructure. So, Cornyn asked Cortez to answer it.

“The Senator has said the government cannot do everything and we have to look at ourselves to do things. One of the things we're going to do here in Hidalgo County, Cameron County, Willacy County and Starr County is invest in ourselves,” Cortez said.

Cortez said the Prosperity Task Force’s studies have shown that part of the problem in getting the people of Hidalgo County trained to have a good education is lack of transportation. 

“We're not going to solve the problem here today,” Cortez said. “But, I can tell you that this Senator, right next to me here, is always willing to sit down with us and help us. 

“He was he was approached earlier today about the Recompete grant that's coming up with the Department of Commerce. So please take a look at that and help us with that because we made an application for that grant. That would go a long way in helping us with the problem (public transportation in the Valley’s colonias) that you just mentioned.”

Cornyn responded:  “We're happy to help, Judge.”

Editor's Note: Click here to read the full story in the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service.


Editor's Note: The audio recording below features Sen. Cornyn and Judge Cortez discussing the possibility of public transportation in Valley colonias; an interview with Cortez about the Recomplete Pilot Program; and an interview with Cortez at an affordable housing project groundbreaking ceremony with Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham where he confirms that public transportation in colonias is a top priority for the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force.

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

ALAMO, Texas - While listening to an incredible story from North Alamo Water Supply Corporation board member Anna Flores, Rio Grande Guardian reporter Steve Taylor stopped his interviewee to ask if she had heard of the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force.

Flores said, “no.” Taylor responded, “I think this group will want to hear from you.”

The Prosperity Task Force, set up by Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, is trying to address Hidalgo County’s high rate of poverty. As part of her work in the healthcare arena, Flores visits colonias. 

In her interview, Flores said more and more colonias are popping up in the rural parts of Hidalgo County. She said many of the houses, if they can be called that, lack electricity, potable water or sewer system. 

“We run into it all the time, guys, people who don't have light, don't have water, people who have homes that are literally made out of plywood," Flores said. "It's incredible how it's still happening."

Taylor put it to Flores that surely that was an issue that got addressed 20 to 30 years ago. “No,” Flores responded, “it is still happening. I can take you there.”

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