With a mission to advance regional economic, workforce and business development, UTRGV’s Office of Workforce and Economic Development is expanding its network and reach to cities across the Rio Grande Valley through satellite offices.

UTRGV opened its third office in the City of Mission on May 12, which will be housed in the Center for Education and Economic Development at 801 Bryan Road. 

“Establishing these hubs in our partner cities is an important initiative that will positively affect the areas we are serving and our university students, who will benefit from the future career and business opportunities this will bring,” said Veronica Gonzales, UTRGV senior vice president of Governmental and Community Relations. 

Creating More Local Connections

According to Ron Garza, associate vice president for Workforce and Economic Development, UTRGV Division for Governmental and Community Relations, the network involves cooperation agreements with respective cities and economic development corporations to establish a “front-door” to the programs and services provided by the UTRGV office to communities. Among the services that will be provided are city and economic development corporation performance impacts which include businesses created and expanded, jobs created and expanded, and trainings. 

Two other hubs also opened this year, including one in San Benito on March 30, and another in Harlingen on May 5. Each city’s EDC spaces house their respective offices. The San Benito office is at 701 N. Bowie Street, while the other is in Harlingen at 2424 Boxwood Street, Suite 125.

“Our strategy is to advance our region’s workforce and economic development ‘ecosystem’ by creating a network of hub and satellite offices across the RGV,” Garza said. “There are many benefits to having this network, and a couple of key priorities are creating accessibility and awareness of UTRGV’s service offerings and expanding our footprint.”

Attracting Graduates Locally

Another top priority of the expansion is to work closely with the cities and EDCs across the region to recruit and expand job and high-paying opportunities for UTRGV graduates, said Garza.  

“Workforce is always the top priority in why businesses choose to relocate to a particular area, and I work closely with RGV economic development teams to educate perspective businesses on our top tier graduating workforce,” Garza said.

The main offices for UTRGV’s Office of Workforce and Economic Development are in the CESS Building in Edinburg and the new eBridge Center in Brownsville. 

Garza said plans are in the works with other Valley communities to strategically build the network.