The Rio Grande Valley Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist is offering a new class session to their program of enlightening and educating a corps of volunteers about the natural resources of the Rio Grande Valley. Classes begin Jan. 15 and take place every Wednesday night for 10 weeks. Additionally, Sunday field trips will pair with the classes. Most participants of this program volunteer at local state parks and wildlife refuges.…
BuildRGV is focusing on the Rio Grande Valley’s downtowns and their economic prosperity with “The Future of Downtowns” Aug. 30 in downtown Weslaco. Held for downtown merchants, property owners, builders, developers, city planners and EDC staff, and county and downtown managers, the event provides innovative approaches to driving traffic to downtown. Attendees will learn not only how to bring more traffic to their downtowns, but also success stories of other vibrant…
Full disclosure upfront: I am an unabashed fan of the Rio Grande Valley and our neighboring communities on the southern bank of the Rio Grande. Even more disclosure: As the executive director serving the members of the Rio South Texas Economic Council, I get paid to be a cheerleader for our region. Yet those who’ve known me for a while can attest that my enthusiasm for our sunny corner of…
A 52-percent increase in cotton acreage in the Rio Grande Valley this year has paid off for farmers. But, as is typical in the tough business of farming, some growers did better than others. “The crop has been harvested now,” Hidalgo County AgriLife Extension Agent Brad Cowen said. “Yields are kind of scattered this year. It was a really good year for some and not so good for others.” Valley…
Last month, VBR published an article describing UTRGV’s efforts to create the next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs in the RGV. The piece ends by asking the question of whether or not competitors in this year’s Rafael Munguia UTRGV Business Plan Contest will “become the next great Texas startup.” This got us to thinking about the real impact of our business plan contest as well as other entrepreneurship program initiatives. We…
End Polio Now funds vaccinations “A lot of people don’t know that we didn’t get rid of polio in America until 1979,” said Doyle Clark, accountant and Rotarian. Valley Rotary clubs are collaborating with each other and working with the global effort to entirely eradicate and end polio by 2020. In the 1950s, the Valley was hard hit by a deadly polio epidemic. Three children from one family died within a…
Local assistance for small businesses It is exciting when a new business opens in the Rio Grande Valley, and we LOVE it because it strengthens both the community and the economy. The latest U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy stats show small firm openings have accounted for 40 percent of the “new” American jobs over the last two decades. During the first quarter of fiscal 2017, SBA approved 31…
Hurricane season has begun and the time to be prepared is before a storm forms in the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone who lived in the Valley in 1967 remembers Hurricane Beulah, the widespread flooding and the 100 mph gusts felt even in Hidalgo County. Category II Hurricane Dolly in 2008 battered and flooded Harlingen and parts of Cameron County. And 2010 was a disruptive hurricane season for Rio…