Edcouch resident Lupita Caballero felt fortunate to have a job as a health-care provider but earning $10 an hour placed her in a situation countless Rio Grande Valley residents know all too well. She knew she needed a degree in nursing to advance in the field of health care, but on her salary, she had no discretionary income to pay for college classes, textbooks and uniforms. Though the hurdles never…
Savanah Arellano of San Benito had a job as a mental-health technician earning $10 an hour. While Arellano knew she wanted to stay in the healthcare arena, she also knew she needed to earn a much better salary if she wanted to be self-sufficient and not struggle just to pay her bills. Because Arellano’s parents divorced and her father passed away, she had seen those struggles firsthand. Arellano enrolled in…
McAllen resident Rebecca Gutierrez always had career goals, but barricades kept getting in her way. “It was always financial challenges of either paying bills or paying for school,” Gutierrez said. “I was not able to do both, at times.” Gutierrez is a Valley native. She is also one of six children who witnessed their parents perform the grueling labor only migrant farm workers know. “My parents both worked hard for…
Earning $2.13 per hour plus tips as a server at Texas Roadhouse in Brownsville made it difficult for single mom Itssen Izaguirre to meet all of her financial obligations. This was especially true when she decided to pursue a career in nursing. Nursing had sparked her interest in middle school and Izaguirre felt the time had come to pursue it. “I knew there was a shortage of nurses,” Izaguirre said,…
Pharr resident Vanessa Mendoza’s parents did not have the opportunity to go to college and get their “dream careers.” However, she said, they stressed the importance of college to their children. “My parents were humble and gave us what we needed,” Mendoza said. “They motivated me and my siblings to do well in school so we would be able to go to college to have a good job and a…
Texas Rural Communities has awarded Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement a $5,000 grant to fund participants living in rural communities from Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties. “We are immensely thankful to Texas Rural Communities for selecting VIDA as one of their grant recipients and recognizing the importance of enhancing higher education opportunities for student success,” said VIDA Deputy Executive Director Felida Villarreal. “Through this collaboration, VIDA will continue…
Life looked good for Angela Saenz of Mercedes. She had earned the title of licensed vocational nurse and had a job in the field. “Going to college was something that was always embedded in me by my parents because they didn’t get to go to college,” Saenz said. She realized the value of having parents who instilled in her the importance of education. Saenz also understood how fortunate she was…
It is an all-too-common example of Catch-22. A person decides the only way to get out of a low-paying job is to get certification or a degree. In order to pay for school, the person needs a job. However, to keep the job, the person has to be able to work. School schedules can make that quite difficult. Sebastian Mendoza almost found himself stuck in such a Catch-22. He enrolled…
Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement is one of 44 Texas nonprofits recently receiving recognition from Texas Mutual for its initiatives in workforce development. VIDA’s $41,667 grant from Texas Mutual will go towards workforce development, training VIDA students in target demand occupations. “We are immensely thankful to Texas Mutual Foundation for selecting VIDA as one of its grant recipients during COVID-19 recovery,” said VIDA Deputy Executive Director Felida Villarreal. “Career…
Growing up, Donna resident Mariana Lozano watched how hard her parents worked and yet how they struggled just to make ends meet. As she watched, she made plans. Her plans were to finish college so she could help them as her family’s first college graduate. “A friend told me I needed to apply to VIDA,” Lozano said. VIDA is the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement. The nonprofit organization was…