Garza: Think of the dichotomy, somebody in extreme poverty watching a rocket go up into space from Brownsville

MISSION, TEXAS – In a powerpoint presentation to the RGV Partnership 2024 Leadership Class, UTRGV’s Ron Garza included a slide titled ‘Key Economic Development Indicators.’

The slide listed seven indicators appertaining to the Rio Grande Valley. They were color coded. Four were in green – Sales Tax, Property Valuation, Gross Domestic Product, and Unemployment/Employment Rate. Three were in red – Per Capita Income, Educational Attainment, and Poverty Rate.

Garza, associate vice president for workforce and economic development at the university, first discussed the items in green.

“These first ones are green, and if you look at the Rio Grande Valley, those are really good. We are at historic levels of sales tax, valuation of property, GDP, unemployment rate. So our grade is strong A in those areas,” Garza said.

But, said Garza, “there are some things the Valley always has to keep an eye on,” as he turned his attention to the items in red.

“As good as these indicators (in green) are, we still have some issues here. Our poverty rate is still below the state average. All those in red, all those three are below the state average, the national average, which is not acceptable, period.”

Garza said when he thinks of poverty in the Valley one image comes to mind.

“So, I always think of the dichotomy of somebody in extreme poverty watching a rocket go up (into space) from Brownsville. Just think of that. There are people with just unlivable conditions, watching a rocket go up from Brownsville. So, until we strive for that ultimate balance, our job is not done here.”

The best way to get out of poverty, Garza said, is through education. And he spoke about the improved economic mobility institutions like UTRGV are creating.

“The impact of education in a family that lives in poverty or has a history of poverty is just amazing. We have so many first generation students graduating and making a high, sustainable, living wage. It can reframe a family’s future.”

The RGV Partnership 2024 Leadership Class spend the whole day learning about economic development. Garza’s presentation was just one of many. The event was held at the Center for Education and Economic Development in Mission.

Garza covered other topics in his 22-minute speech. He said the key to a healthy economy is good paying jobs.

“You can’t start a healthy economy without good jobs, period,” Garza said, before defining what he thinks is a good job.

“Right now, a good job in this area is something that pays about 20 bucks an hour, that has advancement opportunities, it’s not a fly by night opportunity, it’s going to stay in your community, sustainably. That’s a good job.”

Garza said that while economic development organizations get positive attention when they bring a high profile retail store to town, the projects that bring good jobs are manufacturing plants and the like. He gave an example from the time he worked for the City of Edinburg.

“In Edinburg, we were very, very proud of something we had worked on for a while and that was (bringing) a small manufacturing facility to the industrial park. Nobody really showed up to the announcement. When Chick-fil-A on Trenton opened up we had to do a traffic management plan.”

That drew a laugh from the audience.

“It’s okay. Not a lot of people understand this. That’s why leadership and leaders like you kind of need to understand (economic development),” Garza told the audience.

Garza also spoke briefly about what he considers UTRGV’s biggest challenge. 

“The Rio Grande Valley is a very interesting place to have a university because, if you think about all the great universities, like UT-Austin or Texas State, density is key. They’re all dense. But we don’t have the luxury of being dense. We have to equitably and excessively serve the entire four county area. So it’s challenging. This is the greatest challenge of UTRGV, ensuring that students in all those communities receive the benefit.”

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of Ron Garza’s speech to the RGV Partnership 2024 Leadership Class:

Here is some text

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