Lozoya participates in discussion on which industries Hidalgo County should focus on

EDINBURG, Texas – A group of economic development leaders and academics met this past week to consider which industries Hidalgo County should focus its recruitment efforts on.

The meeting was coordinated by the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force and held at UT-Rio Grande Valley’s Community Engagement and Student Success building in Edinburg.

The task force was set up by Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez to fight poverty. Moderating the discussion was Mario Reyna, the former dean of business at South Texas College.

One of the economic development leaders present was Mario Lozoya, president of Lozoya Consulting. The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service secured an exclusive in-depth interview with Lozoya at the conclusion of the meeting.

“I want to thank Mario Reyna and the Prosperity Task Force people. I believe the judge has a great vision. And I’m grateful that I have an opportunity to share some of my experiences in supporting that vision,” Lozoya said.

To help focus the discussion, economists at UTRGV, Texas A&M University, and South Texas College provided data.

“We looked at data that was produced from the universities and from the local community college, STC, just to see where we are, what does it look like in terms of jobs, pay, and the like,” Lozoya said.

“From that information, we together agreed on what areas should we focus on regionally, starting with Hidalgo County, and then hopefully COSTEP and others like that buy into those selected areas, manufacturing for example, IT and the like.”

COSTEP stands for the Council for South Texas Economic Progress.

Lozoya said although five specific target areas were agreed upon, he did not want to share them at this time. That is because they could be subject to change.

“We talked about five specific areas. I don’t want to say what they are… until the judge and the task force leadership agree on those and the input that we provided. Hopefully then we all start focusing on those five areas for the greater good.”

Lozoya hastened to add that individual cities can and should continue to focus on the industries they have chosen to go after.

“We’re saying, keep doing what you’re doing. But, from a regional standpoint, let’s work together regionally on these items,” Lozoya said. “So, again, to clarify… communities will continue doing what they’re doing,whatever their leadership says they should do. But (we are going to ask them) to support the larger regional thinking in these (five) areas.”

Asked why it is important to focus on certain key industries, Lozoya said: “I think it’s important because now, from a regional perspective, we can communicate to let’s say a foreign direct investor, so they can see what this region has available for them from a selection process.”

Lozoya added: “I think, historically, the (Rio Grande) Valley has worked in silos, maybe even a point where they’re stepping on each other’s toes or maybe against each other for whatever reason or another. And so, we haven’t worked together from a regional perspective. So, I think the judge’s vision to corral the cats or circle the wagons, if you will, is a great thought-leadership point that he’s bringing out. I think there’s good buy in from a lot of entities across the region, across the Valley, not just this particular county.”

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of the interview with Lozoya:

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