Rio Grande Valley RGV Lead (RGV LEAD) is a regional public-private collaborative that brings together business, industry, secondary education, and postsecondary education leaders to design and implement agreed-upon strategies that leverage regional resources in achieving a higher level of preparedness for our workforce.

Our business history and organizational theory make the case that there is power in the industry-education partnership. The result is like a professional sports team: experts playing with experts. Mix in staff and board passion, and you have an intelligent and integrated strategy for growing and engaging stakeholders in work.

The Link Between Education and Economic Prosperity

Economic development is about jobs: jobs for individuals and jobs that exist in communities and the region as a whole. Economic developers work to create and sustain good jobs—jobs that pay well enough for individuals to support their families. When individuals secure jobs that provide support for their families, those individuals gain “buying power.” The purchases made by these individuals and their families generate sales tax dollars that provide funds used by communities to address infrastructure needs such as roads, utilities, and recruitment of additional industries and jobs.

An educated workforce is a vital requirement for promoting economic growth. For individuals, successful economic development means having the skills—both academic and work-related—that are required for success in finding and securing good jobs or becoming entrepreneurs, generating enough income to support a good quality of life. Completing college-and-career-focused programs of study helps students achieve the outcomes required for personal economic success.

Students’ career and education decisions to pursue knowledge-based occupations shape the economic vitality of individual communities, the region, Texas, and the U.S. The presence of an available, skilled workforce is the acknowledged foundation for increased economic development.