21 May COSTEP, LRGVDC, and TEEX Provide Rio South Texas Elected Officials an Opportunity to Familiarize Themselves with Economic Development
On Wednesday, May 21, 2024, COSTEP held its second Friends of COSTEP meeting of 2024. In conjunction with the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council (LRGVDC) and TEEX, COSTEP provided an in-person training session entitled “Economic Development for Elected Officials.” The session was held in Weslaco at the LRGVDC offices.
Lisa M. Mutchler, Division Director at Business and Cyber Solutions (BCS) with Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) conducted the session. Ms. Mutchler’s position has her serving many roles. Among these, she serves as the Program Director for the Cybersecurity Readiness Center and Economic & Workforce Development. With expertise in federal and state grants, she manages various programs aimed at economic growth in Texas.
This session was intended to assist and enrich elected officials unable to attend out-of-region economic development sessions due to their schedules. COSTEP and LRGVDC strongly believe that it is important for local economic development stakeholders to understand the basic precepts of economic development and adopt best practices.
Ms. Mutchler provided information on the basics of economic development, business retention & expansion, business recruitment, workforce development, economic development marketing, types of EDOs, incentives, and grant writing. The event was well attended with attendees representing several of Hidalgo County’s Precincts, Workforce Solutions, the City of Lyford, and the City of Pharr. Special thank you to Ms. Mallory McCoy, Texas Governor’s Office for attending the event.
COSTEP, Council for South Texas Economic Progress is a nongovernmental organization advocating regional economic development for the seven-county region of Rio South Texas. Servicing the counties of Willacy, Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Jim Hogg, Zapata, and Webb, COSTEP focuses on business recruitment services and provides regional market data to host site selector tours, regional familiarization tours, and area economic development enrichment sessions. To learn more about how you can support our work visit COSTEP.org or contact Adam Gonzalez at agonzalez@costep.org.
