Ron Whitlock interviews WSC's Rafael Vela, TWC's Joe Esparza, and Mayor John Cowen

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - When he appeared as a panelist at RioPlex’s Texas Port to the Stars FDI Summit in Houston, Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., said this is the best time ever to be the leader of his city. 

Cowen said: “I think we have an extremely strong value proposition. I always tell people it's the greatest time ever to be mayor the city of Brownsville. We have over $40 billion of capital investment projects in our area. And what I'm most proud of is, for example, NextDecade, which is building their $18.4 billion liquefied natural gas plant,  they're hiring 70 percent local talent. SpaceX, they have over 3,200 direct employees. Over 70 percent local talent. That says that we have the human capital needed for companies to be successful in our region.”

Cowen gave similar remarks in an interview with Ron Whitlock Reports at Rally in the Valley 4.0, an event held recently at the Brownsville Events Center by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. Asked by veteran broadcaster Ron Whitlock about the state of the Brownsville economy, Cowen said:

“I always tell everyone that this. This is the best time ever to be mayor of Brownsville. We’ve got so much growth happening in Brownsville and outside of Brownsville. I think we've been able to showcase our workforce with with SpaceX and with Bechtel, and NextDecade at the Port (of Brownsville). Each of those huge projects have been able to use over 70 percent local workforce. So I think that shows that we have the skilled workforce needed for large scale industrial projects to be successful.”

Cowen said the key thing now is for the city to work with local educational institutions to ensure that the pipeline continues. 

“I think we're doing a great job of that. And I think, you know, we'll have some more announcements later, more projects that are coming to Brownsville, and we're excited to continue that growth.”

Whitlock also interviewed Rafael Vela, executive director of Workforce Solutions Cameron at Rally in the Valley. Vela praised GBIC for hosting the event. He said there needs to be more such events across the region. 

“There can never be enough of these events. As important as this is, there should be a dozen of these events throughout the Valley. So what we hope to do is expand with our partner, GBIC, and get other communities in the area to do the same thing. Not just in our service area, not just in Cameron County, but really the whole Valley,  because it can be so impactful.”

Whitlock agreed. He said every panelist seemed to have a “little nugget of important information” that was disseminated to the 400-plus students present. 

“One was, don't be afraid to fail. You'll learn more from failure than you do from success. That was just one of the nuggets that was disseminated here today,” Whitlock said.

Whitlock also interviewed Joe Esparza, the commissioner representing employers on the Texas Workforce Commission. 

“We are here at Rally in the Valley because we support initiatives that encourage students to get more involved with internship opportunities. We also support employers with resources on like a cost-sharing program, through our cooperation with the (Texas) Higher Education Coordinating Board,” Esparza said.

“It’s important because we're developing our next generation of workforce, and exposing students to as many industries as possible. That gives them a better grasp of where they want to be and how they're going to find success.”

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