Rio Grande Valley Region Aims for Strategic Growth with Map Project

Region aims for strategic growth with map project
The Monitor
By: Jared Janes
Nov 29, 2009


UTPA is developing an inventory of the county’s assets for economic development.

Any good strategic plan is grounded in data, says Mike Blum, a commercial real estate broker.

But when the strategic plan is for economic development in a large and diverse county, putting the data together is a monumental task, he said. To get there, they must compile a hard detailed set of facts, figures and resources from wide ranging sources.

But once the data is put together, officials will have a better understanding of what the county needs as it
prepares its strategic plan.

“(The data) will display to everyone who wants to hear about it — we know who we are,” said Blum, a committee member who is helping to draft a list of the county’s assets. “This is what we’re made of.”

A team of eight University of Texas-Pan American researchers are finalizing an asset map they started in April as part of an economic development process.

Asset mapping identifies all the resources in a region, compares them to other areas and provides a base for strategic planning, said Michael Uhrbrock, the project manager who works in the university’s Division of Community Engagement.

The asset map gives community leaders a feel for what they’re working with as they draft a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, he said.

The development strategy acts as a guide to identify investment priorities and funding sources for the overall
economy or a general industry.

Hidalgo County is focusing on growth in the health care industry, including hospitals, research institutions and
manufacturers.

The county judge’s office received a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to develop the strategic plan, said Brian Kelsey, an Austin-based consultant who is acting as an adviser on the project.

But the critical part of the strategic plan is the asset map, which is essentially an inventory of everything that
can be used for economic development purposes.

Nobody has taken a comprehensive look at all the assets in the county and stored it in one place, Kelsey said. Available in a database format, the asset map serves as a one-stop source for all information about the county.

Asset mapping has been used elsewhere with success.

The closure of Maytag’s corporate headquarters and plant in Newton, Iowa, left more than 1,000 people in the city unemployed, he said. But the city had an asset map that showed the unemployed workers were in demand for industries of the future.

Two months after Maytag’s plant closed, a wind turbine manufacturer said it would produce its blades in the old Maytag facilities.

With Hidalgo County preparing an asset map, the county will be positioned to attract investment as it comes
out of the recession, Kelsey said.

“A lot of regions are finding strategic plans are much more successful when they start off with a base of
knowledge,” he said. “It’s what the asset mapping process is about.”

The county’s asset map will emphasize its ability to attract or grow its health care industry, said Fausto Meza,
an administrator at Doctor’s Hospital at Renaissance and a member of the committee compiling the asset map.

The industry is among the fastest-growing in the nation with a direct impact on many others since all businesses need healthy employees, he said. The industry’s scope extends far beyond hospitals with medical
manufacturers and research institutions all in high demand.

The committee is looking at the county’s skilled labor force, the existing hospitals and places for care and other assets it has in health care. The asset map will help the county develop a plan to grow its health care industry, benefitting the community through jobs and better healthcare resources.

“We’re going to have a product at the end that we can use to make strategic decisions,” he said. “We won’t be able to intelligently do that without the research done first.”

Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.