In El Paso, panelists stress area’s collaboration, slam false portrayals

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Whether it’s education, health care or a host of other issues, El Paso can be critical in helping other Texas communities think about how to plan for the future.

That was the focus of a daylong symposium Thursday held by The Texas Tribune at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center in El Paso. Experts from the El Paso region talked during panel discussions about the significance of El Paso to the rest of the state and how they’re navigating demographic changes and building thriving economies, strong workforces and healthy communities throughout the state.

Below are summaries of the discussions held at the symposium.

The significance of El Paso to Texas

Situated on the Texas-Mexico border, El Paso has often been made the center of the immigration crisis — both on the statewide and national level. Panelists discussed the issues unique to the city and how to approach fair coverage in the region.

Alfredo Corchado, executive editor and correspondent for the PUENTE News Collaborative, discussed the preconceived notions people have about the city — which he attributes in large part to the lack of resources for reporters to tell stories about what’s really happening here..

“The border has become more than just a geographical place — the border is a mind-set,” he said. “I travel around the country, and I tell people where I’m from and oftentimes, people tell me who I am.”

KTEP news director Angela Kocherga acknowledged the national perception of El Paso has also been exacerbated by the upcoming presidential election.

“If they’ve never been here, it’s the edge of Texas, no-man's land with hordes of criminals coming across and obviously that's not the case,” she said. “These are all vibrant communities on the border. I think that everything is being looked at through the prism of migration issues.”

Moderator Zahira Torres asked how a potential school voucher initiative, which would provide state dollars to fund private school tuition, affect students in El Paso. Bob Moore, the CEO and founder of El Paso Matters, said that students wouldn’t benefit on account of the scarcity of private schools in El Paso.

“The ability to attend a school distant from your home requires a large amount of privilege,” he said. “You have to have transportation to get you there. You have to have a parent who’s not going to work at 6 o’clock in the morning hours before you have to be at school. Those are the kinds of impediments that don’t benefit these families.”

Looking forward, Kocherga explained that those currently in power must make room for the future labor force.

“We’re taking care of ourselves by making sure we are caring for our Texans in El Paso along the border,” she said.

— Nina Banks

Business and economic development

El Paso is home to a bustling workforce, however, panelists from the region’s business sector said, coverage of the border has eclipsed the work done in the city that makes it integral to the Texas economy. The panelists touted the city’s significance to the broader state and national economies and how their geographical location and younger population are assets when it comes to workforce.

Andrea Hutchins, president and CEO of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce, discussed the potential that is overlooked in the city.

“It would be fantastic if we could continue to get the rest of the country to recognize the same opportunity, and rather than having the news focus on a small group of people — giving that newsbite if you will with video of people rushing the border.” she said. “Certainly we could take a look at some of those amazing advanced manufacturing opportunities.”

Cindy Ramos-Davidson, CEO of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, echoed Hutchins’ sentiment, calling El Paso “the jewel on the Rio Grande” and encouraging people to come visit and witness their community up close.

“State and federal government — quit doing your policy through an ivory tower,” she said. “Come out of the towers, come into the market, get down to the ground floor with us and really see firsthand the beauty and the magic and the tapestry of the culture of El Paso.”

Mayra G. Maldonado, executive director of the University of Texas at El Paso’s Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness, stressed the importance of collaboration with neighboring states and Mexico to maintain and grow their economy.

“We are working together more than ever to pursue great initiatives fro El Paso, and I think that that's very unique from our community,”

Having a trained future workforce is key to the future success of business, which is where El Paso thrives, said Jon Barela, CEO of Borderplex Alliance, a regional economic development and policy advocacy organization. Barela uses companies expanding in the city as a metric as the success of the growing workforce.

“They got here and continued to expand over time because they love the workforce here, and it’s phenomenal what we see,” he said.

— Nina Banks

Education

El Paso can serve as an example for other Texas communities on what it takes to provide high-quality education and increase workforce development, particularly for young Latinos, panelists said.

“We’re a petri dish. We’re a microcosm of what Texas, and some may argue the country, will look like in the near future,” said Xavier De La Torre, superintendent of Ysleta Independent School District. “We get to be those individuals that work together to crack the code on what it takes to educate Latino students.”

El Paso-area school districts, De La Torre said, are big believers in wrap-around services.

“We know [the students] come from families that need more than just sending their kids to school. They need day care, they need health care, they need nutritional assistance.” he said.

With an open school enrollment system, school districts in El Paso are often competing for student enrollment. But since 1992, leaders in education, business and civics have worked together through the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence to increase educational attainment in the city as a whole.

“El Paso is truly focusing on sending students out extremely prepared to be able to handle the rigor of postsecondary education.” said Angelica Haro, director of the Region 19 Educational Service Center, which provides El Paso’s schools with bilingual education, curriculum development, teaching skills training and programs for at-risk students.

Eddie Rodriguez, executive director of the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development (CREEED), works to connect philanthropists to the mission of bettering El Paso’s public schools and workforce.

“There’s a direct correlation between per-capita income and the level of educational attainment.” Rodriguez said. “For all of our discussions about minimum wage, living wage, competitive wage, it comes down to what you’re bringing to the table economically, and the educational system is critical to making that happen.”

Andrea Cortinas, vice president and chief of staff at UTEP, said many higher education institutions believe that to be excellent, you must be exclusive. Many UTEP students are first-generation college students, working students or are parents, like Cortinas was when she attended the university. UTEP, she said, remains committed to access and meeting students where they are.

“We’re going to teach you how to swim,” she said. “We’re not going to keep anyone from coming into the university.”

El Paso’s education and workforce goals are achieved through a citywide effort, involving many community members who previously attended El Paso schools, panelists said.

De La Torre shared his advice for school districts hoping to have similar student outcomes.

“Please, find more teachers, administrators, leaders, that look like the majority of your students. It does go a long way, because they have lived that life, and they know the needs.” he said.

— Erin Cobb

Health care 

El Paso is a community in which people are learning more about the health conditions facing communities of color, and the challenges in access to health care. Medical professionals gathered to share what the region’s health care system looks like for providers and patients.

Many people have fears about navigating the health care process, said Aida Ponce, chief outreach and wellness officer at Project Vida, an organization focused on meeting the El Paso community’s health, education, housing and wellness needs.

Ponce organizes teams of community care workers, or promotoras, who help ease the medical fears of the community by guiding those seeking care.

“The role of the community care workers that we have is [the] navigators, they take the hand, literally, they take the hand of the client,“ Ponce said. “The biggest barrier is intimidation, obviously access, sometimes priorities, it’s a community that has two, three jobs sometimes.”

High poverty rates, high rates of uninsurance and the demands of providing care to a large rural area are some of the factors that strain El Paso’s health care system, according to Dr. Glenn Fennelly, assistant vice president for global health at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC).

Fennelly works to educate students at TTUHSC about these barriers to care. He discussed a medical student-run health clinic that brings TTUHSC students to the colonias — low-income, unincorporated communities along the Texas-Mexico border.

“The students go out there, they see, if you will, some of the barriers to just delivery. There’s absence of addresses, they see the lack of potable water.” he said. “In many ways that [clinic] is a lifeline for that community.”

Dr. Ogechika Alozie, CEO of Sunset ID Care, said his colleagues who come to El Paso are often surprised by the city’s vibrant culture.

“They say, ‘Well that’s not what I saw on TV, this is, wow, this is like a real city.’” he said.

Echoing the other panelists, Alozie stressed the important role of health care professionals in listening to their community’s needs, furthering health education and supporting Medicaid expansion.

“As much as we have the multiple challenges that are driven by socioeconomic factors and the border, the community as a whole wants to be healthy,“ he said. “What can my colleagues do is be more amenable, be more open-minded.”

— Erin Cobb

Immigration and the border

Ruben Garcia, the director of Annunciation House, an El Paso migrant shelter, had a direct message for those who want to understand the full context of the debate over immigration.

“If you want to learn about logistics, if you want to learn about the mechanics involved in the movement of all of these people, then El Paso’s a great place,” he said. “But if you want to learn about the immigration issue, I want you to go back to wherever you’re from.”

Garcia said during a panel discussion that it’s those conversations with people elsewhere across Texas where they will hear of “the “terrible things” happening at the Texas-Mexico border. But through thoughtful discussion, they can begin to understand the complexity of the issue and the humanity needed to address challenges with the immigration system.

“Tomorrow morning when you get up, you get your cup of coffee, you walk out your front door, you cross the street, and you knock on your neighbor’s door,” Garcia said. “And when your neighbor answers, ask them, ‘Would you be willing to sit down with me and share a cup of coffee? I want to listen to what you think about immigration.”

Annunciation House, founded in 1978, is an organization that works with people experiencing homelessness on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Garcia has asked people at its hospitality sites the same question since the organization’s early days: Why did you come?

“They’re going to give you two answers, ‘I’m afraid,’ or ‘I can’t feed my family.’ 50 years have passed, and the answers haven't changed.’ Garcia said. “You and I have changed, that’s what has changed. This really is a conversation about what has happened to us.”

Misconception and fear slow immigration reform in Texas, said Luis Figueroa, chief of legislative affairs for Every Texan, a left-leaning research and public policy organization. Politicians worry about losing voter support by pushing for reform, he said.

“Every time we get close to it in Congress, the bill gets a little worse, and more focused on security, and less on immigration reform.” He said. “That’s why we’ve got to do this narrative changing.”

Figueroa got emotional as he spoke directly to the audience in El Paso about the legacy of migrants in the region.

“We are all byproducts of it. We all came from immigrants, we came from our parents. And many of us have prospered, and many of us have been able to build families of our own.” He said. “So why are we cutting that ladder off for future generations?”

— Erin Cobb

Disclosure: The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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