Businesses, organizations and public education in the Rio Grande Valley have a tradition of joining together to build stronger communities.
The Texas Association of Partners in Education hopes to lay the foundation for even more collaboration and partnership in hosting a Regional Education Partnerships Forum on November 19 at the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District Performing Arts Center, 3217 Wilson Rd. in Harlingen.
“Our goal is to foster dialogue between schools and potential partners, to share best practices in sustainable partnerships and to develop and enhance new and existing partnerships,” said Jennifer Peters, the executive director of TAPE, a professional organization based in Austin. “There are a lot of interesting partnerships being developed in the Valley, and I hope we can learn from each other at this event. We are extremely grateful to Harlingen CISD for helping us plan this Forum.”
Partnerships between outside organizations and public school districts come in all shapes and sizes. In HCISD, the school district has a few new partnerships launched in 2013, including a partnership with the Gillman Auto Group of the RGV, which is providing $20,000 in prizes for rewarded students for attendance, said Corey Ryan, the marketing coordinator for HCISD.
“We are fortunate in Harlingen to have so many community leaders who understand the value of education,” Ryan said. “We have been able to be creative and innovative working with these partners to provide great programs that benefit students and staff. We have even more great programs coming, and I hope to learn about other programs and ideas at this awesome event.”
The event starts at 8 a.m. and goes until 12 p.m. It will feature speakers, panel discussions and partnership planning roundtables. Tom Keeler, CEO of KGBT Action 4, will serve as the keynote speaker, talking about the Valley Football Central program that his station launched in 2012, an online broadcasting and hosting provider for high school football in the Rio Grande Valley that has showcased local student athletes and generated additional revenue for school districts through revenue sharing. Valley Baptist Health System CEO Manny Vela will be the closing speaker for the event.
Cost for attending the forum is $60 for TAPE members and $75 for future TAPE members. Registration is online at https://www.formstack.com/forms/?989938-u4aXd5J3Ws.
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For more information, please contact Jennifer Peters at jpeters@tape.org or (512) 473-8377 or Corey Ryan at corey.ryan@hcisd.org or (956) 430-9535.