Conference connects education to economy

"Educators, business leaders and elected officials gathered Wednesday to discuss the education of Hidalgo County’s work force.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas organized the Building Future Talent Workforce Summit 2007, the second of two development events this summer.

At the first event, on July 5, community members created a list of problems the Rio Grande Valley faces: illiteracy, high dropout rates and lack of English and professional skills.

On Wednesday, speakers at the McAllen Convention Center posed solutions, including government-funded training and internships for high school students."

This is the beginning of an article that was written on The Monitor.

This summit is certainly a great idea and unity is actually key to solving most of the issues Hidalgo County faces.

This is a quote by Daniel King, superintendent of the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district, “It’s time to stop waiting for someone else to take the lead,” he said. “We need to come together and solve this problem. A radical transformation of Hidalgo County is possible.”

I totally agree...but what is next, we do not want to go to just another summit where everyone says what needs to be done... we need to get our hands dirty and begin to try to solve some of the issues.