BROWNSVILLE, Texas - An annual One-City Information Fair held to showcase the City of Brownsville’s 20-plus departments is now attracting participants from outside City Hall.
Banks, economic development and grassroots organizations have joined the event held at the Brownsville Events Center.
Even the U.S. Border Patrol is now a participant.
A booth from the federal agency was set up, not as a recruitment tool, but to inform the public about other responsibilities BP has besides going after undocumented immigrants.
“We are also first responders,” Iris Rodriguez, a 20-plus years veteran, said. “We can assist other organizations during an emergency situation.”
She said Brownsville has two BP stations and some of their staff are trained to handle man- or natural-made disasters.
“We are here to inform the public about what we do besides law enforcement,” she said during the event that took place Thursday, May 21 at the Brownville Events Center. “If the city needs to reach out to us, we will be glad to assist them.”
Rodriguez said they were also there to provide orientation about jobs and other work-related topics.
PNC Bank, formerly knowns as BBVA, said their financial institution is a full service such business and one of the nation’s top five.
Headquartered in Pittsburg, PNC has four locations in town.
Another newcomer at the fair was Harmony School of Innovation.
And Brownsville has the only two of these free public charter schools in the entire Rio Grande Valley.
A representative of the school said both campuses have about 1,000 students enrolled today.
Also new this time were the Port of Brownsville and the Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport.
Lorena Cardona, the airport marketing and business development director, said they now have four airlines serving the area.
They are Breeze, United, American and Aerus.
Their destinations are Houston, Dallas, Orlando and Monterrey, Mexico.
Some of the fair attendees, like Carmen Rio and Marisela Almeida, said they were glad to attend the event.
“There is a lot of information here,” Almeida said. “But you can never get enough.”
