IEDC Awards City ‘Silver Award’ for Regional Economic Development Strategy

The City of El Paso’s Economic and International Development Department received a Silver Award for Regionalism and Cross-border Collaboration from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the largest organization of professional economic developers.

“El Paso has always been a leader in promoting regionalism and collaboration. Not only is this because of our geographic proximity to Mexico and New Mexico, we also have a leadership and staff that focuses on supporting and building relationships with all our regional allies,” said Jessica Herrera, Director of Economic and International Development.

The award recognizes a City for innovative approaches to regionalism and other forms of cross-border cooperation across a city, county, state, and internationally. The City of El Paso was honored for its strategy and efforts to create a world-class medical center at the Medical Center of the Americas (MCA).

“Our goal at the MCA is to create a regional biomedical industry that will foster and accelerate innovation, create new employment opportunities and meet the healthcare needs for the entire Paso Del Norte region,” Herrera said.

Eddie Garcia, Assistant Director of the Economic and International Department, accepted the award at IEDC’s Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on October 3, 2018.

While at the conference, Garcia passed a certification test making him the first Certified Economic Developer in the City of El Paso.