History

Former Governor and current Dean of the NMSU College of Business at the press conference to announce the state's first Early College High School.

In 2007, an unprecedented public-private initiative in this community was launched. It included leaders frommultiple business sectors, elected and city officials, the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance, and representatives of both Chambers of Commerce, working in partnership with all levels of the area’s educational community: the superintendents from Las Cruces, Gadsden, and Hatch Public Schools, as well as the presidents of Doña Ana Community College and New Mexico State University. The group committed to sitting together at the same table to solve the same problem and improve the future for youth and the community.

The work was incubated in the Education Committee of the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce which then became the Regional Education Initiative (REI). REI brought a similar composition of leaders together to analyze the existing conditions and identify best practices that could be proven to significantly reduce the drop-out rate and could be employed in Las Cruces.

From two years of research that included industry analysis, academic analysis, focus groups, a workforce survey, and GAP analysis, they concluded there wasn’t a shared vision of success among the educational entities and the community. The high school drop-out rate was high, and not consistently tracked. Students didn’t see the value in continuing their education and dropped out for a variety of reasons. Students also felt no connection with an adult who would encourage them to continue their education and explain the value of staying in school.

At the same time, research into best practices revealed that the greatest success could be found in smaller learning communities, knowledge that could be applied to “real world” jobs and career opportunities through career and technical education, and in collaborative efforts between education, business, and economic development. While there were some pieces and parts of best practices being employed in the community, they weren’t occurring at a sufficient scale to make a significant impact.

REI formed The Bridge in 2009 to facilitate that collaboration across sectors and support implementation of best practices to advance education and engage youth in the workforce. Through The Bridge, business and economic development drive the conversation on education and build support for new solutions and new strategies that have shown great results in other communities. The organization is committed to the mission of facilitating collaboration and leveraging resources between public and private sectors to support educational excellence and optimize the workforce in Doña Ana County.