I’m stepping in for Cori to write this month’s letter, and June is a fitting month for it, because so much of what happened falls within the work I lead at BCIC: our finance programs. Nearly everything this month came down to one idea. Resources only matter when they reach the people ready to use them. What we do, at its simplest, is move resources from where they sit to where they work. June kept us busy doing exactly that.
On June 1, we opened the first BIG LIFT applications for District 1 businesses. This is our new grant for exterior improvements, from façades and signage to lighting, landscaping, and murals by local artists, and it reimburses up to 80% of eligible project costs. If you own a business in District 1, the deadline is July 10, in just two days.
The response so far tells us there is real demand. Nelson, our Director of Marketing and Communications, sat down with Telemundo for a Spanish-language interview about the program, and several of us have spoken with other outlets this month. We are grateful for the attention, because coverage like that is often how a business owner first learns this funding exists.
Applications also opened for the next Startup Texas cohort, the final one funded under our EDA Build to Scale grant. The applications are competitive and they are arriving in numbers. That tells me two things: the program has earned its reputation, and the appetite for this kind of support in our region is bigger than any single grant cycle.
El eBridge Center stayed busy all month. A new eBridge Business Academy cohort began classes, taught as always by our partners at the UTRGV Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center. A new Mexicana Emprende cohort held its inauguration, the program’s third year serving Mexican women entrepreneurs here in Brownsville.
And in the middle of it all, the Texas University Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship brought its annual conference to Brownsville, where Cori and Daniel Silva, our Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, joined panels alongside entrepreneurship center leaders from universities across the state.
June also brought practical preparation. We hosted a disaster recovery seminar at the eBridge Center with Prairie View A&M, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and the SBA, because a business plan should account for the bad days too. And we sat down with the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce to plan Lemonade Day, coming July 17, when kids across the city get their first taste of running a business.
We welcomed new faces as well. Anthony Cantu joined us as our small business lending coordinator, a role that sits at the center of the work I care most about. As our lending program continues to grow, he will help us expand our capacity to serve more entrepreneurs across Cameron County. And through the Home to Texas program, two UT students, Memphis and Kimberly, joined us as summer interns. Our board also spent a full workshop day together, and our team finished the first edition of a new quarterly business trends email, which you will hear more about soon.
Since I have the pen this month, I want to say something directly about the eBridge Fund, the revolving loan program I administer. It exists for the business that is viable but not yet bank-ready: the founders or owners who need equipment, a build-out, or working capital before a traditional lender will say yes. The loans get repaid, and the same dollars go back out to the next business. La Pale used it to scale production and is now on H-E-B shelves across Texas. Warbler Coffee used it to finish a historic build-out downtown. If that in-between stage sounds like where your business is, come talk to us. This fund was made for you!
June also gave us the eBridge World Cup tenant mixer, an afternoon of matches on the screens and tenants getting to know each other between them. A full office building where people actually know their neighbors is worth more than it sounds.
Thank you for everything you do to strengthen this community. On behalf of our Board and staff, we appreciate your continued partnership.
