Editor's note: Information given at the beginning of Saturday night's VRMI Holiday Mixer at the Percolator
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Thank you for joining us this evening to celebrate the “current expatriate” population, and to remind all expatriates of the opportunities that our local community can provide in 2009 and beyond. Any serious discussion about a return to El Paso requires one to articulate the opportunities and resources that the current landscape of our region can provide innately to former residents. Since you did live here for a significant period of time and that you more than likely have extensive family relations in the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez area, you have multidimensional advantages that can serve you locally and globally due to your direct relationship to one of the most significant cities of North America.
Know this well, anyone can flourish in El Paso, even those who have departed, through the application of one’s life training, the utilization of intrinsic social capital, and the willingness to start something new. Invest in this city by creating your own enterprise to become a job creator rather than a job seeker and civically engage your community through service for the benefit of us all—essentially, if you take care of your community, your community will take care of you. Please consider these factors because (1) our community requires your leadership, (2) our local families and educational institutions infused tens of thousands of dollars to prepare you to operate regionally, and (3) you can apply your passion, creativity, and relationships in a manner that fulfills you more than what other locales may ever be able to achieve.
Recognize that the traditional three avenues of employment in El Paso (i.e., related to government, healthcare, and education) remain the dominant fields for adult professionals and are paying 30% less than most other cities with a population over 750,000. However, there are ample domains where highly skilled/high wage specialists can operate with limited competition in these primary areas (and several other technical and creative fields waiting to be expanded) through the creation of new firms. Perhaps 2009 will be the year when you finally launch your business locally.
The advantages expatriates from the last two decades present are generational in nature, and this is the era when the late 20th century high school graduates must consider how they will contribute to the economic and social fabric of El Paso during the mass retirement of residents born in the 1940s and 1950s. A massive transition in the leadership and decision making base is occurring throughout our city, and you can position yourself effectively here during 2009 through 2012 while the nation adjusts to a new presidential administration and a period of dramatic economic flux. It appears that even a tremendous economic crises is yielding extraordinary opportunities for the current and former resident of El Paso.
Reconsider (or challenge a current expatriate you know to reevaluate) the benefits that El Paso presents economically, socially, and culturally—including not only cost of living and quality of life advantages, but additional opportunities that have emerged for graduate degree completion as well as a landscape primed for regional and transnational entrepreneurship. I hope that you do consider what your local legacy will be, and how all of us can work together to enhance the positioning of our community strategically. Thank you again for joining us tonight... welcome home and may you have a prosperous new year.
