LETTER FROM OUR CHAIRPERSON

RICHARD A. CASTRO
McDonald’s Owner/Operator
Chairperson, CREEED
At the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development, or CREEED, we believe that El Paso’s future is intrinsically tied to how well our schools and students perform today.
Unfortunately, for many years El Paso has trailed other Texas cities when it comes to educational outcomes. Among our students who do graduate from high school, too few go on to college, and many of them are unprepared for the rigors of college-level programs. The result? Just 19 percent of El Paso 8th graders will attain a two or four-year higher-education degree in the next 11 years.
These outcomes affect our entire community, and it is our shared responsibility to address educational challenges in the region and increase educational attainment in order for our economy to thrive.
That is why CREEED brings business, education, and community leaders together to identify and implement solutions that will increase student attainment, improve educator effectiveness, and engage parents and community stakeholders in the education of our children in order to increase postsecondary attainment. (Thus the the emphasis on “college readiness” and high-performing seats within public education.)
Since launching CREEED in 2014, we have raised nearly $20 million locally to invest in sustainable education initiatives. We continue to invest in efforts that have a track record of increasing the number of students who graduate high school ready to take on the rigors of college and successfully complete their postsecondary studies.
The role of any education system should be to provide the best possible instruction to all students that walk through its doors. To deliver on that promise, we need to expand the number of high-performing seats in El Paso County so that every child can realize his or her potential.
CREEED has supported our local school districts in efforts that improve the quality of education, like Girls Who Code, and programs that improve the quality of instruction and teaching, like the Accelerated Certification of Teachers (ACT El Paso) scholarship program. We will continue to work with educators to scale up initiatives that produce optimal results.
We also work to bring new innovations to our region, such as more high quality free charter public schools and new ways of training our teachers, in order to accelerate the pace of change in El Paso County as the number of high-performing seats continues to expand.
I hope you will become a partner in our effort. What CREEED is striving for is no less than El Paso’s economic future. Today’s students are tomorrow’s community leaders, local entrepreneurs, and job seekers. We owe it to ourselves, and to our children, to give them the tools they need to succeed in a 21st century economy.
Sincerely,
Richard A. Castro
Chairman of the Board, CREEED
McDonald’s Owner/Operator
Chairperson, CREEED
At the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development, or CREEED, we believe that El Paso’s future is intrinsically tied to how well our schools and students perform today.
Unfortunately, for many years El Paso has trailed other Texas cities when it comes to educational outcomes. Among our students who do graduate from high school, too few go on to college, and many of them are unprepared for the rigors of college-level programs. The result? Just 19 percent of El Paso 8th graders will attain a two or four-year higher-education degree in the next 11 years.
These outcomes affect our entire community, and it is our shared responsibility to address educational challenges in the region and increase educational attainment in order for our economy to thrive.
That is why CREEED brings business, education, and community leaders together to identify and implement solutions that will increase student attainment, improve educator effectiveness, and engage parents and community stakeholders in the education of our children in order to increase postsecondary attainment. (Thus the the emphasis on “college readiness” and high-performing seats within public education.)
Since launching CREEED in 2014, we have raised nearly $20 million locally to invest in sustainable education initiatives. We continue to invest in efforts that have a track record of increasing the number of students who graduate high school ready to take on the rigors of college and successfully complete their postsecondary studies.
The role of any education system should be to provide the best possible instruction to all students that walk through its doors. To deliver on that promise, we need to expand the number of high-performing seats in El Paso County so that every child can realize his or her potential.
CREEED has supported our local school districts in efforts that improve the quality of education, like Girls Who Code, and programs that improve the quality of instruction and teaching, like the Accelerated Certification of Teachers (ACT El Paso) scholarship program. We will continue to work with educators to scale up initiatives that produce optimal results.
We also work to bring new innovations to our region, such as more high quality free charter public schools and new ways of training our teachers, in order to accelerate the pace of change in El Paso County as the number of high-performing seats continues to expand.
I hope you will become a partner in our effort. What CREEED is striving for is no less than El Paso’s economic future. Today’s students are tomorrow’s community leaders, local entrepreneurs, and job seekers. We owe it to ourselves, and to our children, to give them the tools they need to succeed in a 21st century economy.
Sincerely,
Richard A. Castro
Chairman of the Board, CREEED