Congressman Gonzalez Announces $385,000 for UTRGV Veterans Business Outreach Center

MCALLEN, Texas – Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) announced a federal award of $385,000 made available through the Small Business Administration (SBA) to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC).

The VBOC at UTRGV helps to create, retain, and develop veteran-owned businesses across Texas by connecting veterans to local, SBA-sponsored technical and managerial assistance.

"Promoting our veterans and their entrepreneurship is one of the many things we can do to give back to those who volunteered to serve us," said Congressman Gonzalez. "We owe our veterans a debt of gratitude and during these trying times we need to stand together and support each other."

"Small Business is at the core of the U.S. economy," said Veronica Gonzales, UTRGV Vice President for Governmental and Community Relations. "The U.S. Small Business Administration award to UTRGV's Veterans Business Outreach Center allows us to continue assisting our military community members who want to start a small business or need entrepreneurial development services such as business training, counseling, mentoring, and referrals for eligible veteran owned small businesses. We are grateful to our Congressional delegation for funding agencies such as the SBA that provide these invaluable grants."

UTRGV VBOC's covers West, Central and South Texas. It is one of the original four Veterans Business Outreach Centers in the country, since its inception in 1999.

More information on the UTRGV VBOC isavailable here.