Welcome to Mile Markers, a bimonthly newsletter about rural higher education. I’m Nick Fouriezos, an Open Campus national reporter who grew up at the crossroads of suburban Atlanta and the foothills of Appalachia.

Today’s Roadmap

01: Postcards: Reskilling the Coastal Bend of Texas
02: Roadside Attractions: Connecting vets to rural colleges

01: Postcards

David Salinas knows how to approach strangers. He got good at it while in college, working as a photojournalist. And, he knows what to do when they're shy at first. He mastered that when working as a car salesman. 

He has one question he always turns to in those moments: "Did you ever finish your education?"

And then, he just pauses … and listens. Sometimes people need a second to open up. It gives him time to read their body language, and set them at ease. That’s another skill he picked up, at his last job, working for child protective services. 

He noticed that a lot of people were scared to admit not having finished high school or attended college.

“No?” he finally replies, once they’ve opened up. 

“Well, what if I knew a way for you to get a GED for free?”

People love it when they hear free, he tells me. It’s clear the former salesman has perfected his pitch. 

In fact, it seems like his whole life has prepared him to be a career navigator for UpSKILL Coastal Bend, a coalition of education leaders and community partners working together to help the South Texas communities around Corpus Christi.

The group formed in 2018 with a goal of breaking down barriers to education, fostering open dialogue, and creating “a singular vision to power solutions that prepare our workforce for good-paying middle-skill jobs in high demand across the region.”

It’s a noble mission, if perhaps a bit vague. Such flexibility is important to their model, which depends on having enough wiggle room to address their challenges in sometimes creative ways … for instance, by turning a rural Dollar Store into an economic incubator or convincing a local judge to sentence offenders to a classroom instead of a jail cell.

Then there are the on-the-ground career coordinators. Like Armando Castellano, who covers seven towns yet is never more than a text away from racing to help his clients. Or Aaron Trevino, a city alderman in Falfurrias, a small town known for its famed tribal healer, a curandero, and an infamous border patrol station.

In such remote places, where some towns are a few hours drive from each other, organizers can’t afford to place all their time and resources in Corpus Christi.

“We’ve been really strategic to make sure the navigators are embedded in the communities we serve,” says Ann Vlach, the operations director at the nonprofit community foundation Education to Employment Partners.

David primarily advises residents of Jim Wells County. It is one of 11 counties serviced by the coalition, which includes representatives from local community colleges, the state’s workforce group, and various nonprofits.

Their work has to be holistic, David says. The same person who needs their GED is often making little or no income. They likely are searching for a new job, and may also be struggling to get housing or food benefits they would qualify for. The coalition works together to connect people to all the services they need at once … before they can accidentally slip through the cracks.

That’s why one of the first things David did, after taking the job two years ago, was make friends with Rosie Rodriguez at the Housing Authority of Alice. He gives weekly workshops there, some as simple as how to write a better resume, others about accessing adult education and potential workforce opportunities.

++ Daniel Perez at our partner newsroom El Paso Matters wrote recently about how a local community college is working with the city’s housing authority to pitch the importance of college. 

He keeps going, even though it’s an hour commute roundtrip from his home in Kingsville. Even though only a few people typically show up and most are retirement-aged. It’s important to be there. 

“They’ll know either nephews or grandchildren, and that’s one way to get word of mouth out there,” he says.

Jasmine Vegas certainly was glad that he did. The 37-year-old mother of four kids visited the housing authority a month ago, and left her number, after Rosie said she could possibly get her GED for free.

“I got a call from David the next day,” she says.

Jasmine tries to tell her two teenagers that they need to stay in school, even when they don’t want to … and she is tired of them responding by saying ‘Well, you dropped out.’

By finishing school, she not only hopes to show them not to settle, but also to make a better life for them all.

“I’m nervous, and excited,” she says. “It’s been good. David texts me to check whether I met with the right people. He tells me, “Go do it, don’t give up!”

A trip to learn about her housing options suddenly turned into her having a chance to finish her GED after dropping out two decades ago … and maybe even more, with Jasmine now considering pursuing a nursing career through CNA and LPN courses.

“David is pushing me a lot. I like that he’s consistent,” she says. “Maybe if somebody had been doing that before, I would have gotten this done a long time ago.” 

02: Roadside Attractions

• Veterans and rural colleges find their fit. Insider Higher Ed takes a look at a new research review that shows what rural community colleges should do to create a greater sense of belonging among student veterans, many of whom disproportionately reside in rural America.

  • “The concentration of veterans in small town America is even higher among certain historically underserved racial groups: for instance, 40 percent of native/Indigenous veterans live in a rural region.”

• A glimpse at the STARS College Network. We’ve written a fair bit about the network, which recently expanded to 32 schools. This piece shows some of the initiatives it is funding, including four University of Chicago students who are serving as mentors to rural high schoolers across the country.
  

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