BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - The largest ever Career Expo to held in the Rio Grande Valley takes place in Brownsville on June 28.

The event is being called the Careers and Coffee expo. It will feature 1,500 job opportunities with various organizations, including the City of Brownsville, SpaceX, DHR Health, SteelCoast, Southwest Key, and National Electric Coil.

The expo takes place at the Brownsville Events Center, located at 1 Event Center Road, and entry is free to the general public. Over 1,500 job openings will be highlighted at the expo, which will run from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Helen Ramirez is executive director and CEO of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC) and deputy city manager for Brownsville. GBIC is hosting the career expo.

Ramirez said there will be career opportunities in fields such as healthcare, engineering, transportation, human resources, and government, and in skilled trades including machinery mechanics, facilities maintenance and welding.

Careers and Coffee will also offer free resume headshots by a professional photographer, a resume workshop, and networking opportunities in collaboration with Texas Workforce Solutions, Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Southmost College and UT-Rio Grande Valley, Ramirez explained.

“We are proud to be able to connect Brownsville’s amazing employers, who are ready to hire, with the talented, hardworking, qualified people of Brownsville,” Ramirez said, “It’s time to get our community back to work.”

In an interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Ramirez said Brownsville students no longer have to leave the city or the region in order to fashion a successful career.

“I think the powerful message of having a career expo that offers more than 1,500 jobs in different career sectors such as medical, aerospace, engineering and all types of job sectors, is that it really speaks to the opportunities that students that have left Brownsville or people that have left Brownsville even 15, 10 or five years ago have now,” Ramirez said.

“They have the opportunity, because of our sustainable economy, to come back and actually have the ability to have a quality of life, raise their families here, next to family. The strength of our economy really makes it (Brownsville) a great place to come back to and have career success. That is the message we want to send. You do not have to move away to be successful in your career and with your family.”

The Career and Coffee expo was promoted at a recent news conference. Ramirez spoke at the news conference, along with GBIC Chairman and Brownsville City Commissioner John Cowen, Jr. Representatives from DHR Health, SteelCoast, Southwest Key, and National Electric Coil also spoke.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.