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The team behind the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA) understands that change in South Texas won’t be achieved in a single generation. But their mission is to create lasting progress in a region that is always fighting for well-paying jobs and economic opportunity.
“If we’re able to make the slightest impact in just one person’s life, that’s truly transformational,” says President and CEO Felida Villarreal. “That changes our community and helps it move forward positively. That’s what economic mobility can do. That’s what drives our mission and our team.”
Villarreal says every person at VIDA is driven by the organization’s mission. She sees the love and passion they bring to what they do, and she says it shows in their work ethic—work that extends far outside nine-to-five and includes recruitment, networking, and bridge-building to wider communities.
That commitment has created continuity, a rarity in the nonprofit world. Many of VIDA’s original staff are still there. In a region where many students are first generation and don’t have the background or support at home to navigate college, that level of compassion and willingness to be the village it takes to make VIDA’s model work.
Conviction alone, however, doesn’t keep programs running. Villarreal brought a business lens with her, and the team has embraced it. They understand that if VIDA is going to be around for another thirty years, they have to grow smart and secure serious funding. The organization closed last year serving more than 860 students and is on track to cross the 1,000 student mark this year. Their current goal is to eventually serve between 2,000 and 2,500 students annually.
The VIDA team also continues to leverage and build partnerships to make this happen. Locally, they plug into referral networks, sit on nonprofit boards, and show up in community-led initiatives focused on prosperity and workforce development. Those relationships make it easier to solve problems quickly, problems like housing, health care, legal issues, and emergency needs, and keep students moving.
From there, VIDA has built out state and national relationships that open new doors. As an affiliate of UnidosUS, VIDA has gained visibility, resources, and peers doing similar work with Latino communities across the country. Recognition from national education and Latino-serving organizations has added credibility and more invitations to the table, while partnerships with larger nonprofits and federations have pulled VIDA into broader conversations around economic mobility and workforce development. For example, VIDA was recognized by Excelencia in Education in their Examples of Excelencia.
Those connections show up in what VIDA’s team actually delivers. Along with their long-standing offerings, the team has stepped into specialized work with justice-impacted youth through a partnership with FHI 360’s Compass Rose Collaborative, serving as the boots on the ground for a national initiative that helps young people returning from the justice system reconnect to school and work.
“That’s now another very specialized demographic that requires a very specialized type of support system and a very specialized type of counseling,” Villarreal says. “That can oftentimes include counseling around domestic abuse, substance abuse, and addiction.”
The challenges the team sees are complex and deeply human. Many students come from mixed-status households and are navigating a current political climate of fear that can make even going to class feel risky. Mental health needs continue to climb, and additional support is more important than ever.
In response, VIDA staff have forged partnerships with health systems and clinics to bring specialized counseling into the mix, making mental well-being an explicit part of their model rather than an afterthought.
And then there’s the work that happens beyond VIDA’s walls. Team members serve on local boards and task forces focused on economic prosperity and show up as the nonprofit voice in county-level conversations about workforce, education, and development. Villarreal herself has deepened that civic commitment. Along with a multitude of nonprofit board roles, she is running for her local city council seat to bring a nonprofit and community perspective directly into policymaking.
“I feel that the more that we can do to bring those voices to the tables where decisions are being made, it’s just another way we can continue to evolve and grow as a community,” Villarreal says.
The people of VIDA are all-in. They listen first, but they don’t stop there. They chase funding, build partnerships, test new tools, and refine programs.
Their goal is simple: When someone in their community decides they’re ready for a different future, VIDA’s team is ready to help them get there.
