GRANTEE STORY
BB-RISE
Region: Southwest Border
Sector: Economic Development, Education, Entrepreneurship
Postsecondary pathways for rural students
2025 Civic Hub grantee
BB-RISE stands for the Big Bend Rural Initiative for Success in Education. It is a pioneering educational collaboration among independent school districts of Alpine, Marfa, and Marathon in far West Texas with a focus on enhancing college and career readiness in rural communities. Its goal is to create collaborative and sustainable post-secondary pathways that empower remote, rural students to shape the future of Big Bend communities.
From the very beginning of building this collaboration, BB-RISE’s priority was to honor the unique spirit, traditions, and pride of the Alpine, Marfa, and Marathon communities. It recognized that each community had its own history, its own story, and its own strengths, and BB-RISE should celebrate all of them and represent all three communities equally.
BB-RISE was initiated after a year-long planning process that incorporated labor market analysis to tailor training toward high-demand, high-wage careers in health sciences, business, IT, and other fields that serve local workforce needs even amidst regional population shifts.
Photos courtesy of BB-RISE
This Civic Hub grantee will use Trust funding to expand pathways within each community while continuing to strengthen and support its coordinating entity, the Education Partnership of the Permian Basin.
“I am excited to be a part of an initiative like BB-RISE that will show students across the Big Bend the unlimited post-secondary opportunities available to them.”
– Jarrett Vickers, BB-RISE Regional Director