Educational video about Do’s and Dont’s from D Sterling on Vimeo.

By focusing on the idea of the American Dream, Opportunity Nation plans to implement programs that will generate social mobility for young graduates in the city they are going to school. UTEP President Diana Natalicio has spoken out about the outlook for UTEP graduates. Most of the students who graduate from UTEP have to leave El Paso to cities like Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio to find the high-level jobs they need. UTEP graduate are just as competitive as any other college graduate and this talent pool is leaving the community. The focus for UTEP and Opportunity Nation is to find ways to retain these talented students. This is where the outreach to the business community comes into play.

At the conference, approximately 100 of El Paso’s educational, business, and civic sector leaders were on campus Wednesday to establish a three year framework to increase the number of high-level jobs in the El Paso area. Local business leaders like Woody Hunt and Terry McGreehan spoke at the conference to paint the current economic climate of the Paso Del Norte Region along with thought provoking questions to the other business leaders in attendance of where we go from here. As part of the conference, Opportunity Nation brought about 8000 fifth through seventh graders to the UTEP campus to motivate and educate the young students on the importance of college and the opportunities that UTEP has to offer.

It’s great to see programs like Opportunity Nation being employed in cities like El Paso. El Paso specifically, has a lot to offer in the global economy such as the production sharing capabilities that have already been part of the region have helped build up our economy, but they need to be greatly enhanced and pushed more in order to gain a competitive advantage in the manufacturing industry. The Paso Del Norte region could have the potential to compete with other manufacturing giants such as China, but it will need the right plan and leadership to guide it along with the Entrepreneurial spirit that needs to be ignited in the Sun City to bring back the talent that a UTEP education provides.

Building a new baseball stadium has benefits both from having the new venue available
as well as from the team it would bring in. The new stadium could also serve as a location for
other events such as sports, music, car shows, etc.. Hosting these new events will bring in
revenue as well as spotlight and attention for the city. The new stadium and future events will
also create jobs at all points from construction to the games and events themselves.

Not too long ago the El Paso Diablos were once affiliated with the Arizona
Diamondbacks, but those days have long come and gone. While the Diablos are no longer
affiliated with the Diamondbacks they are still considered professional baseball. Though they
are not in a league that is particularly well-known or popular. El Paso has a professional baseball
team that hardly anyone watches or even knows what league or level they are a part of. Building
a new baseball stadium could change all of that with the new incoming Triple-A team.

A Triple-A baseball team in El Paso could mean major things for our city. Not the least
of which is putting El Paso as a professional baseball town back on the map. A Triple-A team
would spark a new and continuous surge of excitement. The city becomes vibrant and electric
when the Sun Bowl game approaches because it is not just another college football game, but
because is a well-known and well-watched game. The Sun Bowl game is a major event in El
Paso because it is a nationally-televised game and because it almost on the same level as a
professional game. Despite being different sports, having a Triple-A team in El Paso will have
the same effect because the team would play in a league and in games that are just one notch
below Major League Baseball. In addition, whenever a major league player is injured and needs
to rehabilitate his injury, the team sends him down to their Triple-A affiliated team. When that
happens, people in attendance at that those games get to see a major league player in action.
Being at least six hours away from the nearest city with an MLB team, this would be an amazing
opportunity for those who are not able to travel. They can see a high level of baseball and even
see MLB players in action.

Bringing in a new Triple-A team and building the new ballpark has a plethora of benefits
for the city and will help secure its long-term financial future. It will help create jobs and
internships. This will help keep recent UTEP graduates from having to leave to find work and
also lower the unemployment rate in El Paso. Having a high-level baseball team with intimate
connections to the major leagues will also put El Paso in the news, in the spotlight, and in major
sports programming. Finally, the revenue generated from the stadium, the team, the games, and
the various other events that can be hosted at the stadium will greatly improve the economy and
also help fund more jobs and more developments in the city. These additional developments will
also further create more jobs and generate more revenue. A new baseball stadium and a Triple-A
baseball team will not only bring a surge to the city’s economy, but will also serve to sustain it
for years to come.
~Raymundo

President Obama’s plan would end Bush-era tax cuts for those earning more than $1 million and make them pay at least 30% on taxes. He wants to eliminate or at least reduce the tax break that the wealthy enjoy, as well as U.S. corporations. This would be done by simplifying the tax code and lowering marginal tax rates. He would though, extend them for taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year and married couples earning less than $250,000. He would increase taxes on dividends for the wealthy investors, the actual rate now being 15% going up to 39.6%. On the other hand, Mitt Romney plans to make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels, meaning large cuts for those wealthy and not so much for the poor. He states that this would improve the economy by leading to more revenue in the end. He would also be cutting the income tax rates on all levels; the highest one now being 35% would be lowered to 28%. Mitt Romney would maintain the 15% on dividends and capital gains while ensuring that families making less than $200,000 do not pay taxes on these.

Now a quick overview on some of Obama’s other tax plans: Keep the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which helps students of higher education up to $2,500 per year and make this permanent; implement a tax credit for employers who increase payrolls, equaling to 10% of the increase in wages subject to Social Security; impose a fee on financial institutions with more than $50 million in assets, in order to recover the costs of the Wall Street bailout.
Some of Romney’s taxation plans include: switching to a territorial tax system, which would indeed promote U.S. interest in the form of encouraging domestic investment of foreign profits and making U.S. companies more competitive in the world market; the elimination of the AMT, Alternative Minimum Tax, because it increases tax rates on companies that invest in capital equipment; to abolish the death tax, allowing families to transfer assets among generations without dealing with tax avoidance schemes and at the same time not breaking family business.

One of the proposals that both candidates share is that of the Research and Development tax credit becoming permanent, which promotes manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries and saves businesses billions of dollars.

Now that you have acquired an understanding of the tax proposals from Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, it is your opportunity to improve this country. Early voting starts on May 14 through May 25 and primary elections on May 29. There is still time to fully understand what each and every candidate has to offer, because remember “The decision not to vote is a vote.”

With the recession still fresh in the mind of both consumers and employers alike, it is difficult for anyone to obtain a job is the current market. For the college student, this issue is compounded by school and extra-curricular commitments required by society. However, even in difficult economic times, college students have been able to persevere.

One such student is Jesse Nelson, a sophomore with a penchant for independent music. Jesse started going to concerts of local bands around El Paso during High School. It’s here that Jesse decided that he wanted to be able to manage and support the fledging bands by helping them organize and play events all over the city. This was the start of Phonebook Productions.

Phonebooth Productions is an agent company that pairs independent musicians and bands with opportunities for events.  He is also the main booker for the Percolator, a downtown coffee shop that has become a popular hotspot for students in the evenings.

As a booking company, they charge a cover fee in order to attend the events. It’s this cover fee that generates revenue for Phonebook Productions. Of course many of the venues where these concerts are held benefit in increased customer base and overall a beneficial relationship between the two. Additionally, Phonebooth Productions can market by promoting around UTEP as well as over Facebook.

Jesse is very proud of his success. “Many bands are getting to the point where they say, ‘Hey Phonebooth Productions can throw us a show, they can throw us a concert’.”  And to throw a concert he can: A recent show at the Percolator can quickly become standing room only. This does not remove any of the enjoyment of listening to the bands play.

Phonebooth Productions as has a clear advantage when it comes to its client base. They can market of hire nearly any kind of band in El Paso. “I haven’t worked with too many country bands yet, but definitely the Alternative/Indie scene is big with    Phonebooth Productions… some acoustic and solo acts have also turned to us…”

This isn’t just a school time gig, however. Jesse has events going on throughout the year. His next big event is going to be on March 24^th over at the Percolator. For more information about Phonebook Productions, please check them out over Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/phoneboothprod