Project Arriba reports workforce placements; county contract set at up to $150,000 annually

Project Arriba gave an annual update to the El Paso County Commissioners Court on July 14 describing multi-year outcomes for workforce development services supported by a county contract that the county capped at a not-to-exceed $150,000 per year.

Christian Martinez, manager for the county’s economic development department, introduced the update and said the renewed agreement with Project Arriba covers three years with a contractual cap of $150,000 annually; he told the court Project Arriba agreed to reduce FY26’s budget by 5 percent because of county budget constraints and that staff will bring an amendment formalizing that reduction.

Project Arriba’s presenter, identified as Mr. Ortiz, said the organization has partnered with the county for 26 years and that the county invested about $950,000 into Project Arriba over the last 10 years. Ortiz provided outcomes tied to county-supported work: Project Arriba reported serving 338 rural-county participants over a recent period and said it has graduated cohorts into high-demand health-care careers. Ortiz’s slide summaries listed 134 bachelor-level registered nursing graduates, 94 registered nursing graduates, 50 licensed vocational nurses and 60 allied-health graduates in the referenced period; he said 198 of the participants had been job placed and gave a granular breakdown of placements by license type.

Ortiz told commissioners the county’s FY25 contract spending through May 31 was $72,000 of the $150,000 allocated, with $57,000 in direct participant support and $15,000 in case management. He also quoted a return-on-investment estimate, saying, “For every dollar invested in Project Arriba from the county of El Paso, it's returned back $28,” and he claimed that the program’s activities represented about $900 million in regional economic income power. Those ROI and economic impact figures were provided by Project Arriba as part of its presentation; county staff did not adopt a formal county estimate during the meeting.

Commissioners asked follow-up questions about job-placement timing; Ortiz explained many graduates must pass state licensing exams (for example, the NCLEX for nurses), which often delays placement by about 90 days. Christopher Martinez and Project Arriba agreed to provide more recent quarterly placement reports to commissioners’ offices on request.

This item was an informational annual update; the court did not take immediate action beyond noting the planned contract amendment to formalize a 5 percent reduction for FY26.