City of El Paso, UMC and EPISD earn Communities of Excellence Recognition

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—The City of El Paso, El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) and University Medical Center (UMC) of El Paso were presented with the inaugural Communities of Excellence Pioneer Level Recognition on Monday, June 24, at the 26th Annual Quality Texas Foundation Conference.

The award recognizes communities that work together to comprehensively improve the quality of life, quality of education, and quality of healthcare for their residents while working together to streamline operations and reduce duplication of effort for their communities.

In the fall of 2018, the City of El Paso hosted a Communities of Excellence working group, comprised of 14 organizations across the community. From the working group, the City, EPISD and UMC joined together to share best practices, reinforce civic engagement with a focus on the youth and apply key learnings from the Baldrige Framework.

“El Paso is the first community in the nation to earn the state’s Communities of Excellence pioneer level recognition, but more importantly this partnership speaks to the continuing commitment of the City of El Paso, EPISD, & UMC to work together to improve service delivery of quality of life, quality of education, and quality of healthcare for our residents,” said City Manager Tommy Gonzalez.

“An educated citizenry is a critical component of a thriving community. For us as a district, partnering with the City and UMC is a way to ensure that we develop and prepare the next wave of engaged, productive and civic-minded citizens who will continue to add to the quality of our community,” EPISD Superintendent Juan Cabrera. “This is also an opportunity for us to provide our students and families an environment where they can thrive and meet their full potential.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity and honor for our hospital and community. Our journey to provide the highest level of care for the entire El Paso region is made more effective through the Communities of Excellence recognition,” said UMC President and CEO Jacob Cintron. “Quality organizations and communities function best when they collaborate and support each other’s success. It is a process that grows within our hospital throughout greater El Paso.”

The City and UMC have partnered to formalize a pathway to co-lead process improvement projects utilizing the Lean Six Sigma methodology with a focus on improving the health of the community.

EPISD and the City developed the Youth Strategic Budget Advisory Committee, which also involved Ysleta, Socorro, Canutillo ISDs and Loretto Academy. This educational initiative connects the voices of the student population with municipal government and gives them a setting to provide feedback about their community’s quality of life. The initiative culminated in youth participants presenting their understanding and expectations on the city’s budget process.

The three entities have identified four key areas of focus, which include quality of life, education, health and economy. The three partners are working together to follow a clear set of values:
· Community
· Respect
· Excellence
· Opportunity
The values, which spell out “CREO” (Spanish for “I believe”), help set the stage to develop shared strategies and action plans to solve the community’s most important challenges.

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City of El Paso Media contact: Laura Cruz Acosta
915.212.1071