Although August is traditionally seen as back-to-school season, the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement has a long history of helping a different generation of students find their way into or back to the classroom — adult learners.

Based in Mercedes, VIDA this year is celebrating 30 years of providing services to adult students across the Rio Grande Valley in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties.

VIDA is one of four workforce development organizations pioneered by Project Quest in San Antonio in the early 1990s and replicated in Houston, Austin, El Paso and the Valley, where Valley Interfaith and private-industry business leaders shepherded its formation.

“We are a nonprofit organization that focuses on workforce development and helping low-income individuals that

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