The Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC) has announced the recipients of its annual Workforce Excellence Awards for 2016. The awards will be presented at a special awards breakfast held Thursday, June 9, 2016, at the TEDC’s Mid-Year Conference in Irving, Texas. The two and one half-day conference will be held June 8-10, 2016 at the Omni Mandalay at Las Colinas Hotel.

The Workforce Excellence Award program recognizes exceptional contributions by a Texas community or region that has implemented successful workforce initiatives. The TEDC’s Workforce Development Committee reviewed applications from sixteen (16) communities and organizations. Nominees were then judged on five criteria: innovativeness, transferability, community commitment and leverage, measured objectives, and secondary benefits.

The 2016 Workforce Excellence Award recipients are:

Population (up to 15,000):  Coleman, Texas
Population (15,001 to 40,000): Brownwood Economic Development Corporation
Population (40,001 to 100,000): Victoria Economic Development Corporation
Population (100,000 and Above): Lubbock Economic Development Alliance
Regional Category:  Workforce Solutions Alamo

“Our TEDC’s Workforce Excellence Award is one of the ways in which our organization honors the outstanding work done by our communities and regions, their leaders, and their economic development professionals in the area of workforce development,” noted Carlton Schwab, President/CEO of the TEDC.”

The TEDC was organized in 1961 and provides information, education and legislative services to its members to foster the expansion of existing businesses, the location of new firms and the development of strategies that promote a positive business climate in Texas. With over 850 members, the TEDC is now the largest state economic development association in the nation.