The Medical Center of the Americas Foundation (MCA) was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to support planning efforts to grow the MCA campus that houses Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, University Medical Center of El Paso, El Paso Children’s Hospital, City of El Paso Public Health Department, the MCA’s Cardwell Collaborative biomedical incubator and others.

Over the past 10 years, the campus has drawn in over $180 million in state investment support through Texas Revenue Bonds from the Texas Legislature, as well as over $300 million in El Paso County bonds for the expansion of the campus hospitals and clinics. Collectively, the campus has approximately 7,500 employees and over 850 medical and nursing students and residents – making it a major economic center for the City. With over 9,500 visitors passing through on a daily basis, the MCA Campus has created a synergistic academic medical campus primed for job creation, economic development, and improved healthcare outcomes in the region.

With these EDA grant funds and through public/private collaboration, the MCA will update the MCA Campus Master Plan, incorporating updated development plans for campus partners with corresponding utility and road infrastructure requirements. In addition, the planning efforts will create a roadmap for funding these improvements needed for the long range growth of the MCA Campus. The grant also builds on the foundation the region has laid for out for the growth of a biomedical research park across a binational, tri-state area along the U.S. Mexico border.

“We are excited and thankful for the continued partnership of the EDA,” stated Emma Schwartz, president of the MCA. “This funding is a significant recognition of the economic and quality of life impact that the MCA Campus activites are having on our community, and furthering our planning efforts will ensure sustainable growth of our campus partners as well as our healthcare and biomedical industries.”

About the MCA: The MCA, a nonprofit organization in El Paso, Texas is charged with developing a life sciences and biomedical industry in the region, centered around the Medical Center of the Americas Campus emerging from an economically and environmentally blighted part of town, in one of the poorest zip codes in the country.