75,000 square miles. That’s how large the Permian Basin is. For those that don’t know, the Permian Basin is an area of the country that contains a large swath of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico. For context, the state of North Dakota could fit inside the Permian Basin (with a little room left to spare).

Over the past two years, Contigo Ed has been fortunate to work with several school districts and organizations across the Permian Basin. And despite how large the geographic footprint of the Permian Basin is, our time working in the area has felt more like that of a small, tight-knit community than a region that spans 55 counties across two states.  During this time, we’ve met and worked with countless amazing people, all focused on the same thing: Providing all students and families with the necessary education and opportunities that lead to high-quality careers and lives. No matter the district or organization we engage with, that message is consistent. 

One of those organizations is The Education Partnership of the Permian Basin (EPPB). Comprised of a cross-section of city leaders representing various entities across the community – including members from the education, business, non-profit, and religious communities, EPPB’s goal is to encourage a common understanding of the educational issues and challenges facing the Permian Basin community, from “cradle to career”, and to work collaboratively to help solve these issues. In a relatively short period of time, EPPB has helped catalyze the public and private sectors in the region and has launched two action networks along the cradle to career continuum, an Early Childhood Action Network and a Grow Our Own Action Network.  The ECAN is focused on improving school readiness in the region, birth to 5, and the GO2 is focused on further strengthening educational pipelines/pathways for post-secondary success and career entry.

One example is the upcoming 3rd annual Permian Basin Leadership Summit. On April 6th, EPPB is bringing together regional leaders from K-12, Higher Education, Philanthropy, and Business/Industry to discuss topics like the creation of new energy pathways, human capital recruitment and retention strategy, and leadership pipeline development. 

Another example is the recent launch of EPPB’s first-ever College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) Professional Learning Community (aka PLC). Because of Contigo Ed’s focus on postsecondary readiness and career attainment, EPPB contracted with us in the Fall of 2022 to help launch and lead this PLC initiative. As part of EPPB’s “Grow Our Own” Network strategy, our collective charge was to invite and convene all school districts across the Permian Basin (all 75,000 miles of it) to build community, learn from one another, and share CCMR data and best practices that lead to better postsecondary outcomes for all students in the region. We are excited and encouraged by EPPB’s early PLC success and remain intent on growing both the scale and impact of these convenings alongside EPPB.

We are incredibly honored to serve this proud, committed, and inspiring community and we look forward to supporting the critical work of EPPB and the rest of the Permian Basin for many years to come. 

To learn more about EPPB and the work it is doing in the Permian Basin, go to www.educatepb.com.