Leadership Mercedes Making Its Mark In Community

Dr. Barbara Baggerly-Hinojosa has organized and led leadership workforce training all over the state – and country – with one venture of late holding added significance.

Baggerly-Hinojosa with the help of her husband, C.A., are overseeing the completion of the second class of Leadership Mercedes. The program has the financial and resources support of the Mercedes Economic Development Corporation and the Mercedes Chamber of Commerce. The program is structured to nurture civic-minded residents who live and work in Mercedes to become more active and involved in their community and to participate in local issues and problem solving.

There are similar leadership programs in the Rio Grande Valley – including in Brownsville and McAllen – with Baggerly-Hinojosa often working in a consulting role in assisting those organizations. Leadership Mercedes has the added significance of being the community where she lives with C.A., with the Hinojosas being the owners of The Mercedes Enterprise.

“This one means something a little different,’’ said Baggerly-Hinojosa, who is the chief executive officer of the Mercedes-based Leadership Empowerment Group. “We saw an opportunity in the climate of our town. We have the support of our town and we’re in an environment where people are listening.’’

The second group of Leadership Mercedes is nearing graduation after a highly successful inaugural class got the program off the ground. Spanning nearly all of 2023, the second class met for half a day one Friday a month, mixing in a rigorous classroom curriculum with visits to local businesses, and governmental and civic entities focused on the betterment of Mercedes.

The emergence of Leadership Mercedes coincides with the quickly improving business environment of Mercedes. The city is seeing a surging number of new retail and corporate restaurant chains opening in the city. Taken together, it’s changing the story of a community.

“The narrative isn’t always correct,’’ Baggerly-Hinojosa said of past image challenges Mercedes faced. “We’re finding a way to turn the tide on that, (negative perceptions), and reframing the narrative.’’

Serving Community & Honoring History

The program’s impact on the two first set of classes is becoming apparent.

Baggerly-Hinojosa is a believer in servant leadership. It’s a philosophy she advocates with Leadership Mercedes students along with training her company provides for the private sector and governmental organizations.

She sees program participants transitioning those skills to their own individual lives. The aspiration of serving others has been seen with two noteworthy projects. The first leadership class started little libraries in Mercedes neighborhoods. It’s a concept in which books are shared for free and are placed in small wooden boxes. Anyone can take a book or bring a book to share by placing them in the boxes for borrowing and then returning when done with a selection.

“It was a statement that we value literacy in our community,’’ Baggerly-Hinojosa said.

The second class took up the mantle of honoring the legendary Dr. Hector P. Garcia, who immigrated as a young child with his family from Mexico to Mercedes in 1917. The Mercedes-raised Garcia would become a foremost national civil rights leader. He used his medical training and role as a physician to help migrant laborers and Hispanic-American veterans. In the latter role, Garcia was the founder of the American GI Forum.

Dr. Garcia was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil honor, in 1984. His life story and connection to Mercedes made such an impression on the second leadership class that one of its students, Skyler Howell, approached the City Commission to formally declare a Dr. Hector P. Garcia Day in Mercedes. The initiative proved successfully, and as a result, the city will now annually honor one of its most historic figures.

“I believe there are more Skylers in our community,’’ said Baggerly-Hinojosa of Howell, who is a college-aged student. “It is our job to create pathways for them as they are coming up in our community.’’

The Leadership Mercedes was started as a pilot program with the support of the EDC and the Chamber. Baggerly-Hinojosa says it is likely to remain so until it reaches a fuller maturity at about the five-year mark and can then establish itself as a separate entity with its own board.

“We want to help create a pipeline to civic engagement that leads to people from our community being (city) board members and commissioners,’’ she said. “We hope Leadership Mercedes can be that connecter.’’

Ric Cavazos