TYLER, Texas — The Empowerment Community Development Corporation, also known as the Empowerment CDC, has a goal to educate, equip, and empower the East Texas community.
"Our mission is to impact individuals, families, and communities," Empowerment CDC president Stanley Cofer said.
UT Tyler University president Dr. Michael Tidwell echoes those sentiments.
"At UT Tyler we aspire to be the primary educational and economic driver in East Texas," Tidwell said.
Tidwell spoke to an open forum organized by the Empowerment CDC Tuesday about actions and results of UT Tyler's plan to improve the East Texas community.
"We're not trying to save the state, we're not trying to save the world quite yet," Tidwell said. "Let's focus our efforts and our energy on East Texas. And all of you live and or work in East Texas, so you know we have a lot of challenges ahead of us right here at home."
Not only did Tidwell speak about UT Tyler’s goals for the community, but also positive changes at the university itself.
"The number of minorities that are completing college now at UT Tyler, we had the largest improvement in the state of Texas," Tidwell said.
He also answered questions from those in attendance.
"Our students graduate with the least amount of debt than any other university in East Texas," Tidwell replied when asked about the issue of student debt.
The overall goal of this gathering between two community movers was to show East Texans there are people working to make their community better.
"One thing we want people to walk away with this evening is simply knowing that UT Tyler is their university," Tidwell said. "That we are here to help, we're here to address the challenges that they deal with on a day to day basis."
If you would like to learn more about the Empowerment CDC, click here.