Recognizing the need to assist and revitalize distressed areas, the federal government enacted this new form of federal program in 1993. Selected areas, known as Empowerment Zones (EZ), receive special assistance and benefits as well as opportunity to become laboratories for innovation at all levels-waiving certain types of federal regulations, reinventing government and encouraging new approaches to community and economic development.

There are four key principles of the program: economic opportunity, sustainable community development, community based partnerships, and a strategic vision for change. The goal of the EZ is to actively involve business and the private sector in the program. Recognizing that community development must be based on private sector economic development, the program offers many incentives for business development. The Rio Grande Valley was designated one of three rural Empowerment Zones in the country.