Port Houston’s Small Business and Maritime Education programs received the Our Great Region Excellence Award from the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) Dec. 2. The award is the highest-level of recognition from the organization, which covers 13 surrounding counties, including Harris County.

H-GAC is the regional organization through which local governments consider issues and cooperate in solving area-wide problems. H-GAC developed an awards program to further the ideas and strategies of Our Great Region 2040, the entity’s long-range sustainability plan, providing a framework for H-GAC to coordinate its efforts to address overarching issues. The plan serves as a directive for future growth and development of the Texas workforce and business community.

“Receiving the Our Great Region Award has been the highlight of our year,” said Gilda Ramirez, senior director for small business and education outreach. “We take our small business and maritime education program plans, projects and policies in consideration to develop something special for our community partners. We are very proud of this accomplishment. Our goal was to expand our programs to improve job and financial skills and promote education, business attraction and retention efforts, and we did that.”