Finding the Right Fit
Gloria Blauvelt, Nolanville Economic Development Coordinator, helps city see its future in Central Texas
By Janna Zepp | Photos by Skeebo and contributed
When you think about new businesses, industries, and homes coming to your town, you might not know how much effort goes into attracting them. But there’s an art and a science to it and the job of making it happen falls to your city development coordinator. For the City of Nolanville, that person is Gloria Blauvelt of the Nolanville Economic Corporation.
Blauvelt guides new and existing businesses, commercial property owners, developers, contractors and others as they navigate the municipal permitting and construction process. She helps Nolanville provide a business-friendly climate that builds and streamlines business and residential growth. She also works with Nolanville’s various city departments, including first responders.
Helping Nolanville stay up with 21st-century technology and innovation are part of Blauvelt’s mission. Her most important role to date was assisting the City with completing a comprehensive plan update with TAMU – Texas Target City, one of the task force groups is related to Economic Development. Due to COVID-19, much of the community input and task force meetings have to be done remotely. Gloria quickly stepped up to the plate to develop a survey designed to gather input for the plan. She also administers Keep Nolanville Beautiful on Facebook and the City of Nolanville on Twitter, just two of the ways the city keeps residents and other Central Texans informed on what the small town is up to with regard to environmental care, such as rainwater recycling and household hazardous waste removal.
Recently, Blauvelt and her team worked with Envisioning the Neo-traditional Development by Embracing the Autonomous Vehicles Realm (ENDEAVR), a nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing small communities to handle the challenges of the future by enabling them to become “smart cities” by using emerging technologies, such as autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence to help improve socio-economic statuses and health of residents, as well as improving the environment around and in the community. Through this program, Nolanville and Texas A&M students partnered to plan for their town’s future with “smart,” tech-based approaches. The partnership kicked off on February 1, 2020, at a community gathering that featured tech demos by students and an informal planning session. Students demonstrated tech with possible “smart” city applications and heard Nolanville residents’ thoughts about their community’s future. The project was funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation and the Colleges of Architecture and Engineering and hosted by Texas Target Communities, a Texas A&M College of Architecture initiative that helps small towns plan their future.
Blauvelt’s path to a career in government began in the classroom as a high school teacher with Teach For America, which recruits and selects college graduates from universities around the United States to serve as educators in their teaching corps. Corps members commit to teaching for at least two years in a public or public charter K-12 school in one of the 52 low-income communities that the organization serves. Blauvelt holds bachelor’s degree with honors in philosophy and history from the University of Texas–Pan American.
Blauvelt taught world geography to ninth grade students ,which was a rewarding challenge. Making a learning breakthrough and having “a-ha” moments was always worth the work, she says. Her interest in government began through Leadership Educational Equity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit leadership development organization that catapults leaders with classroom experience into positions to spark change. Through them, she attended various fellowships in policy and advocacy.
“I worked to increase advocacy and civic engagement in my students and colleagues. The combination of experience in teaching and civic service (has) served me well in inspiring my work in local government,” says Blauvelt.
After five years in teaching, she returned to school and completed a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington. Armed with that degree, Blauvelt wants to help make a change for the better in Central Texas.
“My goal is to create change while also empowering those around me to realize their full potential. I strive to offer insight and knowledge to help understand the complex big picture. Collective work leads to solutions that maximize opportunity and impact the greater good,” Blauvelt says.
Blauvelt and her husband love Bell County, especially the Fort Hood area.
“Being raised in the beautiful bicultural Rio Grande Valley region I love the diversity of Central Texas. I relocated here around two years ago and I am happy to be able to live in an area that celebrates individuals from all backgrounds,” she says.
Blauvelt says that spending her childhood working alongside her family as a migrant fieldworker and experiencing first-hand the arduous process of legal immigration to the United States is her motivation.
“I was instilled with a drive to succeed at a young age. Yet always, always with the aim to advocate and make a difference in the community I serve,” she says.
To learn more about Nolanville Economic Corporation, visit www.nolanvilleedc.org.
Dynamic Duo
Jonathan and Gloria Blauvelt married in July 2019 at West Point Cadet Chapel in New York. Gloria says, “A retired Army Officer, disabled veteran, and Ohio State Buckeye…my husband is a charming fellow. Our household roots for Ohio State and Army in that order. Go Army, Beat Navy!”
The Blauvelts love to hike and camp, and love traveling and visiting national parks throughout the United States. In 2017, they hiked the Grand Canyon and hope to one day attempt the Appalachian Trail.
