Expanding Frontiers

Expanding Frontiers (ExF) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop the commercial space ecosystem in Brownsville, Texas, an economically distressed region. The programs aimed at exposing local STEM students, entrepreneurs, and highly trained veterans to commercial space have already achieved award-winning results and meaningfully impacted local economic development. But Expanding Frontiers would like to do more. The STEM Talent Challenge grant will help launch the NewSpace Entrepreneur in Residence Apprenticeship Program, an associated internship program, and standing up the NewSpace Entrepreneur Vision 2030 council, Expanding Frontiers plans to bridge a current gap in the ecosystem that will lead to more commercial space companies in Brownsville and more local talent earning high-paying jobs.

These plans are ambitious, and the community is united. Expanding Frontiers possesses a rock-solid network of companies, advisors, venture capitalists, and government agency partners who have already poured time, energy, and expertise into their efforts. They are ready to do much more. Their new programs for training and mentoring entrepreneurs, engaging the community, and organizing a best-in-class network to advise, direct, and fund commercial space startups build on their proven models of success. They are designed squarely at equipping entrepreneurs with what they need and removing the most common roadblocks in their way. Properly funded, these programs will succeed, and they will have tremendous and lasting impact on the economic health of South Texas. The people of Brownsville have no shortage of capacity, work ethic, or resolve. What they have lacked is opportunities. Expanding Frontiers aims to change that.