Middle school students in Santa Cruz County look forward to receiving their dictionaries from Nogales U.S. Customs Brokers Association.
This year Mat Bevel Company received a $5,000 grant from Nogales U.S. Customs Brokers Association (NCBA). The grant supported development of The User Guidebook for instructors and The Daily Doodle notebook for students for Module 2: The Art of Kinetics. Module 2 introduces students at schools and after-school programs in Santa Cruz County to the principles of matter, energy, time, space and motion as they use simple tools to construct a complex Time-Space Machine.
Formed in 1996, the core purpose of NCBA is to serve as the catalyst for optimizing legitimate trade along the Nogales, Arizona Ports, District and Southern Border, through constant engagement with U.S. Customs and participating Government agencies, acting as a liaison for customers – the Commercial Importer community. The association has 20 volunteer members who are elected or reassigned to committees every two years. On December 1, 2021 Gloria Spencer, Branch Manager of Livingston International, was selected as the new Board President.
In 2012, NCBA formed Port Devanning Services (PDS) to provide offloading and loading services at the Mariposa Port of Entry to expedite the frequent intensive exams performed by Customs & Border Protection on shipments processed at the port of Entry. Instead of private sector contractors providing these services, NCBA created a vertically integrated service solution to improve the flow of trade in the region. Today PDS employs 40 people. All PDS net proceeds are reinvested back into supporting the local community via sponsorships, grants and donations, which totals approximately $1.7 million since its founding in 2012.
Asociacion de Maquiladoras de Sonora (Manufacturing Plants Association of Sonora) and the Fresh Produce Association receive support from NCBA because of the vital work they do to promote economic growth in the region.
Ms. Spencer said, “PDS provides remarkable benefits to our community including contributing to a more efficient process with time and money savings to the trade as well as the creation of local jobs. In addition, importer fees provide the basis for local grants and sponsorships. This is a very unique scenario for a custom’s broker association to form a separate business that both optimizes the flow of the trade and provides value back to the communities we serve in Santa Cruz County and the Ambos Nogales border region. I’m very proud to be part of the organization.”
Among the organizations that the NCBA proudly supports;the Fresh Produce Association Of The Americas, INDEX (Maquiladora Association of Sonora Mexico), the Arizona Mexico Commission as well as the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority. Ms. Spencer said, “The work of these organizations is vital to promote the economic growth of the Port of Nogales, therefore we lend our strength to their efforts.”
NCBA also supports local schools with programs like the dictionary give away for middle schools. And, since U.S. Customs Brokers play a key role in international trade, NCBA provides grants to students who pursue global supply-chain related careers in International Trade and Compliance. Jobs in these careers include International Trade Analyst, Global Trade Specialist, International Trade Compliance Manager, Transportation, Logistics & Distribution Specialist, Inventory Manager, Import/Export Specialist, etc.
NCBA donates to many worthy community causes that benefit youth such as Bike For Tykes.
NCBA supported Mat Bevel Company this year for The Universe Within because STEM programs challenge children to develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills. These skills and abilities are critical in international trade, and absolutely necessary to thrive in the increasingly global socio-economic environment that we live in.
Ms. Spencer said, “We believe that creative genius is a talent that must be nurtured for our young to thrive in whatever their calling, and specifically in our ever-evolving world of international trade and global supply chain.”
Understanding that everybody is gifted with abilities, NCBA encourages future generations to build on their strengths, become self-empowered and be of service to others and your community, region, country, continent, the world. Ms. Spencer reminds us, “We all need other people and those ‘others’ may be in a neighbor country, producing goods and services we need in ours.”
THANK YOU, NOGALES U.S. CUSTOMS BROKERS ASSOCIATION!