The Institute was created in 1999 at the recommendation of a coalition of communities along the Texas-Mexico border known as the Consortium of the Rio Grande (CoRio) and operates an education and research initiative of the Public Policy Information Fund, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Texas corporation. The Institute operates with a small staff of several dedicated professionals, volunteers and its dedicated Rio Grande Fellows who donate time and energy. The principal office is in Marathon, a small community in the Big Bend region of the Rio Grande border. The President and CEO of the Institute and PPIF is Tyrus G. Fain who can be reached by email at tfain@riogrande.org.
