Corridor Interfaith Leaders Secure 10% Boost in Hays Co. Investment in Capital IDEA
In meetings with Hays County Commissioners, Corridor Interfaith leaders in Central Texas emphasized the importance of workforce development in one of the fastest growing counties in the county. The Commissioners Court responded, increasing its public investment in long-term job training by 10% to $55,0000 in the upcoming fiscal year.
Capital IDEA graduate Mary Helen testified, saying: "After working as a paramedic... I went back to college and earned my RN degree. I currently work as an ICU nurse at Ascension Seton Network and provided care to the first COVID patients in our region."
Corridor Interfaith Expanded Capital IDEA into Hays County
Leveraging $25,000 for long-term job training, Corridor Interfaith leaders from Living Word Lutheran and San Marcos Unitarian Universalism, along with Capital IDEA alumni, succeeded in persuading Hays County Commissioners to invest local dollars into Capital IDEA. Once matched with state ACE funding, the investment will allow 7-10 Hays County students to train out of poverty and into middle-class careers.
Leaders met with their Hays County representatives over several months to educate them about Capital IDEA and to advocate for the inclusion of funding in the 2020 budget. At the final budget hearing at the commissioners' court, the request was quickly moved forward and approved!
American Enterprise Institute to Research Capital IDEA in Austin
[Excerpt]
Last week, the New York Times highlighted a workforce training program in San Antonio called Project QUEST that helps hundreds of people every year move out of poverty and into sustainable employment. A recent analysis of the program was particularly encouraging. Nine years after entering training, participants are still experiencing high rates of employment and earning over $5,000 more annually than a similar group that didn’t participate in the program. Such outcomes are rare in workforce development programs.
The Times article came out just as AEI’s Vocation, Career, and Work research team began discussions with Capital IDEA in Austin, Texas, an organization that uses a model similar to Project QUEST. Capital IDEA has been working with low-income families in Austin for more than 20 years to move workers from low-wage to middle-skill jobs. In 2018, program graduates earned an average starting wage of $22 per hour. A previous analysis of the program has found sustained wage gains at least four years after program completion.
[Photo Credit: RealClear Policy]
Note: Capital IDEA is a long-term workforce development program established by Austin Interfaith. Project QUEST was established by COPS/Metro in San Antonio.
In Austin, a Public/Private Partnership for Workforce Success, RealClear Policy
New Study Says Project QUEST Creates Largest, Sustained Earnings Impact in Nation
Since 1992, IAF labor market intermediaries have put low-income workers into high-paying careers in health care, technology and trades. The Economic Mobility Corporation recently released a 14-year “gold standard” randomized control test of San Antonio’s Project QUEST, the flagship labor market intermediary for the IAF.
Study authors assert that “Project QUEST has demonstrated the largest, sustained earnings impacts ever found in a rigorous evaluation of a workforce development program. These findings provide conclusive evidence that investing in the skills of low-income workers not only can make a difference, it can move families out of poverty into the middle class.”
Inspired by the success of Project Quest in San Antonio, IAF leaders have established an additional nine projects in the West and Southwest US: Capital IDEA in Austin; Project ARRIBA in El Paso; VIDA in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas; JobPath in Tucson; NOVA in Northeast Louisiana, Skills-Quest in Dallas; Capital IDEA-Houston; Project IOWA and Arizona Career Pathways. In 2014, DuPage County United launched its own labor market intermediary, Career Connect Metro West.
Collectively, these institutions have trained and placed tens of thousands of adults in living wage jobs which pay, on average, $40,000 annually plus benefits and a career path. This number is expected to grow as the West / Southwest IAF expands this strategy further.
In photos at right, trainees learn to cradle a newborn and conduct PERRLA evaluations at Project QUEST in San Antonio. [Photo Credit: Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News]
Nine Year Gains: Project QUEST's Continuing Impact, Economic Mobility Corporation (2019)
San Antonio Program Moves Low-Skilled into Middle Class, Houston Chronicle [pdf]
Not All Programs Fade: New Report on Project QUEST RCT Shows Sizable Nine-Year Earnings Gains for Low-Income Workers, Straight Talk on Evidence [pdf]
Solid Evidence for Career Pathways Out of Poverty, CLASP [pdf]
Texas Innovative ACE Program: A Wise Investment
Texans invented a unique workforce model which was first developed in San Antonio in 1992 and has since replicated across the state in five other Texas regions: Greater Austin/Central Texas, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and the Rio Grande Valley.
This rigorously-studied model has proven to be a fiscally responsible investment that: builds self-sufficient families; bolsters a skilled, thriving workforce attractive to businesses; and reduces the burden on state and local agencies. The Texas Innovative Adult Career Education (ACE) Grant Program supports these highly effective programs through matching dollars, meaning—your 'yes' vote incentivizes Texas communities to build and support programs locally for a state-wide impact that will help Texas remain the top economic force in the nation.
Texas IAF Fights to Restore Full Funding for Adult Career Education (ACE) & More
Over 200 leaders from organizations of the Network of Texas IAF convened at the Texas state capital to call on state legislators to restore full funding for the Texas Innovative Adult Career Education Fund (ACE Fund). The delegation met with 20 legislators and staff asking them to support the ACE fund at its full $5 million and oppose anti-immigrant legislation. Leaders additionally asked for local control covering issues as wide ranging as affordable housing and bail reform.
Texas IAF leaders additionally invited as guests of the legislature, as a resolution was read in support of the ACE fund by five Texas House members. Later that day the Senate also read a resolution in support of the ACE fund.
At a press conference organized by the Texas IAF, legislators from across the state emerged from the Capitol to speak in support of the ACE fund. Capital IDEA graduates from Houston and Texas, in addition to graduates from other IAF Labor market intermediaries told stories of how the workforce initiatives changed their lives, moving them from $10.00/hr part time work to careers earning as much as $70,000 per year! The average wage of a graduate from these programs is $20.66/hr.