Mattress Mack plans schools in main store
Famed local businessman and philanthropist Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale announced Wednesday he will open two schools and a day care inside the flagship store of Gallery Furniture on Houston’s north side.
One would open as a trade school and the other would be a charter campus for people between the ages of 16 and 26 who did not earn high school diplomas. The third would be a day care facility for the children of students enrolled in the trade school and the charter campus, as well as for the kids of Gallery Furniture employees.
The two schools would be operated by Responsive Education Solutions, a charter management organization based in the DallasFort Worth area.
The charter school would target students who did not finish high school, helping them earn enough credits and pass the state exams necessary to earn a high school diploma. Those students also would be able to take careerand-technical courses at the trade school to work toward certifications in such fields as welding, electrical work and plumbing. The trade school also would help people who are not enrolled in the charter school but still want to pursue technical certifications.
McIngvale said he wants to help improve the neighborhood around the 6006 North Freeway store. He said the median income of households within a six-mile ra
dius of the location is about $26,000, well below the $58,664 median household income of the Houston region as a whole, according to the Texas Association of Counties.
“We, obviously, want to help the people who don’t have a high school degree and help people learn job skills so they can get a better paying job,” he said. “We’ll also teach financial literacy and conflict resolution. It will help make the neighborhood better and makes us relevant as a retailer.”
More than 20,000 square feet of the North Freeway store will be renovated to house the two schools and day care facility, which McIngvale said likely will cost between $3 million and $4 million. Responsive Education Solutions, which will operate the trade and charter schools, will pay to lease the high school portion of the space, and those funds will help fund the vocational school’s programming.
With online retailing taking up a larger share of the furniture market, McIngvale said he has the room to spare.
“As retailing continues to change, we have to be a place that positively impacts the community. Otherwise, we’re dead men walking,” he said. “Online is our competition, but online businesses generally are not involved in the community. We want to be involved and want to be a good retailer.”
Kalese Whitehurst, Responsive Education’s chief of staff, said many of the group’s 70 campuses throughout Texas and Arkansas focus on class credit recovery and have their own curricula that let students progress at their own pace. School officials determine how many credits students need to graduate and start them on what they call “knowledge modules,” which students can take online or via more traditional textbooks. Students are tested at the end of each course and still take the standardized end of course exams the Texas Education Agency requires to earn high school diplomas.
Whitehurst said several of their credit recovery, or Promise, schools already offer technical training and certifications, but she said the Gallery Furniture location will be the first housed inside an actual business.
“This will give students the opportunity to see that their diplomas are more than just pieces of paper,” Whitehurst said. “They’ll have the experience and vision to see what the next step looks like.”
Students in the vocational programs also will be able to participate in apprenticeships through partnerships with other companies. While the details of those collaborations still are being worked out, Vanessa Ramirez, strategic partnerships manager for the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department who is helping to coordinate McIngvale’s project, said workforce groups have reached out to companies to set up pathways for the future students.
Texas lawmakers have been working to incentivize such workforce training opportunities. In October, Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 2784 into law, which will create a grant to reimburse some businesses for up to $10,000 per apprentice to help cover training costs, excluding wages. Eligible companies must guarantee employment for participants who successfully complete the program, pay trainees and provide on-the-job training with an accredited curriculum.
Ramirez said businesses partnering with McIngvale’s new school likely would take advantage of those new state dollars.
However, she said Gallery Furniture will be home to more than just the new campuses and day care. The store also will house a one-stop-shop community center where folks can get connected with resources in the community.
McIngvale said he already gets hundreds of calls a week from people in need, and a handful walk into his stores each day in search of a helping hand. He hopes the school and community resource center will help him provide aid in a more organized way. If it goes well, he said it may expand to Gallery Furniture’s Richmond location in Fort Bend County.
“I’m not getting any younger in my life,” he said. “I want to leave a legacy for myself and my wife, and not just be a couple of people who made a lot of money.”