Workforce program will shape recovery

San Antonio voters on Tuesday demonstrated their strong support for investing in their neighbors and the city’s well-being. Tuesday’s vote was a turning point in the effort to strengthen our city’s economic foundation.

The results speak volumes about San Antonians’ commitment to each other and their willingness to stand together as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build the workforce necessary to flourish in the future.

Each of the three propositions on the ballot — Pre-K 4 SA, SA Ready to Work and increased future funding for VIA Metropolitan Transit — passed with a large margin.

These investments will provide more equitable economic and quality of life opportunities for all San Antonio residents.

First, the Pre-K 4 SA proposition continued the successful early childhood education program initially approved eight years ago under Mayor Julián Castro. Early childhood education is crucial to prepare our students for success in life and the workplace. Tuesday’s vote means Pre-K 4 SA will continue to serve our community and our children.

The vote in support of VIA Metropolitan Transit will provide a permanent 1⁄8- cent sales tax to boost the underfunded agency beginning in 2026.

But until then, that 1⁄8- cent will be used for SA Ready to Work, providing job training and educational

opportunities targeting the underemployed and workers displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While COVID-19’s economic disruption added a hefty dose of urgency to shoring up our community’s economic foundation, we cannot simply navigate the pandemic and then return to the way we were. Before the pandemic, we had economic momentum, but also tens of thousands of our neighbors were lining up at the Food Bank.

This program will help develop a workforce that can step into existing, unfilled jobs that provide a career pathway and family-sustaining wages.

The first official step is drafting an agreement with the Early

Childhood Education Municipal Development Corporation, which is the entity that will collect the sales tax revenue. This is the same entity that manages Pre-K 4 SA.

The agreement should give the governing responsibilities for the SA Ready to Work program to the City Council. City staff will brief council members on the implementation timeline and other specifics on Dec. 2.

We will implement Ready to Work with input from large and small employers, community organizations, educational institutions and community members — and others with subject matter expertise.

City staff is working on recommendations for an advisory

board.

Early steps will include determining the ratio of participants who will be seeking job training certificates and those seeking degrees. Eligibility criteria and other guidelines, such as protocols for choosing training providers, will be developed as well.

By spring, City Council will ratify the implementation plan.

The current workforce training program — Train For Jobs SA — which is funded by the CARES Act and the City’s FY2021 budget, will continue until funding ends in September 2021. The overwhelming voter approval of Proposition B allows us to continue these efforts through 2025 as the task is handed off to the four-year SA Ready to Work program.

The jobs program will focus on two paths for building careers: workforce training certificates and higher education degree completion.

Certificates in some career fields can be obtained in programs lasting from two weeks to 12 weeks, preparing workers for jobs such as maintenance and repair technicians, certified nursing assistants and child development associates.

As I noted during the campaign to win approval for the workforce proposition, industry partners such as H-E-B, USAA, Rackspace and Toyota have committed to prioritize program graduates.

For workers who already have some secondary credits, twoand four-year degree programs will be available to prepare them for targeted industry careers.

Participants will receive support to deal with barriers that frequently thwart adults seeking to upgrade their careers, such as child care and transportation. Emergency financial assistance will also be provided as needed.

The job market and input from employers will dictate our focus on the types of training so trainees can be matched with existing jobs.

SA Ready to Work will adopt successful aspects of the ongoing workforce program as well as best practices from other efforts already taking place.

The result will be a more skilled workforce, less unemployment, less poverty and more San Antonians working in jobs that can survive disruptions such as a pandemic.

Billy Calzada / Staff photographer Workers at the San Antonio Food Bank load cars during an August distribution. Such distributions have been a hallmark of the pandemic, but the city’s workforce development program has the potential to reshape our economic recovery.