Los Angeles Businesses

Houston’s Workforce Model: Lessons for Los Angeles Trade Education

admin 

As Los Angeles considers ways to strengthen its workforce development initiatives, an innovative Houston-based program offers evidence-based insights into effective vocational training approaches. WorkTexas, launched in 2020 by education veteran Mike Feinberg, demonstrates how targeted vocational training combined with comprehensive support services can create sustainable career pathways.

Building a Foundation for Success

The WorkTexas model delivers intensive 11-week programs requiring approximately 170 hours of participation. “We are employer-focused,” explains Feinberg. “Our mission is to help people get jobs, keep jobs, advance careers.” This employer-driven approach provides a tested framework that could inform workforce development initiatives in other major cities like Los Angeles.

Operating from two key locations in Houston—Gallery Furniture and the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department’s Opportunity Center—the program demonstrates the importance of strategic location planning for workforce development programs. Their methodology for developing training programs shows a replicable approach. “We start with the employer,” explains co-founder Yazmin Guerra. “If the employer is telling us they have a need and will hire a set number of students, we work together to establish a curriculum in a program that works for them and start the outreaching to fill that class.”

The program’s comprehensive approach to support services addresses universal challenges that affect workforce development across major cities. “A lot of people we train are one flat tire away from disaster,” Feinberg notes. “We can help everyone get a job based on their training; but you’re not going to do well in your job if you’re homeless or hungry, or your car stops working.”

Creating Sustainable Solutions

WorkTexas’s innovative approach to childcare, supporting more than 60 children through public-private partnerships, offers valuable insights for other cities. Guerra describes their service area as “a childcare desert where we serve the community. The majority of the people [here] are low-income, so they would qualify; and the [WorkTexas] team members support the parent in completing the necessary applications to qualify.”

The program’s commitment to ongoing support offers important lessons for sustainable workforce development. “It is job coaching — which can be technical, or it can also turn into therapy at times,” says Feinberg. “We are proactively reaching out to all of them every six months [to ask] are you still in the same job? Are you switching jobs? Are you looking for a different job? What’s your salary? Do you need any help?”

This comprehensive approach has created what Mike Feinberg calls a “sandbox” for community collaboration: “The people who are working on food, housing and physical health realize their work can only truly make a huge impact if people wind up having a sustainable career — [and] stop needing those services at some point down the road. There’s a symbiotic relationship here we’re tapping into that’s pretty neat.”

The structured approach to service delivery, as described by Guerra, provides clear operational guidance: “WorkTexas makes it very clear that we are going to be intentional about the training and the services we provide. We’re going to have these job search preparation workshops; we will have partners come in and provide support, and we expect them to leverage those resources. We will follow up with them for up to five years if needed — because we want to be able to do right by our mission, which is to help people get jobs, keep jobs, and advance in their careers.”

A Model for Future Growth

The WorkTexas experience speaks to a broader trend in vocational education. As Feinberg observes, “[People] collectively realized that maybe it was a mistake to stop doing vocational ed in our high schools.” The push to bring back vocational education “not have it come back as it used to be; but have it come back better” reflects an opportunity for cities like Los Angeles to learn from proven approaches.

The comprehensive approach developed by WorkTexas—including employer-driven curriculum development, strategic location selection, integrated support services, and long-term career coaching—demonstrates how structured workforce development programs can create sustainable career pathways. Their experience offers valuable insights for other major cities looking to strengthen their workforce development initiatives.

Recommended Posts

Leave A Comment