Executive Director Michelle Paul explains how Capital IDEA Houston transforms lives.  Capital IDEA Houston is a long-term job training program established by TMO.  

TMO created the political will to establish Capital IDEA-Houston, a long-term workforce development program, to train low-income workers out of poverty wage jobs and into living wage careers.  

What Capital IDEA - Houston Does:

Capital IDEA-Houston sponsors educational opportunities that give you a second chance!  It pays for participants' education including tuition and books. Capital IDEA-Houston also offers some assistance with childcare and emergency expenses. Each participant will have a personal case manager to guide them and upon completion of the program, match them with participating employers. The mission is to lift working people out of poverty by sponsoring educational services that lead to life-long financial independence. 

Basic Qualifications:

• 18 years or older
• US Citizen or Permanent Resident
• Have a GED or High School Diploma
• Houston Area Resident
• Have a Desire to Enter one of our Sponsored Fields
• Meet Income Qualifications

Capital IDEA-Houston sponsors training in careers that pay a minimum of $15 to $20 an hour, provide benefits and offer career paths!

• Electrician
• HVAC
• Instrument and Control Tech
• Mechatronics Technology
• Nursing
• Paramedic
• Pharmacy Tech
• Physical Therapist Asst.
• Process Operator
• Radiology Technician
• Respiratory Therapist
• Surgical Tech
• Welder

If you have any questions or need further information please call 281-260-3191 or email: [email protected]

Since the JET Fund was established in 2009, at the urging of the Texas IAF, the state supported IAF-affiliated labor market intermediaries that navigated more than 800 lower-income, nontraditional students through community college.

The Adult Career Education (ACE) Grant program, the effort’s most recent permutation, now faces an uncertain future.  In efforts to slash the state budget, Texas legislators are moving to eliminate all “special item” expenditures, even those that pay for special programs at colleges, over and beyond the normal higher education funding formulas.

“It has nothing to do with our program or the effectiveness of it,” said Elizabeth Valdez, lead organizer for The Metropolitan Organization in Houston.

A recently-released gold-standard study established that the Texas IAF’s flagship program, Project QUEST, was the only program in the nation to demonstrate sustained, sizable and statistically significant gains.  In photo, a Project QUEST-supported student works with a patient.

[Photo Credit: William Luther, San Antonio Express News]

Proposed Higher Education Funding Overhaul Could Come With Collateral Damage, Texas Tribune

Senate Resolution, Senate of the State of Texas

Escalating Gains: Project QUEST’S Sectoral Strategy Pays Off, Economic Mobility Corporation

Study Affirms Project QUEST Achievements, San Antonio Express-News

Texas Job Program Shows Unusually Strong, Lasting Gains, Study Finds, Austin American Statesman [pdf]

Texas Innovative Adult Career Education (ACE) Grant Program: The Wise Investment for Proven Economic Development, Texas IAF

Following up on its $5 million win from the last legislative session in 2013, Texas IAF leaders - including several from TMO - succeeded in ensuring that the Adult Career Education (ACE) Grant program (and its $5 million in funding) stayed on the Texas budget. This means that Texas IAF workforce development programs like Capital IDEA-Houston, Project ARRIBA, VIDA, Project QUEST, SkillsQuest and Capital IDEA of Austin can apply for these funds to expand the job training they currently offer.

Capital IDEA-Houston, founded by TMO, is an integral strategy to train people out of low-wage employment and into living wage careers.

Less than four weeks after Capital IDEA-Houston was awarded a $500K Texas Innovative Adult Career Education (ACE) grant to train more community college students for living wage careers, leaders of The Metropolitan Organization of Houston leveraged an additional $500 thousand in local money after testifying at City Hall.

The money will come from two sources of funding: $250 thousand from Community Development Block Grants and another $250 thousand from a City of Houston budget line-item, marking the first time Capital IDEA-Houston has been included in the City budget.

City Budget Increases After-School Spending, Gives Each District $1 Million for Projects, Houston Chronicle

A Capital Idea, Houston Chronicle