SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio says some issues with the one-year workforce training program hindered the success for some to start or complete the program. As the Train for Jobs SA program winds down, the city is gearing up to launch the new voter-approved SA: Ready to Work program in December.
Erica Cardenas, a single mom, says the Train for Jobs SA program helped her get her GED and is currently helping her through a bookkeeping course at Restore Education, a training school.
“I eventually hope to open my own business management business to help other people run their business and do their books and consult them on what to do and what not to do,” she said.
Cardenas said she felt stuck in her old job as a server.
“You can go anywhere and make money. But it’s never a career. You’re never going to move forward in that,” Cardenas said.
She’s one of the success stories the City of San Antonio says has come from the taxpayer-funded, one-year program.
Michael Ramsey, the newly hired executive director of Workforce Development, says his job will be to look at what worked and what didn’t from the one-year program and take those lessons over to the four-year, voter-approved SA: Ready to Work program.
“We need to ensure that we’re constantly evaluating which programs that are eligible for training funding to ensure that they’re actually meeting the needs of our local employers,” Ramsey said.
On Tuesday, the COSA Economic Development released the latest data regarding the $75 million one-year COVID-19 Workforce Recovery Program, which was part of its Recovery & Resiliency plan. More than 2,000 people received stipends, adding over $5.7 million.
More than 6,000 people initially showed interest in the program, but only about 3,000 have received short- or long-term training, on-the-job training or finished their GED. Of that, 584 people are searching for jobs, and 434 have found jobs through the program.
Ramsey says one of the lessons learned from the one-year program is people’s challenges with child care. He says more than anticipated were also interested in the long-term training courses.
Train for Jobs SA was set to end in September, but the program is now extended till the end of the year, giving the city more time to prepare for the launch of SA: Ready to Work.
In November, voters approved the $154 million program by shifting a 1/8 cent sales tax that funded the aquifer protection program and the creation of linear Creekway Parks.
Ramsey says his vision is to train people for the needed and available jobs in our area.
“Making sure that our finger is on the pulse of what the people in the community need and want and engaging our employers at a level to make sure that our training programs are aligned to what they’re hiring,” he explains.
For more information on the city-funded training program, click here.