In Houston’s diverse employment landscape, a program focused on trade skills is challenging conventional wisdom about post-high school education. WorkTexas, launched in 2020, offers training in trades ranging from welding and electrical work to truck driving and healthcare support roles, responding to growing workforce needs while providing sustainable career paths.
The program represents a significant shift in thinking for its founder. “Kids and parents [were] told if you want to be successful in this world, you have to go to college,” says Mike Feinberg, co-founder of WorkTexas. “In the ’90s, it was like a car loan… now it’s like a home mortgage.”
How Feinberg Transformed His Approach to Education
After decades in education, including co-founding a national network of college-preparatory schools, Feinberg recognized the limitations of the “college for all” mentality. Working with his first cohort of students, he tracked their progress and found that while about half successfully completed college, others either never attended or accumulated debt without finishing degrees.
“We got to KIPP Houston to an important mark, the first KIPP region, the first high performing charter to know anywhere to get to 50% of the kids graduating from college,” the WorkTexas co-founder explains. “I remember celebrating for about 15 seconds then thinking, ‘What about the other half?’”
Despite his organization’s focus on college preparation, Feinberg noticed that many alumni who didn’t attend or complete college were finding success in other paths. “I had a bunch of alumni who wound up in the trades and they wound up in the military and they wanted being entrepreneurs starting their own businesses and they were all doing just fine,” he recalls.
This realization led to an important shift in perspective. “College prep is a good thing. We don’t need to get into a soft bigotry of low expectations debate, college prep should be all the schools, but college prep does not need to mean college for all,” Feinberg shares. “This is where I think KIPP and Uncommon Schools and yes, prep and Teach America and the whole kind of ed reform movement of my generation, I think we overshot the target.”
That insight spurred the creation of WorkTexas, which serves both high school students, who can simultaneously earn their diplomas, and adults seeking new skills through evening courses. The program offers instruction in residential and commercial electrical work, welding, carpentry, general construction, auto tech, plumbing, HVAC, building maintenance, commercial truck driving, childcare teaching, medical assistance, rigging, warehouse logistics, and culinary skills.
What distinguishes the program is its employer-focused approach, with curriculum developed in partnership with more than 100 local companies. The program operates from two locations in Houston: Gallery Furniture and the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department.
Support That Extends Beyond Training
Unlike many certification programs that measure success solely by completion rates, WorkTexas commits to following graduates for five years. Program staff proactively check in every quarter, helping participants navigate workplace challenges, career advancement opportunities, and personal obstacles.
“We make a commitment to follow our students who were trained for at least five years to help them not just get the job, but it’s the second two parts. It’s keep the job and advancing careers,” explains this educational innovator. “We’re interested in what that looks like in terms of career contentment and especially what it looks like in terms of earning power and creating a sustainable lives for themselves and their families and future generations.”
This long-term commitment helps address obstacles that might otherwise derail career progress. “A lot of people we train are one flat tire away from disaster,” Feinberg notes. Recognizing that employment success depends on more than technical skills, WorkTexas has established partnerships with organizations providing food security, healthcare, financial literacy, and childcare services.
Through these partnerships, the program connects students with funding for transportation and tools needed for training, addresses food insecurity, provides behavioral health support, and offers medical assistance. Using federal and local funding, WorkTexas has created childcare facilities serving over 60 children, removing a significant obstacle for parents seeking training and employment.
The Houston-based initiative is showing promising results. Approximately 70% of participants secure new or better jobs after training, with average starting wages above $19.10 per hour. Success stories include a female graduate who progressed from construction training to becoming a project manager and then a regional manager for a home builder in less than two years.
While currently operating in Texas, the model addresses nationwide challenges in the skilled trades. “The basic historic trades, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, when there’s a freeze in Chicago, good luck finding a 30-year-old plumber. They don’t really exist, right? They’re all 50, 60 and getting ready to retire,” a recognized educational leader points out.
The WorkTexas approach could help communities across America develop the skilled workforce needed in these essential fields. As Feinberg notes, “There’s a reason why we named this WorkTexas and not WorkHouston.” The program’s principles of employer partnership, comprehensive support, and long-term follow-up could be applied in any region facing similar workforce challenges.
As more American families question the return on investment of traditional four-year degrees, approaches like WorkTexas demonstrate that alternative pathways to career success can be both practical and potentially transformative for communities facing skilled labor shortages across the nation.