Initiatives
The Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative collaborates on a set of signature initiatives to equip Texans for careers in the industries driving the state’s economy today and in the future.
Each agency—the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), and the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC)—also leads individual initiatives that align with the Tri-Agency’s priorities and strengthen the connections between education and workforce development. The Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative provides strategic guidance on these aligned initiatives and fosters cross-agency collaboration to streamline efforts and maximize impact.
Signature Initiatives
The Tri-Agency partners are collaborating on these signature initiatives to ensure Texans are prepared for jobs in the industries that power the state’s economy today and tomorrow.
Aligned Priorities: Pathways, Infrastructure
Texas Government Code Chapter 2308A calls for the establishment of a “publicly accessible, web-based library of credentials.” The Tri-Agency partners have collaborated to establish the Texas Credential Library, also known as MyTexas Library.
Early work focused on developing an inventory of the many workforce training and education programs across Texas and the credentials associated with those programs. Future work will focus on the value of the credentials awarded.
Aligned Priority: Infrastructure
The Tri-Agency partners are collaborating to modernize Texas’ education and workforce data infrastructure, ensuring that data systems are accessible, insightful, and actionable for decision-makers. This effort focuses on:
- Enhancing Data Tools & Applications: Developing user-centric platforms that provide clear, meaningful insights for policymakers, educators, and workforce leaders.
- Improving Efficiency: Upgrading automation in data collection, analysis, and reporting to streamline processes for agencies and stakeholders.
- Expanding Responsible Data Access: Strengthening partnerships with researchers and other stakeholders to increase data availability while upholding strict privacy and security measures.
- Strengthening Governance: Assessing and improving existing governance structures, including oversight of shared assets such as Education Research Centers (ERCs) and the Texas Public Education Information Resource (TPEIR) to ensure data integrity, transparency, and efficiency.
Aligned Priorities: Pathways, Support, Infrastructure
Since 2023, the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative has worked collaboratively to promote high-quality teaching and learning through the development of state teacher apprenticeships that will improve recruitment and preparation of aspiring teachers. This effort aims to bolster the educator workforce by developing and expanding teacher apprenticeships across the state.
To spearhead this effort, Dallas College has established the Center for Reigniting the Educator Workforce (CREW), which will serve as the statewide hub for teacher apprenticeships. The CREW at Dallas College will support school systems and institutions of higher education in building high-quality teacher apprenticeships. These apprenticeships aim to alleviate the financial burden and address the transition points within an aspiring educator’s journey that often impede their ability to become teachers. This initiative is informed by the governor’s Teacher Vacancy Taskforce and builds upon Texas’ existing talent pipeline investments, including Grow Your Own, teacher residencies, and Texas Strategic Staffing, all aimed at strengthening the teacher talent pipeline.
Aligned Priority: Pathways
Check the TEA grant opportunities page for funding availability
The Texas Regional Pathways Network (TRPN) brings together state and regional leaders to build strong and coordinated educational and career pathways that prepare Texans for careers in high-wage, in-demand industries. Leaders engaged in the TRPN represent multiple sectors, including K-12 education, postsecondary education, workforce and economic development, business and industry, government, and nonprofit and community-based organizations. The TRPN supports regional leaders by facilitating peer learning and strategic planning, and sharing best practices, challenges, and lessons learned in pathways development.
Aligned Initiatives
The Texas Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and Texas Workforce Commission each lead initiatives that advance the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative’s priorities and strengthen the connection between education and workforce. The initiative provides guidance and supports coordinating these efforts to ensure alignment across agencies.
Pathways Initiatives
Lead Agency: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
My Texas Future is the state’s free college and career exploration website designed to help Texans align education with career goals. My Texas Future personalizes the planning experience while rooting Texans’ postsecondary decisions in practical information like real-world earnings and regional job demand.
Lead Agency: Texas Workforce Commission
Funds are awarded to public and private organizations that support workforce training for entry-to-mid-level positions in high-demand fields. By funding training programs that address the needs of specific industries, LSWF fosters a dynamic talent pool that can strengthen the Texas economy.
Check the TWC grants opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Education Agency
The Rural Pathway Excellence Partnerships (R-PEP) program allows rural school districts to enter into agreements with other school districts to develop rural college and career pathway partnerships. The goal of the R-PEP program is to increase access to high-quality postsecondary pathways for rural students through multidistrict collaboration.
Check the TEA grant opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Education Agency
The Texas College and Career Readiness School Models (CCRSM) are open-enrollment programs that blend high school and college coursework to help students develop technical skills, earn college credentials and degrees, and pursue in-demand career paths. The statewide CCRSM network is comprised of over 543 campuses implementing or planning to implement one or more of the following CCRSM programs: Early College High Schools (ECHS) and Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH).
Check the TEA grant opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Texas Innovative Adult Career Education Grant Program (ACE) supports efforts to prepare low-income students and veterans for entering careers in high-demand and significantly higher-earning occupations.
Check the THECB institutional grant opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The Texas Reskilling and Upskilling through Education (TRUE) Grant Program supports public higher education institutions in creating, redesigning, and expanding short-term workforce education and training programs in high-demand occupations.
Check the THECB institutional grant opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Texas Working Off-Campus: Reinforcing Knowledge and Skills (TXWORKS) Internship Program is a statewide paid internship program developed exclusively for Texas undergraduate students and employers. Employers that hire eligible students through TXWORKS will be reimbursed a portion of the hourly wages for each intern at the completion of the internship period.
Check the THECB institutional grant opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Workforce Commission
This initiative provides crucial funding for Texas businesses with 100 or more employees looking to enhance their workforce’s skills and remain competitive in today’s rapidly evolving economy. Employers are invited to apply for funds to identify and deploy qualified training for staff.
Check the TWC grants opportunities page for funding availability.
Support Initiatives
Lead Agency: Texas Workforce Commission
The Texas Workforce Commission’s (TWC) Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) program helps adults learn new skills by teaching reading, writing, math, and English in a variety of different program models. The AEL program helps people get ready for jobs, earn a high school diploma or its equivalent, or prepare for college or career training.
Lead Agency: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The Texas Free College Application Week is a statewide initiative aimed at providing broader access to the college application process. From the second Monday in October through the following Sunday, Texas residents can apply to Texas Public Colleges for free on Apply Texas, including first-year freshman and undergraduate transfer applicants.
Lead Agency: Texas Workforce Commission
The Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) program provides grants to buy and install equipment for career and technical education courses. These courses must lead to a license, certificate, or postsecondary degree in a high-demand occupation.
Check the TWC grants opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Workforce Commission
The Skills Development Fund (SDF) grant is for businesses that want to train new workers or upgrade the skills of existing workers in a way that boosts productivity and competitiveness. The grant program has partnered with employers and public community colleges, technical colleges, local Workforce Development Boards, and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service to upgrade or support jobs throughout Texas.
Check the TWC grants opportunities page for funding availability.
Lead Agency: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The Texas Opportunity High School Disploma (OHSD) program provides adult students enrolled in a career and technical education program at a public junior college in the state of Texas the opportunity to earn a high school diploma through concurrent enrollment in a competency-based education program.
Lead Agency: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The Work-Study Student Mentorship Program (WSMP) is a student-centered financial aid program. WSMP is dedicated to preparing students for college, supporting them through their educational journey, and equipping them for the workforce. WSMP achieves this by offering eligible college students opportunities for on-campus or off-campus employment, allowing them to develop and enhance career-readiness skills as mentors, tutors, and advisors for high school students within local school districts or nonprofit organizations and for students at WSMP-participating institutions of higher education. The program aims to enhance students’ access to, success in, and completion of higher education.
Check the THECB institutional grant opportunities page for funding availability.
Infrastructure Initiatives
Lead Agency: Texas Workforce Commission
The Texas Workforce Commission supports apprenticeship programs that help employers build their current and future talent by combining specialized, on-the-job training with classroom instruction. Apprenticeship Texas staff support the creation and expansion of apprenticeships that result in the attainment of industry credentials and higher wages throughout the state using federal and state funding.
Lead Agency: Texas Workforce Commission
The Texas Internship Challenge encourages employers to offer paid or for-credit applied learning opportunities. Internships help students gain the marketable skills employers are looking for and introduce students to in-demand occupations.
