John Spear Jr. had worked for more than 20 years in the transportation industry when he decided he wanted to change careers — a move that would require going back to school.
Fortunately for Spear, Houston City College’s northeast campus in Stafford offered an associate’s degree in engineering and technology and put him through a leadership program for spouses of veterans. Spear got hands-on experience through an internship at Hunting Subsea Technologies and now works for Houston-based Alcon Pharmaceuticals.
“It was phenomenal and life-changing,” Spear said in an email. “There are so many countless opportunities by attending HCC.”
Community colleges have stepped up their game in recent years, focusing more on workforce readiness than enrollment numbers. Due to Texas legislation passed in 2023, funding must be based on student achievement — like Spear’s success story — rather than the number of courses offered and credit hours logged.
To that end, the private philanthropic organization Houston Endowment offered grants last month totaling $5 million to nine Gulf Coast schools and the Texas Association of Community Colleges. The funds are “planning grants” intended to accelerate implementation of Texas House Bill 8 and Senate Bill 1786, said Houston Endowment Education Program Director August Hamilton.
“The state recognized that the system was becoming financially untenable, especially for our more rural communities that didn’t have the enrollment,” Hamilton said. “They took a pretty groundbreaking approach, and Texas is the first state to do it at this scale.”
Community colleges are now incentivized to provide courses in high-demand fields like healthcare, energy, information technology, logistics and advanced manufacturing. That allows for alignment between employer needs and the skills and knowledge provided by community colleges.
About 52 percent of Texas students in public higher education are enrolled in community colleges, Hamilton said.
“Community colleges are located in our communities and the students are rooted in our communities,” he said. “What we’re seeking and driving toward is finding jobs that are higher-paying and lead to economic mobility. For us, it’s an amazing policy moment to work alongside these institutions and take advantage of this opportunity.”
Recipients that recently received $500,000 grants include Alvin Community College, Brazosport College, College of the Mainland, Galveston College, Houston City College, Lee College, Lone Star College, San Jacinto Community College and Wharton County Junior College.
“Our region continues to be one of the fastest-growing regions in the country,” Hamilton said. “A lot of these institutions are able to provide certificates or associate’s degrees that actually meet the needs of employers.”
Under House Bill 8 (the 2023 version, not the 2025 bill that eliminated the STAAR test), institutions have to strengthen their advising programs, track data to ensure that students are getting their needs met, and streamline pathways to the workforce. Colleges are incentivized for having dual credit programs that allow high school students to be enrolled in postsecondary education and for fostering a pipeline to four-year college transfers.
“We sat down with the executive leadership of all nine of these Gulf Coast institutions and talked about how funding could support the work they’re already doing,” Hamilton said.
“It’s a work in progress,” he added. “This is a space we want to continue to invest in. Community colleges are uniquely positioned to be a driver of upskilling and reskilling and the ability to serve students from all sorts of backgrounds: working students, adult students and first-generation students. We have about 200,000 students in the Greater Houston region enrolled in these institutions.”
According to data provided by Houston Endowment, more than 70 percent of U.S. jobs will require some form of postsecondary education or training by 2031. About 48 percent of working-age Texans have certificates or degrees beyond high school diplomas, and employees with associate’s degrees earn 15 percent more than high school graduates. Those with bachelor’s degrees earn 84 percent more.
The Houston Endowment grants are designated for planning purposes, so while the money won’t go toward tuition, it can be used to access technical assistance and ensure more students graduate and earn “credentials of value,” Hamilton said. The colleges have one year to use the money.
A community college’s planning needs might include beefing up student advising or ensuring that all credits count when a student transfers to a four-year college.
“We’re hoping the colleges will come to the table with a plan of how they can maximize the funding and how they can implement it in the outcome-based model, based on what the workforce needs are in the community they serve,” Hamilton said. “The hope would be to fund the implementation plan in subsequent years.”
Houston City College offered a perfect match in helping Spear get the certification he needed to change careers and ultimately make more money, Hamilton said.
“Because of the way the funding is incentivized, there is an intentionality in ensuring that the credentials lead to economic mobility,” he said. “Because so many of our students are in these institutions, this policy and this performance-based model are providing us a unique opportunity to bring together employers and institutions to say, these community colleges are where you go to look for talent.”
“We import a lot of talent from other parts of the country to fill our jobs when we have individuals here in our community who can do that,” he added. “They just need access to the right training, upskilling and reskilling. I think for our longevity as a city we have to shift that balance from being a talent importer to being able to develop and incubate our own talent.”
Hamilton pointed out that many students start postsecondary education and go into debt but don’t end up with a degree, so they’re actually in a worse position than when they started. The new funding model allows educational institutions and their private donors to look at ensuring students finish what they started.
“Every student deserves a clear, affordable path to a credential that leads to economic opportunity,” Hamilton said. “These grants are about equipping community colleges with the tools, partnerships, and resources they need to deliver on that promise. This is not just a postsecondary education strategy, it’s an economic mobility strategy.”
Spear said that he learned new technical skills through his courses at HCC and came to believe that a career change was achievable. He now encourages community college students to take advantage of all the resources their institution provides.
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions and explore different career paths until you find the one that’s right for you,” he said. “Stay focused, stay consistent and remember, it’s never too late to start a second career.”
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.