The new academy should help train thousands of individuals to help with construction.
Category: In the News
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Austin Infrastructure Academy regional workforce program launches at ACC Riverside
An initiative to train thousands of Central Texans in career paths tied to the region’s tens of billions of dollars of new infrastructure projects on the horizon launched March 22 at Austin Community College’s Riverside Campus.
Local leaders gathered at ACC Riverside March 22 to mark the start of the Austin Infrastructure Academy, a workforce recruitment and training collaborative formed in advance of years of major development around Greater Austin.
The infrastructure academy’s creation has been in the works for months through partnership between local officials, educators and representatives from infrastructure industry, workforce development and labor groups.
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Austin to launch Infrastructure Academy to bolster city’s workforce
Austin City Council gave the green light March 7 to launch an Infrastructure Academy to connect residents with jobs as Austin embarks on $25 billion in capital projects.
The program aims to help fill thousands of skilled trades jobs with local talent as Austin widens I-35, expands the airport, renovates the convention center and adds a light rail to its transportation network.
Austin will also need to ramp up its recruiting efforts and improve coordination with existing organizations, such as Workforce Solutions Capital Area, Skillpoint Alliance and Austin Community College to get local workers trained and hired, the study found.
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With $25B in projects on tap, new Austin infrastructure academy gets green light
A plan to establish a new Austin infrastructure academy is taking shape, with the aim of ensuring the city’s workforce is equipped to meet the demands placed upon it by $25 billion in transportation-related projects over the coming years.
City Council approved a resolution March 7 that directs city staff to begin laying the groundwork for the new school and training network. The list of transformational projects on tap for Austin includes a 10-mile light rail route, a new concourse at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and the expansion of Interstate 35 through the center of the city.
Workforce Solutions Capital Area, a nonprofit workforce development organization, also is set to play a central role in the founding of the new institution.
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Austin creates academy for construction workers as city faces historic amount of infrastructure
Thousands of workers are needed for big construction projects happening all around Austin.
Mayor Kirk Watson, along with the support of several Austin council members are pushing for an infrastructure academy to be a training hub for the city.
They hope a partnership with Workforce Solutions will help get construction workers, skilled trade individuals and the project managers they need to build the infrastructure.
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Austin mayor announces new infrastructure academy to build construction workforce
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announced Wednesday plans for a new infrastructure academy to help build a local pipeline of workers for major construction and transportation projects in the region.
It’s tied to an agenda item that the city council will take up March 7.
Workforce Solutions Capital Area is one of the organizations working with the mayor on this initiative. Chief Executive Officer Tamara Atkinson said this would be the first academy of its kind in the country.
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Local high schoolers get hands-on nursing practice at Texas State University Round Rock
Over 50 students from nine local school districts attended Workforce Solutions Capital Area’s biannual Nursing Academy on Feb. 21 for a day of interactive learning in Texas State University Round Rock’s five nursing simulation labs.
The academy is put on twice a year through WSCA’s Central Texas Healthcare Partnership, which consists of Baylor Scott & White, Ascension Seton and St. David’s HealthCare.
“There’s so much negative publicity in the news about nursing,” said Ashley King, WSCA director of health care partnerships. “We’re really trying to give a positive spin to a really great career opportunity and all of the different career options that they have—the different pathways, the different tracks that they could do.”
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Hundreds of new hotel rooms open in Austin ahead of busy event season
Workforce Solutions Capital Area said it has become an industry that’s seen consistent job growth over the years.
“From December 2022 to December 2023, the leisure and hospitality industry has seen a 2.3% growth,” said Senior Director of Business Engagement Amber Warne.
Warne said as of December 2023, there were a total of 150,200 jobs filled in the industry.
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Nursing academy aims to fill Central Texas nursing shortage
Central Texas high school students filled the classrooms at Texas State University’s Round Rock campus on Wednesday.
Health care professionals hope they may be a solution to a much larger problem.
“Our shortage is pretty substantial,” said Ashley King, the director of health care partnerships with Workforce Solutions Capital Area. “Nursing is the larger shortage that we have in health care, and with an expected 6 percent increase in the next 10 years.”
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Austin-Round Rock metro has more women in construction than national average
The Austin-Round Rock metro area is above the national average for the number of women working in local construction, but still lags behind 27 other cities, according to data from the company Construction Coverage.
According to data from Workforce Solutions Capital Area, women made up 10% of Austin area construction workers in 2022. For Workforce Solutions Capital Area program manager Michelle Buford, the increase is positive as barriers to entry begin to erode.
“It used to be a male-dominated field. But women can do just as well in this industry as men,” Buford said. “I honestly believe it has a lot to do with the change in attitudes of the folks that would normally employ folks into this. [The unions] are recruiting women, they’re talking to women…we have folks in our community who know that we need to increase the number of women that enter these fields.”