Houston has never been shy about building the future. From energy and medicine to aerospace, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, this city likes its innovation supersized. Now, Houston City College is bringing that same ambition directly into the classroom.

Houston City College has been selected for the inaugural Workforce Futures Accelerator, a three-year national initiative led by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) with support from Google.org. HCC joins a select cohort of 15 community colleges from across the country working to rethink how students gain something employers consistently ask for: real-world experience before graduation.

 

That last part matters.

Traditional education can teach students what they need to know. The Workforce Futures Accelerator is designed to give them opportunities to demonstrate what they can actually do.

Through the initiative, HCC will identify two workforce programs where virtual, employer-sponsored projects can be incorporated directly into coursework. Students will tackle genuine business challenges, develop portfolios, make professional connections and gain career experience without necessarily having to squeeze a traditional internship around jobs, childcare, transportation and other responsibilities.

For community-college students, that flexibility can be a game changer.

“Participation by HCC will strengthen how we provide students with career-connected learning experiences that complement their classroom education and align with the needs of employers,” said HCC Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher, Ed.D., emphasizing the College’s focus on “future forward” strategies.

And “future forward” is increasingly becoming HCC’s calling card.

The Accelerator complements a rapidly expanding HCC workforce ecosystem. The College recently received a $103,000 investment from NRG Energy to expand apprenticeship pathways in instrumentation and controls for the Texas energy workforce. HCC also has strengthened its partnership with Space Center Houston, connecting students to opportunities involving artificial intelligence, robotics, aerospace and emerging technologies. HCC now serves more than 100,000 students annually, giving initiatives like these potential impact at true Houston scale.

Google.org Helps Bring Employers Into the Classroom

The Google.org-supported Accelerator tackles a persistent workforce-development paradox: employers want experienced workers, but students often need employers to give them an opportunity before they can gain that experience.

Consider that résumé riddle officially challenged.

ACCT is partnering with Riipen, an experiential-learning platform connecting students and educators with employer projects, while Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Project-Based Learning will help participating faculty incorporate project-based learning strategies into workforce curricula.

That combination gives the initiative importance far beyond one classroom or one graduating class. Lessons developed by participating colleges are expected to help create publicly available tools, templates and implementation practices that other community colleges can eventually use.

HCC Board of Trustees Chair Eva Loredo called Houston City College a leader in creating opportunities for the region and welcomed the partnership with ACCT and Google.org.

HCC Trustee Pretta VanDible Stallworth, Ph.D., chair-elect of the ACCT Board of Directors, similarly connected the initiative to HCC’s mission of providing affordable education, workforce training and pathways toward economic security.

For Houston Style Magazine readers, the bigger story is unmistakable: workforce education is evolving from “learn it, then look for work” to “learn it while doing the work.”

That is a powerful distinction.

For Houston’s students, it means experience can begin before the diploma hits the frame. For employers, it creates another avenue to identify emerging talent. And for Houston City College, selection for the Workforce Futures Accelerator further positions the institution not merely as a place preparing students for the workforce of tomorrow — but as one helping design what tomorrow’s workforce education should look like.

In Houston, the future rarely waits politely at the door.

HCC appears determined to meet it on the way in.

National Workforce Futures Accelerator