Texas Southmost College and SteelCoast Company, LLC have collaborated to provide training for 250 SteelCoast employees, all possible because of a Skills Development Fund grant from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
The TWC recently presented TSC and SteelCoast with a grant for $283,325 that will be used to upgrade 80 jobs and create 170 new positions.
“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this grant because each grant we receive in partnership with a local company transforms lives and families in the Rio Grande Valley,” said TSC President Jesus Roberto Rodriguez.
The training TSC will provide will be customized to fit the needs of SteelCoast and will include ESL training, workplace safety and health training and craft skills training such as rigging and forklift operations.
SteelCoast Chief Executive Officer Mark Hodgson said it is a shared goal of TSC, the TWC and SteelCoast to enhance the skill set of the workforce while improving wages.
“I truly believe that what we are doing here, with the joint effort of our community partners like TSC and Texas Workforce Commission, is a model we will continue to follow moving forward,” he said. “The training that this grant will provide, will allow each of our SteelCoast employees to obtain advance training that will not only benefit SteelCoast, but more importantly the employee.”
With TSC becoming the destination for workforce training for business and industry, TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Julian Alvarez, who represents the interests of 14 million working Texans, said one of the highlights of traveling across the state is seeing the collaborations that are happening in South Texas.
“So many great things are happening in this region,” said Alvarez. “The unity we see here in this region is one-of-a-kind. We’re working together, and I want to congratulate the team at Texas Southmost College for supporting our industries and like Dr. Rodriguez said, ‘helping the region move forward.’”
Indeed, this grant was the result of close collaboration between SteelCoast, the Texas Workforce Commission, local economic development partner the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and Texas Southmost College.
To support industry partnerships and initiatives such as this one, the TSC Board of Trustees have made substantial capital investments of more than $23 million in active learning classrooms and state-of-the-art skills training labs over the past four years.
TSC Board of Trustee Secretary Eva Alejandro said investments in TSC afford our community members access to education and training that will help them be successful in the world of work.
“I credit TSC for kickstarting my career when I was given the opportunity to head the college’s first childcare and development program,” said Alejandro. “So being here and seeing all the lives we’ll be changing is an honor, and we will continue working to provide everything our industry needs to ensure that future generations have every opportunity to improve the quality of lives for themselves and their families.”
For more information about or to request customized training for your company, visit tsc.edu/wtce.