Ready to Work is the Bridge to Belief:

• Belief in every person’s ability to contribute;
• Belief in every person’s right to pursue happiness;
• Belief in the value of traditional and non-traditional education; and
• Belief that we all have the power to change the future when we work together.

From the desk of Mike Ramsey, Executive Director of the City of San Antonio's Workforce Development Office

This summer has proven to be one of significant milestones and learnings. I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside so many individuals who have a passion for Ready to Work’s success. The nation is watching and they like what they see.

While we innovate, we are responsible for navigating new waters, changing old ways and aligning new collaborations, refining, failing, and succeeding as we go.  While we have seen some outstanding progress, we know that we have a lot of work ahead of us to maintain the momentum.

Let’s remember our “why”: Thousands of families will benefit from our collaborative sweat equity. On our best days…celebrate. On our challenging days…celebrate. That is the true nature of being early innovators and drivers of change.

Sincerely,

Mike Ramsey

Ready to Work in the News

On Monday, August 29, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh joined Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Rep. Joaquin Castro for a tour of technical manufacturing and aerospace training sites at the Alamo Colleges District - St. Philip’s College. Shortly after the tour, the group sat down with Ready to Work board members and partners Doug McMurry (AGC), Jim Perschbach (Port San Antonio), Jennifer Cantu (Bank of America), Leslie Cantu (Toyotetsu), Jazlyn Puente (Ready to Work participant), Ben Peavy (Accenture), Sonia Garza (WellMed), and Mike Flores (Alamo Colleges District) for a panel discussion on the city’s workforce development investments, particularly the Ready to Work initiative.

At a roundtable discussion Walsh called Ready to Work innovative and exemplary for its heavy collaboration with industry leaders. He said funding programs like it will be critical to shoring up labor shortages in key industries. But federal law limits what his department can do.

“There’s certain [policy] language that’s tied to the investments we can make,” Walsh said. “If we can change some of that language and give us a little more freedom and flexibility to work with a program like Ready to Work, we could do a lot more.”

The visit was a part of the Labor Department’s Good Jobs Initiative, a coordinated effort by the Biden-Harris administration to improve job quality in the U.S. with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s implementation. It also came on the heels of the July 7 announcement by the Labor Department that awarded nearly $3 million to the City of San Antonio under the Apprenticeship Building America grant program to advance the department’s efforts to expand and modernize Registered Apprenticeships throughout the nation. 

By increasing the number of programs and apprentices and diversifying the industries that use the Registered Apprenticeship model, the department intends to make the “earn-as-you-learn” approach to workforce development a more common tool for underrepresented and underserved communities to succeed.

“Apprenticeships are a proven training method benefiting both job seekers and businesses. The City will augment the Ready to Work program by expanding training opportunities to include work-based learning activities such as pre-apprenticeships and registered apprenticeship programs.” Ready to Work Executive Director Michael Ramsey said. “We will promote these pathways to underserved populations, including women, people of color, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence and individuals formerly involved with the justice system.”

Ready for the Future

After graduating high school in 2009 at age 17, Jana Chilton claims she had a lot of self-discovery to do and fell into years of depression. But now, through Ready to Work, she is pursuing an education in one of the most in-demand industries - cybersecurity.

“I wanted to try something different and make another change in my life because after I finally transitioned at age 25, I felt I had hit a plateau in my work life,” Jana said.

Jana believes that Ready to Work gave her the chance to change her life drastically from just trying to get by to accomplishing something she wants to do, and inspiring others along the way.

She is just one of the participants enrolled and receiving free job training and education through Ready to Work. Following completion of the training, Jana, and others like her, will also receive guidance to prepare their resume, coaching for interviews, and assistance to secure in-demand high-paying jobs in their desired industry.

“Cybersecurity puts you on the front lines for those malicious people who want to use your data for their gain,” said Jana. “And to me, that is meaningful and impactful work.”

Jana added that before Ready to Work, she or her family never had the resources to pursue an education.

“With Ready to Work, I can focus specifically on learning and improving myself to benefit my family for a better quality of life and a better purpose in life.”

Ready to Change Lives

Thank you to the 221 local employers that have pledged support for Ready to Work. Employers will help guide the desired training and education of participants to help improve our local economy and to ensure the ultimate success of the program. Being an active and engaged business leader bring benefits to local businesses in the short and long term. These benefits include but are not limited to:

• Access to expanding talent pipeline 
• City-funded training and educational benefits for eligible employees
• Input on approved training catalog
• Enhanced network of workforce agencies, community resources and local training providers
• Increased contracting and subcontracting opportunities
• Workplace diversity
• Economic development for San Antonio

Partner Highlight: Associated General Contractors / Ready to Work Advisory Board, represented by Doug McMurry

Doug McMurry is not only the immediate past Executive Vice President of the San Antonio Chapter of Associated General Contractors but he is also a founding member of the Ready to Work Advisory Board. While he may have recently passed the torch as the chairman of the Community Outreach Subcommittee to Amanda Wright, he will still serve as a member of the subcommittee and board. His reasoning for staying involved is simple; he believes in the program and that it is vitally important to the growth and development of San Antonio.

McMurry campaigned early on for the employer-led program and encouraged his members to become Pledged Employers. He is supportive of the sales tax funding to provide free education and job training to develop more skilled labor into the workforce. Having been involved in the construction association for several decades, McMurry knows that the industry has had challenges with skilled employment for decades.

“The region has nearly 58,000 people working in construction today,” he said. “We could easily add another 5,000 if they were trained and ready to go.”

McMurry is also proud of the work achieved by the Employer Engagement Subcommittee to inform Talent Pipeline Management (TPM). These efforts keep Ready to Work actively informed by employers who identify the in-demand and high-paying jobs in local industries that need skilled employees. He is particularly proud of the training catalog with more than 900 courses that are updated quarterly and offered to program participants.

“The success of Ready to work is vitally important for the people of San Antonio to have living wages, but also for the City of San Antonio to complete the billions of dollars of work in bond to be done building infrastructure and schools. Ready to Work must be successful to get the work done on time and within budget.”

Are you ready to take the Employer Pledge? Click here to learn more.

Ready to Serve

The City has partnered with over 30 local organizations to implement the Ready to Work program.

• Creative Noggin, COPS/Metro, MM Creative, and Black Business San Antonio are assisting with community outreach and marketing.
• SA WORX is assisting with employer engagement.
• Workforce Solutions Alamo, Alamo Colleges District, Project QUEST and Restore Education are the City’s prime contractors for intake, assessment and case management services. Subcontractors include Avance, Barcom, C2 Global Services, Chrysalis Ministries, Dynamic Advancement, Empyra, Family Service Association, Goodwill Industries San Antonio, Graduation Alliance, Our Community, Plumquest, Profile Design Studio, SA Food Bank, SAISD, SeeKing HR, Texas A&M San Antonio, WHY Group, Worldwide Languages and YWCA.

Ready to Engage

We’d like to remind Ready to Work Partners and supporters about the Ready to Work Community of Practice website, hosted by our technical advisors, Jobs for the Future, to facilitate information sharing. Please bookmark the page and visit regularly—your friends at the Workforce Development Office, Creative Noggin, and JFF are updating the website with new materials and resources frequently. If you have questions or would like to request something to be added to the website, please reach out to the JFF team at rtwsa2022@gmail.com.

Upcoming Events

Ready to Work is engaging all the audiences throughout San Antonio to ensure the program is a success. Therefore, the team has a constantly evolving list of events and meetings to listen and to educate people about the Ready to Work program and how to be involved. Whether you are a community-based organization who can help reach the people of San Antonio who need support, or a business owner interested in taking the Employer Pledge, there is a place for you at the table. Below is a partial list of upcoming events. If you are interested in having Ready to Work be a part of one of your events, please contact rtw.help@sanantonio.gov.

Want to learn more about what Ready to Work offers? Click here!

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