SAN ANTONIO — U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh toured a southwest-side community college Monday as part of his support for a jobs program in San Antonio.
Secretary Walsh joined Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX 20) to discuss the city's Ready to Work program and its connection to national workforce initiatives.
The program, which targets low-income residents, is funded through a voter-approved 1/8 cent sales tax through December 2025. Job training will be for high-demand industries such as healthcare, manufacturing and cyber security, among others.
Organizers of the program say it is important for San Antonio to invest in workforce training in order to meet the need for skilled labor.
The program is just getting off the ground. The mayor's office says more than 5,400 people have applied for the program. At this point, about 1,000 of those have been interviewed and a few hundred are assigned a case manager.
On a tour of manufacturing labs on the St. Philip's College campus, Secretary Walsh said he hopes the Ready to Work program will serve as a model for other cities.
"We need to be more intentional about investing in workforce development and we need to be doing with cities, quite honestly," Secretary Walsh said. "Because cities know how to get it done. And programs like Ready to Work should replicated around the country."
San Antonio's program ties in with the Department of Labor's "Good Jobs" initiative to improve job quality across the country.
"When I tour around the country, we share best practices. When I sit with colleagues, we take each others ideas, what is working and what is not working," Secretary Walsh said. "Certainly, my next visit as Secretary of Labor is in Ohio, and I will be talking about Ready to Work in Ohio."