As the demand for skilled trade workers continues to rise across America, traditional four-year college degrees aren’t always the most direct path to a successful career. In Houston, education veteran Mike Feinberg is leading a transformative approach through WorkTexas, making trade careers more accessible and sustainable for those seeking stable, well-paying employment.
The shift comes at a crucial time, as industries face critical shortages of electricians, welders, and other skilled workers. “[People] collectively realized that maybe it was a mistake to stop doing vocational ed in our high schools,” Feinberg explains, highlighting the growing recognition that traditional academic paths aren’t the only route to professional success.
Mike Feinberg’s Blueprint for Trade Education Access
At the heart of WorkTexas’s mission is a commitment to removing financial barriers to trade education. “Basically, in this country, if someone is unemployed or underemployed, they can get help to learn a new trade,” Feinberg notes. “Unfortunately, we make it more difficult than it needs to be to access. It gets bucketed into these smaller grants; we help people navigate that.”
Through careful navigation of available funding sources, most participants can attend the program’s 11-week courses for free. These intensive programs, requiring approximately 170 hours of participation, offer training in high-demand fields including welding, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, building maintenance, commercial truck driving, and warehouse management. Recent expansions have introduced masonry and clinical medical assistant training, with a barber program on the horizon.
Industry-Aligned Training
What sets WorkTexas apart is its employer-first approach to program development. “We are employer-focused,” says Feinberg. “Our mission is to help people get jobs, keep jobs, advance careers.”
Co-founder Yazmin Guerra explains their employer-centered process: “We start with the employer. If the employer is telling us they have a need and will hire a set number of students, we work together to establish a curriculum in a program that works for them and start the outreaching to fill that class.”
Breaking Down Barriers to Trade Education
Recognizing that skill development is just one piece of the puzzle, WorkTexas has built a comprehensive support system to help participants succeed. The organization has:
- Established childcare solutions supporting over 60 children through federal and local funding
- Created partnerships with organizations providing food security, health services, and housing assistance
- Developed multiple training locations, including at Gallery Furniture and the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department’s Opportunity Center
“A lot of people we train are one flat tire away from disaster,” Feinberg explains. “We can help everyone get a job based on their training; but you’re not going to do well in your job if you’re homeless or hungry, or your car stops working.”
Long-Term Career Support
WorkTexas’s commitment extends well beyond graduation. The organization maintains regular contact with alumni through systematic check-ins and support.
“It is job coaching — which can be technical, or it can also turn into therapy at times,” says Feinberg. “We are proactively reaching out to all of them every six months [to ask] are you still in the same job? Are you switching jobs? Are you looking for a different job? What’s your salary? Do you need any help?”
Creating Sustainable Career Paths
The program has created what Feinberg calls a “sandbox” where various community organizations collaborate toward shared goals. “The people who are working on food, housing and physical health realize their work can only truly make a huge impact if people wind up having a sustainable career — [and] stop needing those services at some point down the road. There’s a symbiotic relationship here we’re tapping into that’s pretty neat.”
Guerra emphasizes their comprehensive approach: “WorkTexas makes it very clear that we are going to be intentional about the training and the services we provide. We’re going to have these job search preparation workshops; we will have partners come in and provide support, and we expect them to leverage those resources. We will follow up with them for up to five years if needed — because we want to be able to do right by our mission, which is to help people get jobs, keep jobs, and advance in their careers.”
A New Model for Trade Education
As vocational education makes a comeback, WorkTexas is ensuring it returns stronger than before. As Feinberg notes, there’s been “a push to not have it come back as it used to be; but have it come back better.”
The organization’s success demonstrates that trade education can provide a viable and valuable career path when the right supports are in place. By combining practical skills training with comprehensive support services and long-term career coaching, WorkTexas is demonstrating how modern vocational education can create sustainable pathways to career success.
This innovative approach could serve as a model for communities nationwide, showing how strategic program design and robust support services can make trade careers more accessible and sustainable for those seeking alternatives to traditional college paths.