Colisia Bayles began classes at Galen College of Nursing earlier this month, intent on moving up from licensed vocational nurse to registered nurse.
She’d already taken her prerequisite classes at San Antonio College, but staring down a bachelor’s program that will last through 2026 while working full-time was already starting to feel overwhelming.
That’s why she was so grateful to learn she was eligible for San Antonio’s Ready to Work program.
Last Thursday, she attended an intake meeting at Project Quest’s headquarters, between the Quintana Community and St. Philip’s College Southwest Campus. Bayles and 10 other people who also qualified for Ready to Work came to learn what the program will require of them, and what they can expect in return. The cohort also got to meet with their career coaches for the first time.
For Bayles, that was Kaiulani “Kai” Namauu, who supports students at Galen and two other private colleges. Namauu sat down next to Bayles to learn her story.
Bayles said she enrolled in Ready to Work because she doesn’t have family in San Antonio and needs the support the program offers. She has two children, 19 and 6, and will continue to work full-time while she’s in school.
“It’s a mental thing. School, work, kids — can I juggle it?” she asks. “I’m 41 and I’m already tired.”
Namauu, who has a caseload of 175 Project Quest and Ready to Work participants in addition to Bayles, reached out and put a hand on Bayles’ forearm. “We’re in this together, OK?”
While Namauu works with Bayles to get her set up for success, the San Antonio City Council Wednesday will get an update on Ready to Work, which is seeking $49.5 million for its fiscal year 2025 — the program’s largest proposed budget since it got underway in May 2022.
The council is expected to vote on Ready to Work’s budget on May 16.
Discussion after Wednesday’s briefing is likely to be spirited, as council members earlier this month held little back when the program’s leaders came to them with plans to subsidize employers to do on-the-job training and upskill their existing employees.
Ready to Work budget grows
While most council members say they understand the program is working to break generational poverty and train residents to fill good-paying, career-track jobs, several remain frustrated with the program’s persistently low employment numbers.
The budget for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, reflects the increasing number of residents going through various training programs, the addition of programs that defray costs for employers plus seven new city positions.
Of the $49.5 million, almost $26 million would go to tuition and training costs for program participants, who number 6,800 as of this week, out of 12,000 who have completed intake paperwork, according to the Ready to Work dashboard.
That’s up from about $17 million for tuition and training costs in the program’s 2024 budget, according to city documents. Last year’s total approved budget was $35 million; by the end of the 2024 fiscal year, the program is expected to have spent just under $37 million.
Another $18 million for 2025 is budgeted for intake, assessment and the wraparound services that help participants with unexpected expenses like child care and transportation.
The 2025 budget includes $1.8 million for marketing and outreach, and another $1.7 million for administration. Currently a dozen people in the city’s Workforce Development Office oversee the program. The seven additional positions, according to agenda documents, would help monitor the contractors’ and employers’ compliance with the program and beef up job placement efforts.
“We are very focused on increasing the job placement numbers,” said the city’s Workforce Development Office Executive Director Mike Ramsey, who will be presenting the budget briefing Wednesday. Additional personnel will more closely monitor the services that the program’s prime contractors provide, he added, as well as verify that the new on-the-job training programs meet program requirements.
The money for next year’s budget comes from the one-eighth-cent city sales tax voters approved in November 2020.
Since then, Ready to Work has collected $146 million, and spent about $35 million of what is expected to be as much as $240 million by the time the tax collection ends in December 2025. Ready to Work will continue operating until the money runs out, which is now estimated to be in 2029.
Ready to Work outcomes
Getting the program’s graduates hired in a timely manner has been an ongoing challenge. The program’s goal is for 80% of program completers to be hired within 6 months.
As the number of graduates has swelled, the program’s four main contractors, Alamo Colleges, Project Quest, Workforce Solutions Alamo and ReStore Education, have struggled to get people hired quickly.
Just over half of those who’ve completed a program — which run the gamut from certifications that take just a few weeks to two-year associate degrees — have been hired in a relevant field, making at least $15 an hour, within six months, according to the dashboard.
Within 12 months, 78% have been hired. The mean hourly wage of those hired is $20.71 an hour, according to the city, which equates to a mean annual salary of $44,023.
At Project Quest, participants meet with counselors early and often as part of the network of support that surrounds them, said Francisco Martinez, who was named Quest’s CEO in March. Martinez said he understands council’s frustration with the program’s slow going, but serving this population isn’t easy or quick.
“We’re dealing with humans,” Martinez said. “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it,” he said, referring to Ready to Work’s status as perhaps the largest publicly-funded workforce training effort in U.S. history.
Quest has been successfully doing workforce development in San Antonio for 32 years, he noted. “Project Quest is successful only because of our culture and our commitment to being participant-centered,” he said.
On Friday, as new participants and career coaches filtered out of Quest’s meeting room, Bayles and Namauu were among the last to leave.
The women were hugging.
“You’ve got this,” said Namauu. “You’ve got my number. I’m here for you, OK?”
