Texas Border Business
BROWNSVILLE, Texas – The Texas Southmost College Foundation made an unprecedented investment in local workforce development by allocating $1 million for workforce training scholarships at Texas Southmost College during their regular board meeting this week. The allocation will fund student scholarships for a variety of workforce programs such as aerospace, manufacturing, construction trades and health care.
“The Texas Southmost College Foundation Board of Directors provides stewardship for the college’s scholarship endowment, which assists students in earning a college degree or certificate, helping to transform their lives,” said Manny Casanova, TSC Foundation Board of Directors President. “This latest investment complements robust efforts underway at TSC to cultivate an even more sustainable and resilient regional economy.”
TSC President Jesús Roberto Rodríguez said the college has been working collaboratively with economic development organizations and industry partners to ensure the Lower Rio Grande Valley remains a destination for innovative businesses and entrepreneurship, fueled by a high-quality workforce. He said investments by the TSC Board of Trustees, TSC Foundation, public entities and private partners have strengthened TSC’s position as the destination for regional workforce training.
“In addition to the current investment by the TSC Foundation, the TSC Board of Trustees continues to do its part in supporting academic and workforce development programs by investing $23 million in capital investments over the past four years,” said TSC Board of Trustees Chair Ruben Herrera.
He said the investment funded active learning classrooms and state-of-the-art workforce labs for programs such as welding, plumbing, pipefitting, electrical, Industrial Mechanics and Maintenance Technology and the Criminal Justice Institute.
Casanova noted that the TSC Foundation’s $1 million investment provides student scholarships for short-term training programs that are not funded by federal financial aid, meaning students must either pay out-of-pocket or rely on other outside sources of funding. He added that while the TSC workforce grants team has been very successful, earning awards of more than $1.6 million in just the last nine months, each grant specifies unique criteria for scholarship distribution.
“The foundation’s investment will ensure more students are eligible for workforce training scholarships to support students’ needs that are not covered through other grant programs,” Casanova added.
Rodríguez said the college’s workforce development team prioritizes meetings with industry partners to listen to their plans for the future and works collaboratively with them to build training programs to address their workforce needs. As a result, TSC has established a variety of new workforce programs, such as Forensic Macro Photography and Industrial Insulation—which are the only ones of their kind in the nation—with more to come, such as Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) pilots and maintenance.
Community members interested in the available scholarships to upgrade their skills or train for a new career may contact TSC’s Workforce Training and Continuing Education division at wtce@tsc.edu or 956-295-3724. More information about the programs offered may be found at https://www.tsc.edu/workforce-training-and-career-education/
