Nine Texas community colleges will receive a share of $32.2 million from Houston Endowment as part of a regional effort to help more students earn credentials and move into careers that provide family-sustaining wages.
The three-year initiative also includes $1 million for the Texas Success Center, the student success arm of the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC), which will coordinate the work, provide technical assistance and help colleges learn from one another. The effort is focused on improving student outcomes through stronger advising, clearer educational pathways and expanded workforce opportunities.
“Houston isn’t short of jobs. It’s short of rungs on the ladder, and credentials of value can be those rungs,” said Elisa Villanueva Beard, president and CEO of Houston Endowment. “These nine colleges form the biggest on-ramp to economic mobility in our region, and the people closest to the work are the experts.”
The participating colleges are: Alvin Community College, Brazosport College, College of the Mainland, Galveston College, Houston Community College, Lee College, Lone Star College System, San Jacinto College and Wharton County Junior College.
Addressing the challenges
Community colleges play an outsized role in the Greater Houston region, where more than half of students who continue their education after high school attend a Texas two-year college, according to a release. The nine participating institutions collectively serve more than 195,000 students.
Yet significant challenges remain. Only 37% of students who begin at a community college in the region earn a credential, compared with 67% of students who start at a four-year institution. Many community college students also juggle competing responsibilities, with four in five attending part time and three in five working at least 20 hours a week.
Houston Endowment leaders said the initiative is designed to address those realities.
“It is critical that we keep redesigning community colleges around the realities that students face, rather than asking students to adapt to systems built for a different era,” said August Hamilton, the foundation’s education program director. “Community colleges are also uniquely positioned to help adults upskill and reskill as the economy rapidly changes.”
Each participating college spent the past year examining student data, surveying students and developing institution-specific plans. While the strategies vary, campuses identified several common priorities, including strengthening advising systems, creating clearer academic and workforce pathways, improving transfer opportunities and using data more effectively to support students before they fall off track.
Working together
The Texas Success Center will serve as the regional implementation partner, helping colleges share best practices, tackle common barriers and measure progress across the region.
“The real power of this work comes from colleges learning from one another while pursuing solutions tailored to their own students and communities,” said Kimberly Lowry, executive director of the Texas Success Center.
The initiative builds on $500,000 planning grants from Houston Endowment awarded in 2025, after Texas lawmakers approved House Bill 8, which shifted community college funding toward student outcomes. Over the past year, participating colleges used those grants to analyze student needs and develop strategies aimed at increasing credential attainment and workforce success.
