Fort Worth offers workforce training for high school students
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Hundreds of Fort Worth high school students will graduate this year with a diploma and training that can put them directly into the workforce.
Why it matters: Dallas-Fort Worth and Texas as a whole continue to add thousands of skilled jobs, but not enough residents are trained to fill them.
- Industries are increasingly turning to training high schoolers to close the skills gap.
The big picture: The U.S. is already facing a health care worker shortage, with many longtime workers retiring or quitting after COVID.
- By 2037, the U.S. will be short more than 207,000 registered nurses, 187,130 physicians, 17,030 pharmacists and 9,140 physical therapists, according to federal projections.
How it works: Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker launched the Council on Education and Workforce in 2022 to connect high schoolers with professional certification programs and internships.
- For example, high school students can earn a certification to become a patient care technician, an entry level position in hospitals.
- They get hands-on experience that can help them decide whether they want to become a nurse or doctor or work in other areas of the medical field.
What they're saying: The programs help students decide what they love doing.
- "You have to be passionate about it in order for you to stick with it," Castleberry High School teacher Kristin Flewelling tells Axios. "If that's health care, great. Let's get you there. If it's not, let me help you find what you are passionate about."
Driving the news: Parker at an event last week congratulated the more than 300 Fort Worth high school seniors who earned professional certificates and finished internships this school year.
- "It is not lost on me that this generation is so far ahead of everybody else," she told the students.
Between the lines: Training high school students is just one part of filling the skills gap. Businesses also offer training to prepare workers for jobs in a different industry.
- "I don't believe we have a talent issue. We have a training issue," Parker says of the Fort Worth area. "The people are here; it's just matching them and retraining the individuals."
The bottom line: Education at all levels is the best way to ensure people can earn an income and jobs are filled, the mayor says.
- "Education is the greatest equalizer for all populations," Parker tells Axios. "Give people the opportunity to take care of themselves and their families, and the only way to do that is to make sure they have educational opportunities to meet that moment."