Houston Endowment awards $5 million to support postsecondary success at 9 area community colleges

Grants to accelerate implementation of Texas House Bill 8 and transform how colleges support student achievement and workforce readiness

In a bold investment to support student success and workforce development across the region, Houston Endowment has awarded $5 million in planning grants to nine Gulf Coast community colleges and a statewide nonprofit leading efforts to align higher education with Texas’ growing economic needs.

Each of the following community colleges will receive a $500,000 grant to support the design and implementation of capacity-building strategies that align with Texas House Bill 8 (HB 8) and Senate Bill 1786 (SB 1786):

• Alvin Community College
• Brazosport College
• College of the Mainland
• Galveston College
• Houston Community College
• Lee College
• Lone Star College
• San Jacinto Community College
• Wharton County Junior College

Houston-area community colleges enroll more than 200,000 students across a range of ages and racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. About two-thirds of those students attend part-time, and more than 30% are eligible for Pell Grants. 

The planning grants are designed to help colleges develop strategies that increase the number of students successfully completing their education and earning credentials of value that lead to high-wage, high-demand jobs. 

In addition, a $500,000 grant was awarded to the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) to support regional coordination and technical assistance through its Texas Success Center. This grant will enable TACC to convene the nine institutions to facilitate shared learning, strengthen technical assistance systems, and coordinate policy alignment.

“Every student deserves a clear, affordable path to a credential that leads to economic opportunity,” said August Hamilton, education program director at Houston Endowment. “These grants are about equipping community colleges with the tools, partnerships, and resources they need to deliver on that promise.”

Houston Endowment’s support of postsecondary completion and credentials of value comes at a critical time:

• By 2031, 72% of U.S. jobs will require some form of postsecondary education or training.
• In Texas alone, 1.7 million new jobs are expected between 2018 and 2028, and by 2030, more than 62% of all jobs in Texas will require education beyond high school, according to Georgetown’s Center for Education and the Workforce.
• Only 48% of working-age Texans have certificates or degrees beyond high school diplomas.
• Workers with associate degrees earn 15% more than high school graduates; those with bachelor’s degrees earn 84% more.

The community college and TACC planning grants build on the momentum of HB 8, a historic, bipartisan reform passed by the Texas Legislature in 2023. HB 8 replaces a decades-old enrollment-based funding formula with a performance-based model that ties state funding to outcomes, focusing on:

• Completion of credentials of value
• Successful transfer to four-year institutions
• Dual credit completion for high school students

SB 1786 further supports this shift by refining the definition of credentials of value, expanding data use to align programs with labor market needs, and strengthening pathways across institutions. Together, these reforms are designed to position community colleges as catalysts for economic mobility and workforce readiness.