Austin Community College (ACC) is making strides with the launch of the Austin Infrastructure Academy at its Riverside Campus, a joint effort between the college, the City of Austin, and other partners to train a skilled workforce for upcoming infrastructure projects, as reported by KVUE.
ACC's move addresses Austin's booming growth and the consequent demand for workers in construction, machinery operations, and technology-related sectors. The Chancellor of ACC, Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, remarked, "We're going to use this campus, our Riverside campus, one of my favorite campuses. I love the communal feel, I love that this is a neighborhood and a campus that takes care of each other, and I think it's the perfect place to launch the infrastructure academy," as per KVUE.
The academy will eventually operate out of a new $200 million facility in Southeast Travis County near the airport, provided through ACC's 2022 bond but starts at Riverside due to the immediacy of the need. The academy is not just about job readiness, but establishing long-term careers, offering pathways that include apprenticeships and direct entry into the workforce. Mayor Kirk Watson underscored the effort's significance by stating, "We need to change our economic development model so that we focus on getting Austinites into these great career paths," as cited by KVUE.
Following a study by CivicSol which emphasized the dire need for thousands of new workers over the next decades for large-scale projects such as the I-35's widening, Major Watson pointed to a staggering 81% needed increase of workers by 2040, translating to about 4,000 people annually who require training and upskilling. This academy also integrates a childcare component to support parents in the community and aims at increasing the representation of women and people of color in the industry, Travis County Judge Andy Brown highlighted the importance of apprenticeship programs "that will lead not to just jobs, but good family-supporting careers in the construction industry with living wages, benefits and robust worker protections," according to Community Impact.
With billions being injected into Austin's transportation infrastructure, the academy sets the groundwork for a skilled workforce that can sustain the city's growth and residents' livelihoods. Chancellor Lowery-Hart told Community Impact, "The establishment of this infrastructure academy is what bold leadership looks like. People from across sectors coming together, identifying common challenges and collectively working towards a solution that won’t only allow Central Texas to develop the infrastructure it desperately needs but establish clear pipelines to thousands of good-paying jobs—correction: not jobs, careers."
