Dallas Program to Provide Job Training for Low- and Moderate-Income Homes

On Wednesday, Dallas City Council will vote on a program intended to provide job training to people disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and those of low to moderate incomes. It’s being called the Upskilling Dallas Program.

If approved, the program would be carried out by Dallas College and Metrocare Services. The city’s small business center chose these two after looking at several proposals from entities that could provide skills and workforce training, as well as education for employment opportunities that could lead program participants to earning a living wage in fields like information technology and telecommunications. The program defines a living wage as $17.82 an hour.

District 11 City Council member Jaynie Schultz, chair of the Dallas’ Workforce, Education and Equity committee, told the Observer that the program could be what someone needs to find a permanent job. She’s heard from plenty of people who could benefit from additional job training like what could be offered in the Upskilling Dallas Program. She knows an IT professional who has some training, but explained that even he could be helped with this program.

“Tech is constantly evolving, and he’s been kind of chasing it,” she said. “If he were in a program like this, he’d be able to get some structure, some guidance, and probably some inroads where he can become permanently employed.”

Dallas households with incomes between 65% and 80% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines could qualify for the program. Other households can qualify based on financial need due to issues like unemployment and increased food or housing insecurity. Homes that qualify for the Children’s Health Insurance Program or child care subsidies through the Child Care Development Fund Program or Medicaid are also eligible for the Upskilling Dallas Program. 

Half a million dollars in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act will help pay for the project. The City Council approved funding for the program when it passed the 2021-22 budget in September 2021. Two months after the budget was approved, a report commissioned by Mayor Eric Johnson was released with four recommendations on how to improve workforce development in the city. The report was titled “Upskilling Dallas.”

“By investing in new upskilling efforts and working with our partners to help promote, refine, and expand existing programs, we can help our residents better themselves, make more money, and start exciting new careers,” Johnson said in a statement at the time. “Together, we can build the workforce of the future – one that will attract and grow businesses, build equity, and sustain our city’s outstanding economic growth for years to come.”

The report found, in part, that while there are plenty of programs in Dallas to help develop job skills for younger adults – such as people coming out of high school and recent college graduates – there aren’t enough programs to develop skills for working-aged adults. These individuals are between 25 and 65 years old and often have families, financial pressures and time constraints. Because of this, they “lack similar opportunities to continue their growth, change careers, and learn new skills that can help them stay ahead of the economic curve,” according to the report. Working-age adults make up more than 35% of the population in Dallas.

The report was produced by the consulting firm Cicero Group, which offered four recommendations on how to train working-age people in Dallas. They basically boiled down to this: appoint someone to carry out the recommendations; establish partnerships with workforce development organizations; use the mayor to promote existing upskilling programs; and make it easier to navigate these programs digitally.

In January 2022, Johnson named Lynn Mcbee as the city’s new workforce czar to carry out the recommendations in the Upskilling Dallas report.