Texas' increase in population and jobs has been the envy of other states, but a recent analysis by the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities finds the Texas model is not necessarily applicable to other states.  The report The Texas Economic Model:  Hard for Other States to Follow and Not All It Seems notes that much of the state's growth is due to factors that officials cannot control, such as plentiful oil and gas at a time of high gas prices.   

Workforce Solutions Capital Area, along with 10 community partners has launched the Workforce and Education Readiness Continuum (WERC). WERC is a network of strategic partners linked to help prepare Austin-area residents to enter or reenter today's competitive job market. Designed to seamlessly provide services ranging from GED, ESL, job-readiness training, and college-level education, WERC connects 38 provider locations to create "no wrong door" for workforce and education services. As clients progress along the continuum, they're equipped with the tools and support they need to achieve self-sufficiency. The WERC program is funded by a grant from the City of Austin and will serve 3,327 unique clients over a three-year period. 

Visit www.wercaustin.org to learn more and to see the partners engaged in this collaboration. 

As a part of its effort to increase the number of student who graduate from high school and attend college, the Austin Chamber has released Education Progress Reports for ten area school districts. The progress reports use a common set of metrics focused on high school graduation and college/career readiness. The reports, now in their seventh year of publication, are designed to be a tool for the community to track and assess school district performance trends.   

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Williamson and Travis Counties are two of the healthiest counties in the State of Texas according to the third annual County Health Rankings, released by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Williamson County ranks 2nd and Travis County ranks 8th among 221 counties in the state, according to this national report.

The County Health Rankings examine and rank the overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states, using a standard way to measure how healthy people are and how long they live. This year's rankings include several new measures, such as how many fast food restaurants are in a county and levels of physical inactivity among residents. Graphs illustrating premature death trends over 10 years are new as well.

"We're doing well but we must do better to narrow the health disparities that exist in our community," says Carlos Rivera, Director of the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. "This serves as an additional tool that our department and our partners use to improve, protect and promote a healthy community."  

The City of Austin is considering taking to voters a General Obligation bond issue of somewhere between $200 and $400 million dollars in November.  A Citizens' Task Force is finalizing recommendations to Council on how the proposed bonds should be spent, and is asking for your help.  The deadline for participating in a simple on-line survey has been extended through this weekend.  Let the City know what projects you support and how you would allocate funding between affordable housing, city facilities, parks and transportation.  Click here to take the Bond Development Survey.

The Austin Tenants' Council will host a free Housing Fair on Saturday, April 14th.  There will be presentations on tenants rights, fair housing protections, tenant-landlord issues and other resources.  The event includes refreshments and activities for children. To learn more, visit www.housing-rights.org.

Key health partners in our community are holding a series of forums in each of the Travis County precincts to gather public input for the creation of a new Health Improvement Plan for Austin and Travis County. The third of these four monthly meetings will be held on Thursday, April 26th from 6 - 8 p.m. at Manor New Tech High School. 

The forums will include free health screenings and refreshments, information about services currently available, and an opportunity to share what kinds of services community members want to see. Partners in the effort include the City of Austin, Travis County, the Austin Travis County Health and Human Services Department, Central Health, St. David's Foundation, the Seton Healthcare Family and UTHealth.  Learn more.