Alamo Colleges Education and Training Centers<\/a>, which were designed as a more accessible option for those seeking workforce certificates and training.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ReadyToWork_AlamoCollegesDistrict_AdultEducation_CollegeStudentStudying_EnrollmentExpo_08_02.05.2026.jpeg\")
Alamo Colleges and Ready To Work Coordinator Francisco Saucedo goes over the enrollment process with a group of Ready To Work candidates during an enrollment expo at the Alamo Colleges District Westside Education and Training Center on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Persaud left her meeting with Pe\u00f1a with a smile, feeling more confident about her ability to reinvest in herself to become a registered nurse, she said. And although going back to school made her nervous, she left feeling encouraged.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to call me to see if I\u2019m approved, first,\u201d she said. \u201cI already have an associate degree, so he told me to think about going into the bachelor\u2019s program because I can transfer my credits, which I didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a is one of about 33 Alamo Colleges staff members who are solely dedicated to the Ready to Work program. He is based out of St. Philip\u2019s College, but travels throughout the city visiting enrollment expos or meeting with applicants at these training centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each week, Pe\u00f1a has 25 to 30 applicants in his queue who have completed the intake process either online or at an expo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some arrive knowing exactly which field they want to enter and whether they want a certificate or a degree, he said. But others need extra support figuring out what fits and if this is the right time to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when they come to us, they\u2019re not really ready to make a decision,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. \u201cThey tell us, \u2018I qualify but I don\u2019t know where to go. I don\u2019t know what to do moving forward.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
This is where good listening skills come to play, he said. Coaches and advisers may suggest aptitude tests to figure out which pathway works best. There\u2019s also a career exploration worksheet that includes median salaries, job availability, local employment projections and training providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Participants should spend some time exploring which Ready to Work pathway is the right one for them, Pe\u00f1a said, since they\u2019re not allowed to switch pathways midway through.<\/p>\n
Those who choose to pursue a certification program get up to $5,000 to help cover the cost of tuition, while those who seek an academic degree get up to $2,200 annually for an associate degree, and as much as $4,100 for a bachelor\u2019s degree for up to three consecutive years.<\/p>\n
Coaching current and prospect students requires a delicate balance of encouragement, guidance and sensitivity, Pe\u00f1a said, to ensure they don\u2019t become overwhelmed by the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople sometimes come to us with many barriers; language could be a barrier, transportation could be a barrier,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. \u201cOur goal is to make sure that we break down barriers for students and for them to understand that we serve anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
A path forward<\/p>\n
As a coach and adviser, Pe\u00f1a draws on his personal experience navigating the higher education system. He arrived in San Antonio in 2002 as a college student seeking at degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Having completed the rest of his studies in Mexico, Pe\u00f1a suddenly faced a system completely foreign to him. He found some help from counselors and advisors and in 2006 he graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in education \u2014 and with many unnecessary course credits.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ReadyToWork_AlamoCollegesDistrict_AdultEducation_CollegeStudentStudying_EnrollmentExpo_12_02.05.2026.jpeg\")
Ivan Pe\u00f1a, an enrollment coach with San Antonio\u2019s Ready To Work program, goes over an information folder given to candidates who are interested in enrolling to learn more about the program and review their options at the Alamo Colleges District Westside Education and Training Center on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
\u201cI took so many classes that at the end I ended up with like 20 extra credits that I didn\u2019t need,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. \u201cI wasted time and money.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first six years of his career he taught in high-poverty schools across San Antonio, teaching English as a second language courses, plus teaching Spanish and coaching soccer. He later transitioned to higher education holding enrollment, intake and adviser roles at the University of Incarnate Word and eventually Palo Alto College.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His experience teaching at high schools taught him that like he did, many students don\u2019t understand the higher education system enough to feel welcome or drawn to it, he said. Many could enroll and get discouraged once they don\u2019t find a clear pathway.<\/p>\n
It was during Pe\u00f1a\u2019s time at Palo Alto College that he heard about a new team that would be solely focused on the Ready to Work partnership with the city. The new program was immediately of interest to him, he said, for its promise to target a wider range of candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me to say that there\u2019s going to be a program in the community, for the community outside of Alamo Colleges for students to train, to educate themselves, and for them to be able to find jobs at the end, \u2026 I said, \u2018I want to be a part of that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond Ready to Work<\/p>\n
Morrill, of Alamo Colleges District, said the college\u2019s involvement in this program made sense on many levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This system closely mirrors what the state of Texas did with 2023\u2019s House Bill 8, which tied state funding to outcomes, incentivizing earned credentials in high-demand job fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s given us the framework by which we\u2019re going to build out,\u201d Morrill said. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned so much. \u2026 It\u2019s the processes, it\u2019s documentation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although intake and enrollment is not foreign to any college, Ready to Work seeks to appeal to a different demographic, one that had for many reasons shied away from the traditional college setting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a city program, its leaders measure Ready to Work\u2019s outcomes at every level, from intake to completion and employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been evolution,\u201d Morrill said. Early on, her team brough in an outside consultant to evaluate the intake process. Their feedback was, \u201cY\u2019all are going in hot,\u201d she said as he advised to move through the intake process at a slower pace. <\/p>\n
Approaching students alone and taking more time to prepare them for the many questions that would come was one of those adjustments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe [had] to train the team to say, \u2018Listen, I\u2019m going to ask you for a lot of documentation. Some of it\u2019s going to make you nervous. \u2026\u00a0But this is what we have to do to put in the system to get the funding that we know you need to get on the success plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first few years were not easy, she said, with many new processes being rolled out and adjustments having to be made. The Ready to Work program was criticized for not living up to the 2020 campaign promises of helping up to 40,000 workers<\/a> find life-changing, better-paying jobs \u2014 delivering results too slowly and adjusting down original projections of how many San Antonians it would help in its first few years. <\/p>\nThe program\u2019s supporters argue that the rare, city-wide effort is a model for the rest of the nation \u2014 and Alamo Colleges is a key step in its pipeline. <\/p>\n
From enrollment, to retention and completion, Morrill expects the Ready to Work metrics to improve as they continue to refine their internal process.<\/p>\n
When asked how he measures success, Pe\u00f1a doesn\u2019t think twice before describing the random calls by students he once advised with updates on their progress, or to send him a friend or family member seeking to also look into the program.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWe can literally change their lives by welcoming them, by servicing them, by being there with them,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. \u201cFor them to know that they\u2019re not just a number.\u201d<\/p>\n
The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ivan Pe\u00f1a describes his role at Alamo Colleges District, one word is often repeated: Connect.\u00a0 His job…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[44607,7562,66883,11532,16387,61357,66884,6973,66885,37145,66886,66887,19483,66888,82,18895,84,83,18896,92,3242,66889,5957],"class_list":["post-163666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-alamo-colleges","tag-alamo-colleges-district","tag-alamo-colleges-education-and-training-centers","tag-city-of-san-antonio","tag-community-college","tag-continuing-education","tag-fransisco-saucedo-jr","tag-graduates","tag-high-demand-jobs","tag-house-bill-8","tag-ivan-pena","tag-job-placement","tag-ready-to-work","tag-sammi-morrill","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-college","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-st-philips-college","tag-top-story","tag-wc-more-than-2000","tag-westside-education-and-training-center","tag-workforce-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ReadyToWork_AlamoCollegesDistrict_AdultEducation_CollegeStudentStudying_EnrollmentExpo_05_02.05.2026.jpeg\")
Ready to Work candidates raise their hand for assistance with an enrollment coach during a Ready To Work enrollment expo at the Alamo Colleges District Westside Education and Training Center on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n