{"id":412680,"date":"2026-08-21T07:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412680\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T07:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:40:11","slug":"ready-to-work-program-earns-national-recognition-as-mayor-pushes-for-diverting-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412680\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready to Work program earns national recognition as Mayor pushes for diverting funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio Ready to Work<\/a> received national recognition amid Mayor Gina Ortiz-Jones\u2019 consideration of diverting some of its funding to help address a budget deficit.<\/p>\n

The International Economic Development Council, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, recognized the program for helping participants overcome barriers, such as transportation and child care, while pursuing job training and certifications.<\/p>\n

The program provides free training for eligible residents. Participants can also receive support, such as VIA bus passes, to help reduce transportation costs.<\/p>\n

Jose Sigala, who has experience in manufacturing, is completing a three-week training program focused on OSHA and manufacturing certifications. He said the program could help him find a job with better pay and benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the next two weeks, hopefully having a good, steady-paid job with good health benefits \u2014 everything just perfect for me and my family,\u201d Sigala said. \u201cI know for a fact I\u2019m going to get a job because this program\u2019s really helping us out a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christine Urdialez, director of workforce development at Goodwill, said services such as transportation and child care allow participants to focus on their training.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re worried about, \u2018How am I going to get to school?\u2019 then you\u2019re not going to actually concentrate on the certifications and the curriculum,\u201d Urdialez said.<\/p>\n

A city dashboard<\/a> shows that 5,888 participants have secured jobs that meet the program\u2019s requirements. The city said those workers increased their salaries by an average of about $33,500.<\/p>\n

However, the city has been slow to meet some of its goals.<\/p>\n

Voters approved Ready to Work in 2020 through an eighth-cent sales tax. The program began in 2022, with the goal of helping residents secure jobs paying more than $15 an hour and offering benefits.<\/p>\n

The mayor initially proposed winding down the program entirely to help address the city\u2019s budget shortfall. After discussions, she has shifted to considering the use of a smaller portion of its funding.<\/p>\n

Urdialez said the program benefits the broader community when participants move into higher-paying jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re contributing back to society,\u201d Urdialez said. \u201cThey\u2019re contributing back to the community by having high-paying jobs that are then able to sustain them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sigala, the training is an opportunity to build on his previous experience and create more options for his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all free, and it\u2019s really helping out a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI love it. I\u2019m grateful for everything they\u2019re doing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio Ready to Work received national recognition amid Mayor Gina Ortiz-Jones\u2019 consideration of diverting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3084,2112,19483,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-412680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-city-hall","tag-gina-ortiz-jones","tag-ready-to-work","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412680","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=412680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}