The Central Texas Quality of Life Foundation was established in 2023 to enhance Opportunity Austin capacity to target organizational and philanthropic investments aligned with our mission to boost economic diversification, proactively strengthen the economy, deepen the talent pool through development/attraction, and improve economic and educational opportunities across Central Texas.
Mission
The Foundation aligns its mission with Opportunity Austin’s economic and talent development strategies to improve awareness of in-demand careers, bolster workforce readiness, improve postsecondary access/affordability, address barriers to higher education/workforce credential attainment, deepen our regional talent pool, and connect employers to skilled talent.
The Central Texas Quality of Life Foundation supports strategies and programs with a proven track record of success. Foundation Supported initiatives include:
FAFSA Workshops
Support for Opportunity Austin’s regional financial aid campaign to help graduating seniors and parents complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or Texas Application for Student Financial Aid (TASFA). For 2023-2024, these efforts supported over 50 events, trained over 300 volunteers, and contributed to approximately 10,000 first-time financial aid filings for graduating seniors.
Over more than a decade, Opportunity Austin financial aid completion efforts have contributed to a 200%+ increase in first-time aid filings between 2006-2024. Approximately 80% of our FAFSA filers enroll in 2 or 4 year colleges and 66% complete degrees/credentials withing 6 years of enrollment based on external evaluation from the University of Texas at Austin Ray Marshall Center. Annual aid filings have yielded $200+ million in federal, state, and institutional aid supporting enrollment and success for students and families in the Austin MSA. (Source U.S. Department of Education, Austin MSA first-time aid filings by zip code and NCES National Postsecondary Student Aid Study).
STEAM Internships
Emerging Leaders and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) internships for area high school students in partnership with the City of Austin & Bank of America Austin ISD, Del Valle ISD, Eanes ISD, Lake Travis ISD, Leander ISD, Manor ISD, Pflugerville ISD, and Round Rock ISD. These initiatives provide work-based learning opportunities for students in tech, advanced manufacturing, skilled trades, and health care related occupations. The initiative supports over 200 internships annually to help students gain work experience and make informed decisions on their postsecondary or career interests.
Summer Melt
Summer college/career transition support via “Summer Melt” outreach for prospective college students following high school graduations. Support addresses financial aid verification, college readiness requirements, postsecondary registration/orientation, and other process barriers to college enrollment in partnership with area school districts and colleges.
Approximately 10,000 area graduates receive transition support from counselors along with text/digital messaging outreach on key college going milestones. External evaluations by the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University found our efforts improve postsecondary enrollment for first-generation/economically disadvantaged students by over 10 percentage points, African American students by 8 percentage points, with positive impact for Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students.
College & Career Outreach
OA summer college/career outreach was also extended to approximately 2600 recent graduates with no college application received texts and other outreach promoting in-demand career/workforce programs.
Direct calls by OA, ACC and ISD partners were made to just over 2100 non-college intending students. Marketing and messaging campaigns encouraging postsecondary enrollment in workforce programs had over 187,000 impressions on social media, 4,355 clicks to event and registration pages, and resulted in 897 students attend workforce information sessions in IT, manufacturing, skilled trades, and healthcare.
ACC postsecondary enrollment in non-credit workforce education programs for 17-21 year-old demographic grew from 972 in 2019 to 1,216 students in 2022. Students between 17-18 years-old accounted for 37% of the increase with 17 YO seeing a 160% increase and 18 YO saw an 87% increase in their demographic based on ACC data.
Labor Market Reporting
The organization has also supported labor market reporting for the Austin MSA and partnered with researchers to evaluate strategic and programmatic impact of OA economic development and education/workforce activities on postsecondary enrollment, degree/credential completion, and employment outcomes to support continuous improvement.
Leadership & Staff Support
Gary Famer, Chair
Stephanie Perryman
Rudy Garza
Steven Gonzales
James Dyess
Ellen Wood
Edward Latson
Jeneen Peterson
Gilbert Zavala