To provide a gateway for individuals to transform their lives through rigorous skills-based training and education. VISION Every Central Texan will have access to a successful career pathway. Skillpoint Alliance is a 501(c)3 workforce development organization that provides in-demand workforce training to vulnerable members of the Central Texas community. It is in connection with local industry partners that Skillpoint is able to offer these unique professional training and educational opportunities. Skillpoint Alliance was founded in April of 1994 when, then Mayor, Bruce Todd called upon the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Task Force on Apprenticeships, and Career Pathways for Austin to create a solution to the lack of apprenticeship and craft training in the City of Austin. A task force was created to focus on the establishment of a nonprofit, industry-led, self-governing organization to promote and guide the development of skilled trade training efforts in Austin. And thus, the Capital Area Training Foundation was chartered. That Foundation grew into Skillpoint Alliance and has since become the premier choice in the city of Austin for rapid workforce training. Skillpoint has been featured in economic reference books, Economic Development in American Cities: the Pursuit of an Equity Agenda and Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender, and the Digital Divide in Austin and has been named one of the top ten job training programs in the country by Jobs for the Future and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Skillpoint is continuously adapting and extending its program offerings based on workforce needs in the region. Since the first graduating class in 1994, Skillpoint’s Gateway rapid job training program has expanded to offer five certifications across the construction and healthcare industries. In 2015, the Gateway program expanded along the I-35 corridor and is providing certification programs to the Waco/Killeen region. Since 1994, Skillpoint has impacted the lives of more than 140,000 Texans. In addition to adult training programs, Skillpoint Alliance also provides Gateway training that is specifically tailored to Austin-area opportunity youth. Skillpoint believes that providing opportunities to gain industry recognized credentials for at-risk youth is key to helping close the poverty gap and helping them embark upon a successful career. With such accredited youth programs, skill building courses, and technical certification programs, Skillpoint Alliance is quite literally training tomorrow’s workforce; today. Skillpoint Alliance understands Central Texas’s need for qualified employees and is thus focused on stimulating the local economy while providing life changing opportunities to the community at large. Skillpoint has built strong partnerships with local industries and business leaders in order to make a significant impact in filling the needs of local employers.