Since the establishment of the JET Fund in 2009, Texas has invested in nonprofit labor market intermediaries across the state that helped 800+ low-income, nontraditional community college students navigate their way through community college.

The Adult Career Education (ACE) Grant program, the effort's most recent permutation, now faces an uncertain future. In efforts to slash the state budget, Texas legislators are moving to eliminate all "special item" expenditures, including those that pay for special programs at colleges, over and beyond the normal higher education funding formulas.

"Capital IDEA Executive Director Steve Jackobs quips that when his organization decides to sponsor someone's community college education, it's like a Catholic marriage: "There's only one way out feet first." It's a joke, but indicative of the two-way commitment between Capital IDEA and its participants..."

In photo, student Liz Spinhirne listens to a speaker during a VIP meeting at the ACC Riverside campus.