Less than one month after Capital IDEA-Houston won a $500 thousand Texas Innovative Adult Career Education (ACE) grant to train hundreds more community college students for living wage careers, leaders of The Metropolitan Organization of Houston leveraged an additional $500 thousand in local money after testifying at City Hall.

The money will come from two source of funding: $250 thousand from Community Development Block Grants and another $250 thousand from a City of Houston budget line-item, marking the first time Capital IDEA-Houston has been included in the City budget.

Said Fr. Kevin Collins of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, "The city will benefit because studies show that over 20 years, Capital Idea provides a 501% return on investment. Moreover, we stand with Pope John Paul II who said 'a just wage is (one of) the concrete means of verifying the whole socioeconomic system and, in any case, of checking that it is functioning justly.'"

City Budget Increases After-School Spending, Gives Each District $1 Million for Projects, Houston Chronicle