"When University of Texas researchers studied the long-term benefits of an intensive Austin job training program called Capital IDEA, they found that graduates enjoyed a steady trajectory in earnings and within six years earned salaries that were $12,000 a year higher than participants in ordinary job-placement programs.

It's a textbook example of an effective program," says Daniel G. Schroeder, of the Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs. Traditional government programs usually focus on getting unemployed people into any job; programs like Capital IDEA's "develop a person's human potential" with education that pays huge dividends over time. It's not just a subsistence paycheck, it's a future."

Don't Let Politics Diminish a Capital IDEA, Houston Chronicle